CHAPTER XV.

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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