Basque butterflies again

Larry Trask larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk
Tue Jan 25 10:03:43 UTC 2000


[ moderator re-formatted ]

Roz Frank writes:

[on Basque <bizi> 'alive' and its likely derivative <bitxi> ~ <pitxi> 'pretty',
'pretty little thing', 'jewel']

>  I would note that there are other words based on the same root-stem that
>  mean "small, tiny", e.g., <pixka < *pi(t)x(i)-ka> "little, little bit" and
>  <pixki/pixkin> from < pixka-kin> "little sticks of wood as well as others
>  in <pittin> where there  <-tx-> appears to have been replaced with a
>  palatalized /tt/. The latter term is used to refer not just to "little,
>  tiny" in general but also to one's "little finger". Again the replacement
>  in question is not unusual in Basque, e.g. <txiki> "little" with
>  palatalization turns into <ttipi>.

Actually, I don't think these words have anything to do with <bizi> or <bitxi>
~ <pitxi>.  Their source is quite different.

Basque has a stem <pit->, of expressive origin, meaning roughly 'tiny little
thing', 'tiny amount'.  This stem is shared with Romance and may be of Romance
origin.  All this is discussed in Corominas, but I don't have that book handy.

This stem appears in the Roncalese dialect as an independent word <pit>,
meaning 'crumb', 'mote', 'spot', and the like.  There it commonly occurs in the
negative as <pitik ez> 'not a bean', 'nothing at all'.

Elsewhere, <pit-> is commonly encountered as a stem with some kind of
expressive extension added to it.  Examples include <pitin>, <piter> and
<pitika>, all of which mean 'tiny thing' or 'tiny amount' in various dialects.

However, Basque words intrinsically denoting smallness almost invariably
undergo expressive palatalization.  In the case of /t/, this segment
palatalizes either to <tt> (a palatal plosive) or to <tx> (like English <ch>).
On the whole, eastern varieties favour <tt>, but also exhibit <tx>, while
western varieties use only <tx>.  Hence palatalization of <pit-> yields either
<pitt-> or <pitx->.  Both of these are derived directly from <pit->, and
neither is derived from the either.

It is these palatalized stems <pitt-> and <pitx-> which are generally the
sources of the numerous derivatives of the type cited above, like <pixka>
'small amount', from <pitx-> + <-ka>, and <pixkin> 'scraps of wood'.  In some
cases, though, we may have palatalization directly from an extended form.  For
example, since both <pitin> and <pittin> exist (and also <pitxin>), it may be
that the last two derive directly from <pitin> by palatalization.  We cannot
tell, but I doubt that the issue is of any significance anyway.  All that
matters is that the expressive stem <pit->, commonly in its palatalized forms
<pitt-> and <pitx->, is used to construct a range of items with senses
centering on 'tiny thing', 'tiny amount'.

There are quite a few of these, and I can't resist citing my own favorite: the
Bizkaian nursery word <pitilin> 'penis' -- though I suppose I can't be certain
that this word is derived from the same stem as the others.  Bet it is, though.

As for the adjective meaning 'small', 'little', this is interesting.  The base
form appears as both <tipi> and <tiki>.  In both variants, this word has a
truly extraordinary form for a native word, and it is unquestionably of
expressive origin, like English 'teeny' and 'teensy'.  The regional /p/ ~ /k/
variation is also unique to this word, as far as I can think.

In our earliest texts, <tipi> is much the more widespread form.  Today, on the
whole, we find <tipi> in the east but <tiki> in the west.  And everywhere the
word almost invariably undergoes the usual expressive palatalization, leading
to the observed eastern <ttipi> but western <txiki>.

This east-west distinction is pervasive.  For example, the word <guti> 'few,
little, not many, not much' is commonly palatalized to <gutti> in the east but
to <gutxi> in the west.  And the ancient diminutive suffix <-to>, which still
survives as such in a few fossilized formations like <neskato> 'little girl'
(<neska> 'girl'), is commonly palatalized to <-tto> in the east but to <-txo>
(Bizkaian <-txu>) in the west.  So, for example, from <mendi> 'mountain', the
diminutive 'little mountain' is usually <menditto> in the east but <menditxo>
or <menditxu> in the west.

However, I do agree that it can sometimes be difficult to disentangle the
<pit-> words from the <bitxi> ~ <pitxi> words.  For example, the common
Bizkaian endearment <pitxin>, extended form <pitxintxu>, is probably derived
from <pit->, but we perhaps can't be quite certain of this.  Contamination
between <pitx-> and <pitxi> is highly likely, and I suspect that even native
speakers are not always sure of the source of a particular word.  Not that they
should care anyway, of course.

Larry Trask
COGS
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

larryt at cogs.susx.ac.uk



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