esox and -i/n [was: Re: ara/ndano]

[Gordon Selway]

'-i/n is of course also a common diminutive/affectionate/uncomplimentary &c
ending in Gaelic:

eg Sea/nai/n ['Johnnie', but also a 'shawneen' = 's.o. not agin the ('Brits')
             govt']
   caili\n   ['young woman', and cf 'cail(l)eag' = girl]  [NB Scots, not Irish
             usage here: 'caili/n' in Ireland may have a slightly different
             semantic range; but 'cailleach' = old woman, witch, hag, nun (and
             the odd mountain (Sc) - de Bhaldraithe (?sp) is not to hand for a
             fuller range of Irish usages]

No idea if there is a 'brada\nain/brada\ini\n' or Irish equivalent :-).

Is -in- in this sense a more generalised IE diminutive, &c?

Gordon
<gordonselway at gn.apc.org>

On Sat, 20 Mar 1999 at 21:40:11 -0600 Rick Mc Callister
<rmccalli at sunmuw1.MUW.Edu> wrote:

>I seem to remember a Spanish dialect form esoqui/n [maybe Asturian] Wasn't
>the Latin form something like esox? The ending -i/n, of course, is
>diminutive in Spanish --with similar forms in just about all Romance
>languages.