DIMINUTIVES, AUGMENTATIVES, AND PATRONYMICS.
s. 337. Compared with the words _lamb_, _man_, and _hill_, the words
_lambkin_, _mannikin_, and _hillock_ convey the idea of comparative
smallness or diminution. Now, as the word _hillock_=_a little hill_ differs
in form from _hill_ we have in English a series of diminutive forms, or
diminutives.
The English diminutives may be arranged according to a variety of
principles. Amongst others:
1. _According to their form._--The word _hillock_ is derived from _hill_,
by the addition of a syllable. The word _tip_ is derived from _top_, by the
change of a vowel.
2. _According to their meaning._--In the word _hillock_ there is the simple
expression of comparative smallness in size. In the word _doggie_ for
_dog_, _lassie_ for _lass_, the addition of the _-ie_ makes the word not so
much a diminutive as a term of tenderness or endearment. The idea of
smallness, accompanied, perhaps, with that of neatness, generally carries
with it the idea of approbation. The word _clean_ in English, means, in
German, _little_=_kleine_. The feeling of protection which is extended to
small objects engenders the notion of endearment. In Middle High German we
have _vaterl[`i]n_=_little father_, _muetterl[`i]n_=_little mother_. In
Middle High German there is the diminutive _sunnel[`i]n_; and the French
_soleil_ is from the Latin form _solillus_. In Slavonic the word
_slunze_=_sun_ is a diminutive form.
The Greek word [Greek: meiosis] (_mei[^o]sis_) means diminution; the Greek
word [Greek: hupokorisma] means an endearing expression. Hence we get names
for the two kinds of diminutives; _viz._, the term _meiotic_ for the true
diminutives, and the term _hypocoristic_ for the diminutives of
endearment.--Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik, iii. 664. {284}
3. _According to their historical origin._--The syllable _-ock_, as in
_hillock_, is of Anglo-Saxon and Gothic origin. The _-et_, as in _lancet_,
is of French and classical origin.
4. _According as they affect proper names or common names._--_Hawkin_,
_Perkin_, _Wilkin_, &c. In these words we have the diminutives of _Hal_,
_Peter_, _Will_, &c.
s. 338. The diminutive forms of Gothic origin are the first to be
considered.
1. _Those formed by a change of vowel._--_Tip_, from _top_. The relation of
the feminine to the masculine is allied to the ideas conveyed by many
diminutives. Hence in the word _kit_, from _cat_, it is doubtful whether
there be meant a female cat or a little cat. _Kid_ is a diminutive form of
_goat_.
2. _Those formed by the addition of a letter or letters._--Of the
diminutive characteristics thus formed the commonest, beginning from the
simpler forms, are
_Ie._--Almost peculiar to the Lowland Scotch; as _daddie_, _lassie_,
_minnie_, _wifie_, _mousie_, _doggie_, _boatie_, &c.--Deutsche Grammatik,
iii. 686.
_Ock._--_Bullock_, _hillock_.
_Kin._--_Lambkin_, _mannikin_, _ladikin_, &c. As is seen above, common in
proper names.
_En._--_Chicken_, _kitten_, from _cock_, _cat_. The notion of diminution,
if indeed that be the notion originally conveyed, lies not in the _-en_,
but in the vowel. In the word _chicken_, from _cock_, observe the effect of
the small vowel on the c.
The consideration of words like _duckling_ and _gosling_ is purposely
deferred.
The chief diminutive of classical origin is--
_Et_, as in _trumpet_, _lancet_, _pocket_; the word _pock_, as in
_meal-pock_=_a meal-bag_, being found in the Scottish. From the French
_-ette_, as in _caissette_, _poulette_.
The forms _-rel_, as in _cockerel_, _pickerel_, and _-let_, as in
_streamlet_, require a separate consideration. The first has nothing to do
with the Italian forms _acquerella_ and _coserella_--themselves, perhaps,
of Gothic, rather than of classical origin.
In the Old High-German there are a multitude of diminutive forms in _-l_;
as _ouga_=_an eye_, _ougili_=_a little eye_, _lied_=_a song_, _liedel_=_a
little song_. "In Austria and Bavaria {285} are the forms _mannel_,
_weibel_, _hundel_, &c., or _mannl_, _weibl_, _hundl_, &c. In some
districts there is an _r_ before the _l_, as _madarl_=_a little maid_,
_muadarl_=_a little mother_, _briadarl_=_a little brother_, &c. This is
occasioned by the false analogy of the diminutives of the derived form in
_r_."--Deutsche Grammatik, iii. p. 674. This indicates the nature of words
like _cockerel_.
Even in English the diminutive power of _-el_ can be traced in the
following words:--
_Soare_=a deer in its third year. _Sor-rel_=a deer in its second year.--See
_Love's Labour Lost_, with the note.
_Tiercel_=a small sort of hawk, one-third less (_tierce_) than the common
kind.
_Kantle_=_small corner_, from _cant_=_a corner_.--_Henry IV._
_Hurdle_; in Dutch _horde_; German, _hurde_. _Hording_, without the _-l_,
is used in an allied sense by builders in English.
In the words in point we must assume an earlier form, _cocker_ and _piker_,
to which the diminutive form _-el_ is affixed. If this be true, we have, in
English, representatives of the diminutive form _-l_, so common in the High
Germanic dialects. _Wolfer_=_a wolf_, _hunker_=_a haunch_, _flitcher_=_a
flitch_, _teamer_=_a team_, _fresher_=_a frog_,--these are north country
forms of the present English.[43]
The termination _-let_, as in _streamlet_, seems to be double, and to
consist of the Gothic diminutive _-l_, and the French diminutive _-t_.
s. 339. _Augmentatives._--Compared with _capello_=_a hat_, the Italian word
_capellone_=_a great hat_ is an augmentative. The augmentative forms,
pre-eminently common in the Italian language, often carry with them a
depreciating sense.
The termination _-rd_ (in Old High German, _-hart_), as in _drunkard_,
_braggart_, _laggard_, _stinkard_, carries with it this idea of
depreciation. In _buzzard_, and _reynard_, the name of the _fox_, it is
simply augmentative. In _wizard_, from _witch_, it has the power of a
masculine form.
The termination _-rd_, taken from the Gothic, appears in {286} the modern
languages of classical origin: French, _vieillard_; Spanish, _codardo_.
From these we get at, second-hand, the word _coward_.--Deutsche Grammatik,
iii. 707.
The word _sweetheart_ is a derived word of this sort, rather than a
compound word; since in Old High German and Middle High German, we have the
corresponding form _liebhart_. Now the form for _heart_ is in German not
_hart_, but _herz_.
Words like _braggadocio_, _trombone_, _balloon_, being words of foreign
origin, prove nothing as to the further existence of augmentative forms in
English.
s. 340. _Patronymics._--In the Greek language the notion of lineal descent,
in other words, the relation of the son to the father, is expressed by a
particular termination; as, [Greek: Peleus] (_Peleus_), [Greek: Peleides]
(_Peleidaes_), the son of Peleus. It is very evident that this mode of
expression is very different from either the English form _Johnson_, or
Gaelic _MacDonald_. In these last-named words, the words _son_ and _Mac_
mean the same thing; so that _Johnson_ and _MacDonald_ are not derived, but
compound words. This Greek way of expressing descent is peculiar, and the
words wherein it occurs are classed together by the peculiar name
_patronymic_, from _pataer_=_a father_, and _onoma_=_a name_. Is there
anything in English corresponding to the Greek patronymics? It was for the
sake of this question that the consideration of the termination _-ling_, as
in _duckling_, &c., was deferred.
The termination _-ling_, like the terminations _-rel_ and _-let_, is
compound. Its simpler form is _-ing_. This, from being affixed to the
derived forms in _-l_, has become _-ling_.
In Anglo-Saxon the termination _-ing_ is as truly patronymic as [Greek:
-ides] is in Greek. In the Bible-translation the son of Elisha is called
_Elising_. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle occur such genealogies as the
following:--_Ida waes Eopping, Eoppa [^E]sing, [^E]sa Inging, Inga
Angenviting, Angenvit Alocing, Aloc Beonocing, Beonoc Branding, Brand
Baeldaeging, Baeldaeg V['o]dening, V['o]den Fridhowulfing, Fridhowulf
Finning, Finn Godwulfing, Godwulf Geating_=Ida was the son of Eoppa, Eoppa
of Esing, Esing of Inga, Inga of Angenvit, {287} Angenvit of Aloc, Aloc of
Beonoc, Beonoc of Brand, Brand of Baeldag, Baeldag of Woden, Woden of
Fridhowulf, Fridhowulf of Finn, Finn of Godwulf, Godwulf of Geat.--In
Greek, [Greek: Ida en Eoppeides, Eoppa Eseides, Esa Ingeides, Inga
Angenphiteides], &c. In the plural number these forms denote the _race of_;
as _Scyldingas_=_the Scyldings_, or the race of _Scyld_, &c. Edgar Atheling
means Edgar of the race of the nobles. The primary of _-ing_ and _-l-ing_
is descent or relationship; from these comes the idea of youth and
endearment, and thence the true diminutive idea. In _darling_, _stripling_,
_duckling_, _gosling_ (pr. _gesling_), _kitling_ (pr. for _kitten_),
_nestling_, _yearling_, _chickling_, _fatling_, _fledgling_, _firstling_,
the idea of descent still remains. In _hireling_ the idea of diminution is
accompanied with the idea of contempt. In _changeling_ we have a Gothic
termination and a classical root. See, for the full exposition of this
view, Deutsche Grammatik, ii. 349-364, iii. 682.
In the opening speech of Marlow's Jew of Malta we have the following
lines:--
Here have I pursed their paltry _silverlings_.
Fie! what a trouble 'tis to count this trash!
Well fare the Arabs, that so richly pay
For what they traffick in with wedge of gold.
The word _silverlings_ has troubled the commentators. _Burst their
silverbins_ has been proposed as the true reading. The word, however, is a
true diminutive, as _siluparlinc_, _silarbarling_=_a small silver coin_,
Old High German.
A good chapter on the English diminutives may be seen in the Cambridge
Philological Museum, vol. i. p. 679.
* * * * *
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