is it zin or tzin??

[Michael Mccafferty]

The two rather seem to be independent creations. Spanish -ito/a seems to
have a cognate form in French -et (m.) and -ette (f.) in French.
Just an idea.

Michael


On Tue, 8 Feb 2000, David L. Frye wrote:

> > it would be interesting to see if the Tlaxcalteca honorific methodology
> > of speaking to their elders has been transmitted to the modern Mexican
> > Spanish spoken in the area.
>
> I have often thought that the ubiquitous use of "-ito" in Mexican Spanish
> might be related to Nahuatl "-tzin" -- especially in cases where the
> diminutive is rarely heard elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world, such
> as "nuestros difuntitos" or "mis muertitos" to refer to one's family dead.
> Any thoughts?
>
>