Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83 (MC840302); site mcvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!mcvax!aeb
From: aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: -en as a diminutive
Message-ID: <710@mcvax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 16-Jun-85 21:24:35 EDT
Article-I.D.: mcvax.710
Posted: Sun Jun 16 21:24:35 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 19-Jun-85 11:25:27 EDT
References: <27400001@gypsy.UUCP> <546@hou2b.UUCP>
Reply-To: aeb@mcvax.UUCP (Andries Brouwer)
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam
Lines: 19

In article <6460@boring.UUCP> steven@boring.UUCP (Steven Pemberton) writes:
   (I said about chicken that the -en was a diminutive suffix and pointed
   out a parallel in Dutch veulen (foal), and continued: )
>> It may be that an English example is found in sow/swine.
>Probably not, for as Lambert Meertens pointed out to me, then you're stuck
>with explaining the relationship of sow/swine with Dutch zeug/zwijn.
>The OED suggests a suffix -ino- here.
>
But this means that the OED agrees with me.
You see, the root is clearly *su- (*suw-) as in Latin sus, Greek hus,
	German Sau, Danish so.
	(Hyaina is from this same root.)
With a -k- suffix we have Latin sucula 'piglet', Sanskrit sukara 'boar',
	Dutch zeug, English sow (Old English sugu).
	(The verb to soil is from this same root.)
With the adjectival -ino- suffix we have Latin suinus 'of the pig',
	Lett. svins 'filthy'.
In the germanic languages this suffix becomes -en/-in and is used to
create nouns: Dutch zwijn, English swine, Danish svin, German Schwein.