CHAPTER XV.
DIMINUTIVES, AUGMENTATIVES, AND PATRONYMICS.
[§ 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 vaterlìn=little father, mütterlìn=little mother. In Middle High German there is the diminutive sunnelìn; and the French soleil is from the Latin form solillus. In Slavonic the word slunze=sun is a diminutive form.
The Greek word μείωσις (meiôsis) means diminution; the Greek word ὑποκόρισμα 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.
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.
[§ 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
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.
[§ 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
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.
[§ 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, Πηλεὺς (Peleus), Πηλείδης (Peleidæs), 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 patær=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 -ιδης 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 wæs Eopping, Eoppa Êsing, Êsa Inging, Inga Angenviting, Angenvit Alocing, Aloc Beonocing, Beonoc Branding, Brand Bældæging, Bældæg Vódening, Vóden Friðowulfing, Friðowulf Finning, Finn Godwulfing, Godwulf Geating=Ida was the son of Eoppa, Eoppa of Esing, Esing of Inga, Inga of Angenvit,
Angenvit of Aloc, Aloc of Beonoc, Beonoc of Brand, Brand of Bældag, Bældag of Woden, Woden of Friðowulf, Friðowulf of Finn, Finn of Godwulf, Godwulf of Geat.—In Greek, Ἴδα ἦν Ἐοππείδης, Ἔοππα Ἠσείδης, Ἤσα Ἰγγείδης, Ἴγγα Ἀγγενφιτείδης, &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.