spaetzle

[Peter Richardson]

True: In Bayern, wo man Bairisch spricht, gibt es aber auch -el (Maedel)
und -erl (Maederl); think of Mozart's sister Maria Anna, known as
"Nannerl." (By "Bairisch" I'm referring to the larger unit of
Austro-Bavarian.) The -le isogloss transcends the traditional
Schwaebisch/Bairisch boundary of the Lech River, extending almost to
Munich.

In another age, there's our old friend Attila, of course, atta 'father' +
the diminutive suffix -ila. "Little Father" the Hun wouldn't go over very
well these days, though, I suspect. I seem to recall that the -lein (-le,
-li, -l, -el, -erl) family is a combination of two different Gothic
suffixes, -il and -in, but I wouldn't bet my mortgage on it.

Peter

> "Regarding the regionalism: The -le suffix points to SW Germany, in
> general the Swabian-speaking state of Baden Wuerttemberg."
>
> -- und auch im Bayern wo man Bayerische spricht :-)