Diminutive

A Diminutive is a prefix or suffix (usually a suffix) added to a word in order to convey the sense of a smaller size.

Australian Usage

Australian English is famous for its use of Diminutives, most commonly used with the "-za" suffix. Thus "Barry" becomes "Bazza", "Gary" becomes "Gazza" and "Harry" becomes "Hazza". A diminutive for "Larry" (which would be "Lazza" under this system) is very rare, while there has also been a trend towards changing "Jarrod" or "Jared" to "Jazza". Female names are also shortened, such as "Sharon" becoming "Shazza".

Other suffixes

Other suffixes are also used, such as "-ey/-ie/-y" and "-o", thereby creating names such as Petey (formerly Peter), Dougie (Douglas) Jono (Jonathan), and Robbo (Robert). Diminutives can, ironically, lengthen some names as well. "Johnny" is a common diminutive from "John".

Diminutives and Mateship

The use of diminutives is more common among males than among females and - particularly in the Australian sense - relates to the concept of "mateship". The theory is that by shortening the name of a friend, the friendship is somehow deepened.

Diminutives aside from Proper Nouns

Many other words are replaced with diminutives in Australian English. Emergency-services personnel are often referred to as ambos and firies instead of "ambulance officers" and "firefighters". Similarly, medical professionals are frequently known as medicos. Social institutions, such as the Salvation Army, are also subject to this process - becoming (in this case) the Salvos. Garbage collectors are almost universally known as garbos, by a similar process.

Diminutives in Sporting Usage

Australian sport also creates many diminutives. The most obvious of these is the contraction of "football" (meaning rugby league, rugby union or Australian Rules) to footy, however there are substantially more instances. The officials at sporting events are hardly ever referred to as "referees" or "umpires", with the diminutive terms "ref" and "ump" being much more common. Even the touch judge in rugby league or union is referred to as the "touchy" or "touchie". Sporting teams, likewise, are subject to this process, generally to reduce a polysyllabic name to a monosyllabic one. A team called the "Bulldogs" (Canterbury-Bankstown in rugby league, Footscray in Australian Rules) will invariably become the "Dogs" or "Doggies". The Essendon Australian Rules team - officially the "Bombers" - often find themselves referred to as the "Dons", while the Fremantle Dockers are often "Freo". This process also works in reverse, with teams such as the Sydney Swans being "diminuted" to the "Swannies". It is important to note, however, that "Rabbitohs" is the official nickname for the South Sydney Rugby League club rather than being a formation from "Rabbits". Moreover, some leagues are even subject to diminution by this process. The South Australian National Football League (Australian - or "Aussie" - Rules) uses the acronym SANFL, which is sometimes rendered as one word, "SANfll". Similarly, the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) is pronounced as "Waffle" and the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL) as "Quaffle" in common parlance.

Non-English Languages

Non-English languages also use Diminutives, however these relate to nouns as well as proper nouns.

German

German, for example, features words such as "Häuschen" (or "Häuserl" in Austrian Dialect) for "small house", "Würstchen" for "small sausage" and "Hündchen" for "small dog". The use of diminutives is quite different between the languages and dialects. The alemannic dialects for example use the diminutive very often. Dutch and the East Frisian Low Saxon uses the diminutive quite often as well. In the northern Low Saxon the diminutive is used as seldom as in the scandinavic languages, that means nearly never.

There are two suffices in German:

• -chen, e.g. Männchen for little man (corresponding with english -kin, Low Saxon and Dutch -je and -tje and flamish and Low Saxon -ken)
• -lein e.g. Männlein for little man (corresponding with english -let, alemannic -le, li, Bavarian and Austrian -l and Latin -culus / -cula

Low Saxon and Dutch

The East Frisian Dialect of the Low Saxon language uses quite frequently the diminuitive -je and -tje, as well as Dutch, e.g. Manntje (little man), Meisje (girl), Buttje (little flounder, synonyme for little boy as well). In the southern parts of the Low Saxon area and in Flamish the diminutive -ke, -ken is corresponding (Manneke, manneken for little man).

Both forms are corresponding with the english diminuitive -kin, e.g. lambkin, pumpkin and the German diminutive -chen.

Latin

In the Latin language the diminutive is formed also by suffices.

• -culus, e.g. homunculus (little man) from homo (man)
• -cula, e.g. navicula (little ship, boat) from navis (ship)