DIME DIMINUTIVE. 



679 



DIME; the legal term for the tenth part of a 

 dollar in the United States of America. See Coin. 



DIMINUTIVE, in grammar (from the Latin 

 diminutivum) ; an affix, which conveys the idea of 

 littleness, and all other ideas connected with this, as 

 tenderness, affection, contempt, &c. The opposite 

 of diminutive is augmentative. Prefixes and affixes 

 belong to those delicate beauties of language, which 

 enable us to express fine shades of meaning with con- 

 ciseness and liveliness, and which are almost always 

 beyond the power of translation, if the language, 

 into which we intend to translate, does not possess 

 the corresponding prefixes and affixes. 



In Latin, diminutives almost always ended in lus, 

 la, or lum ; as, Tulliola, meum corculum, little 

 Tullia, my dear or little heart. This syllable was 

 sometimes preceded by another one, not belonging 

 to the original word ; as, homunculus. A few 

 words formed their diminutives in other ways. 



No European language has so many and so ex- 

 pressive diminutives, augmentatives, and affixes, as 

 the Tuscan : ino, elto, ello, convey the idea of small- 

 ness, dearness, &c. ; one, of largeness ; uccio some- 

 times of smallness, with reproach, but often without 

 it : accio signifies that the thing is disgusting, un- 

 pleasing, &c. ; for example, casa is a house ; casetta, 

 casina, casella, a small house, nice little house ; 

 casone, a large house ; casuccia, a small, insignificant 

 house ; casaccia, an ugly house. That expressive 

 tongue can compound two or three of these endear- 

 ing affixes; and the writer has frequently heard 

 little Italian children form almost endless words, as 

 if overflowing with tenderness ; for instance, fratel- 

 linucciettinetto. Adjectives, also, can receive the 

 diminutive termination ; as carino, carimeccio, from 

 caro. It must be remarked, that very many Italian 

 words are the diminutives of the original Latin ones ; 

 as,fratello, from f rater, sorella, &c. The reason is, 

 that the Italian was originally the corrupted Latin of 

 the lower classes. These always have many points 

 of resemblance to children, and among them this, 

 that they make much more use of diminutives than 

 the educated classes, who are more reserved in the 

 expression of their feelings. Thus, in the south of 

 Germany, they will say, wo das Baumche vor der 

 Thure steht (where the little tree stands before the 

 door), however large the tree (Baum) may be. 



In Spanish, there are similar diminutives, augmen- 

 tatives, and other affixes. The augmentatives in 

 Spanish are as follows : From hombre, a man, are 

 formed hombron, hombrazo, hombronazo, hombrachon ; 

 and from rmiger, -a woman, mugerona, mugeraza, 

 mueeronaza. Adjectives, also, take similar forms ; 

 as from grande, great, or large, are formed grandon, 

 grandote, grandazo, grandonazo. Sometimes these 

 augmentatives are used by way of commendation, as, 

 hombron, a man of great wisdom ; at other times to 

 denote contempt or worthlessness, as, from caballo, 

 a horse, we have caballazo, a miserable horse ; and 

 sometimes they denote merely greatness of bulk, as 

 moceton, mocetonazo, a large youth or boy. Aug- 

 mentatives in azo, in some instances, also denote two 

 different things; as, zapatazo, a large shoe, or a 

 blow given with a shoe. The Spanish diminutives 

 are these : from hombre, a man, hombrecito, hombre- 

 cico, hombrecillo, hombrezuelo ; from muger, a woman, 

 mugercita, mugercica, mugercilla, mugerzuela ; from 

 chico, small, chiquito, chiquillo, chicuclo, chiquituelo. 

 Diminutives in ito and ico usually denote endear- 

 ment or tenderness, as those in illo do sometimes ; 

 those in elo always denote contempt ; from libra, a 

 book, are formed librillo, librito, librico, librete, libruelo 

 librejo. 



In Portuguese, the diminutives and augmentatives 

 correspond to those of the Spanish language. 



Diminutives. 



c from cabra, a goat, is formed cabrito, a kid 

 In itu,\ or little goat; mosca, a fly, mosquito, a litile 



Cfly. 



rhomem, a man, homemzinho, a little man; 

 inlio,4 irmao, a brother, irmaozinho, a little brother j 



Lfilho, a son,Jilhin/io, a little son. 

 inlni, $mao, a hand, maozinha, a little hand ; ra. 

 fern. Lpariga, a girl, rapariguinha, a little girl. 



Adjectives also take the diminutive form; as, 

 coitado, poor fellow, poor thing ; coitadinho, poor 

 little fellow, &c. ; redondo, redondinho, round ; 

 bonito, bonitinho, pretty ; pequeno, pequenino, small, 

 whence is corrupted the negro word pickaninny, 

 used on the coast of Africa, tor a child, a little boy 

 or girl. Augmentatives. Tola, a tool, toleirao, a 

 great fool ; homem, a man, homemzarao, a big or 

 huge man ; mulher, a woman, mulherona, a mascu- 

 line or large woman. 



In French, there are many diminutives formed 

 from other words ; as, tablette, of table, charette of 

 char ; but there is no general affix, which can be 

 added to every substantive. The syllable dtre (from 

 the Lathi aster), as in noirdtre, from noire, cannot be 

 called properly a diminutive ; neither can vieillot, he 

 who begins to look old, be called precisely a dimi- 

 nutive of vieille. 



The German has the syllables chen (in Low-Ger- 

 man, ken, which has remained in English in manikin, 

 and some other words), lein and el, for substantives ; 

 lick, &c., for adjectives; (lich corresponds to the 

 English ish or like ; for instance, rundlich, roundish 

 or roundlike (from rund, round); and eln for verbs, as 

 from bitten (to pray), they form betteln (to beg, the 

 action of a beggar), klingeln from klingen, to sound. 

 The bonhomie of the Germans even adds the diminu- 

 tive to pronouns, and nurses sometimes will say du- 

 chen from dw, thou ; nay, the writer once heard (in 

 Erfurth) a nurse use the dative of du, dir, with the 

 diminutive, gefallt es dirchen ? 



The English language affords examples of diminu- 

 tives, but has no affix which can be used at pleasure 

 to convey this idea. Among English diminutives 

 are 



C cockerel, a little cock ; 

 < kernel, a little corn ; 

 Lpickerel, a little pike. 



manikin, a little man ; 



lambkin, a little lamb : 



napkin, from nape, French for cloth; 



.pipkin, a little pipe. 

 fc/tickling, a little chicken ; 

 | gosling, a little goose ; 

 ling, <! darling, i.e. dearling, or little dear; 

 I auttiorling, an inferior author ; 

 {.willing, a person of small understanding. 

 f armlet, for arm ; 



I bracelet, from bran, French for arm; 

 et, \ cocket, a little nock; 



I pocket, from poke, a bag or pouch. 

 {.tablet, a little table, 



Diminutives of proper names are also formed, in 

 colloquial and familiar language, by adding y to the 

 names ; as, Charley, Johnny, &c.; and coachy is used 

 colloquially for coachman. 



The aboriginal languages of America, also, have 

 their diminutives. In the Delaware language (ac- 

 cording to Mr Zeisberger's Grammar, published by 

 Mr Duponceau), diminutives of nouns denoting ani- 

 mate objects are formed by adding the syllable tit ; 

 as, lenni, a man, lennotit, a little man ; ochqueu, a 

 woman, ochquetit, a little girl ; tsholens, a bird, tsho- 

 lentit, a little bird. In speaking of a pretty little 

 animal, the form is shis or tskis ; as, in playing with 

 a little kitten, or other young animal, they would 

 say kuligatshis, thy pretty little paw. In nouns de- 

 noting inanimate objects, diminutives are formed by 

 the termination es ; as, wifcwam, a house, wikwames, 

 a small house ; amokhol (kh guttural), a canoe, 



