The Greek Diminutive Suffix -laxo- -loy.}]-. 183 



to the hypocoristic that there is no possibility and in fact no 

 desirability of an exact separation. In the same category would 

 also come the use of -laxo- in fjellaxov : \Ktkoi;, ' elegant or 

 beautiful (little) song,' in Alcm. 65 "Q^ a[j.£c to xaXov [j.sICgxov. 



yy. Endearment on the other hand is usually prominent in hypo- 

 corisms of names of persons and animals, e. g. SscrxoT:i(7xoc ^ ' dear 

 master,' xopiir/.'/) ' dear maiden,' sometimes in names of parts of 

 the body of persons thought of with endearment. But since en- 

 dearment is often coupled with the notion of certain admired 

 qualities like beauty, there again is no sharp line of distinction 

 between this meaning and the one of the last paragraph, i. e. the 

 idea of beauty is often present and may be dominant in any ' di- 

 minutive ' like the above named xopia^Y). 



78. The various hypocoristic uses of -irr/.o- were fully developed 

 when the suffix first appeared in literature. From Alcman of the 

 seventh century we have \).zki(jy.ov just quoted and xo[jicx(x ' lovely 

 hair.' In Attic xopiox-^ e. g. occurs in the Comic poet Plato and 

 BscTzo-ioyvO? in Euripides. The flourishing period for this use seems 

 to have been the Classical period even more than for the deteri- 

 oratives and diminutives. In Alexandrian times there are new words 

 with the notion of endearment to be found : HaTupioy.oc, cpOioxo?, 

 zoWktkqi;, and perhaps Tpaytoxo?, but after that I have found only 

 two new hypocoristic words, which, however, are both faded and 

 used exactly like their primitives, belonging to the category of 

 articles of food : -jzlooioovziGxoi; ' flat-cake ' and ■zopicn^oc, ' cheese.' 



I. The suffix expresses Daintiness. 



79. Those words in which the idea of small size can be present, 

 e. g. names of animals and plants, were mentioned § 62 f. 

 There remain such as are totally independent of the idea 'small,' 

 e. g. a little cake is not a bit more delicious than a large one. 



Collection of Examples, df^iiqrlaxoq : ajJiY)? 'milk-cake.' Telecl. 

 frg. 2. 362. 'OTtTal Bs Y.iy\cci [j,£t ap--/]i;t(rxwv di; tov cpapuy' zlGt%i- 

 T0VT70. ^Qidaxiaxa ' a kind of cake ' : O'pTBa^.^ Alcm. 20 O-piBaxi- 

 (Txa? T£ xai xpi[3avo)Tco5. xqeiGxav : xpiccc, ' meat.' Alex. frg. 3. 472 

 (4) Tpio)^6\ou xp£t(7xov aa^sTov ^ tcocvu "I'siov. /na^iGxri : [xa^a ' cake 

 of barley.' Ar. Equ. 1105 'Eyw Bs [xa^ioxa? ys Bta[xs[JLaY[j-£va? Kai 



^ Here totally without notion of small size. It refers to the giant Cyclops. 



2 &QTda^ occurs only in the meaning ' lettuce,' but probably designated 

 a cake in the dialect of Alcman. Cf. the Attic d^Qi&axiaxr}, which also had both 

 meanings, as is stated by Hes. s. v. 



3 Cf. § 18. 



