Hypocorism

A hypocorism (from Greek ὑποκορίζεσθαι hypokorizesthai, "to use child-talk"[1]) is a shorter or diminutive form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.

Contents

Derivation

Hypocorisms are often generated as:

As evident from the above-mentioned examples, hypocorisms frequently demonstrate (indirectly) a phonological linguistic universal (or tendency) for high-pitched sounds to be used for smaller creatures and objects (here as more "cute" or less imposing names). Higher-pitched sounds are associated with smaller creatures because smaller creatures can only make such high frequency sounds given their smaller larynx sizes.

The word "hypocorism" is the noun form in English; "hypocoristic" is the adjective form. Some other languages prefer to use the original Greek word "hypocoristicon" as a noun. The noun "hypocoristicon" seems to be rarely used in English.

Dutch

  • Wilhelmus → Willem, Wim, Pim
  • Johannes → Johan, Jan, Jannes, Hannes, Hans

English

English also forms nicknames in a variety of manners.

Shortening, often to the first syllable:

Addition of the diminutive suffix, usually -ie or -y. It is often added to the end of an already shortened name. This suffix connotes smallness or endearment. Although most often applied to the names of children, it is not uncommon for an adult to be referred to by the diminutive, especially by family, friends and close acquaintances:

A short form that differs significantly from the name:

Esperanto

Esperanto forms nicknames by suffixing -njo (for females) and -ĉjo (for males) to the first letter(s) of the basic name.[2]

French

Informal French has a number of diminutive nicknames, although not as systematically as in English.

In French, for both male and female names, hypocorisms are most commonly formed by dropping the last syllable:

Dropping the first syllable is also attested:

Sometimes, only central syllables are kept:

Another method commonly used is doubling one syllable of the name:

For male names, the ending -ot is attested, although its use is rather dated:

It was also sometimes (but rarely) used for females:

The ending -et for males was used around the Renaissance, and is now obsolete:

For female names, the ending -ette was used in the first half of the 20th century, and even often given as the official name:

Some names in -ette are not actual hypocorisms, but the only existing femalized form of a male name:

The ending -on is rarer, often dated or obsolete, used for both genders:

The ending -ou is also rare:

A special case is the ending in -ick/ -ic, which is the French writing for the hypocoristic form in Breton "-ig", used for both genders. The "-ig" form in Breton means "Little ...". This diminutive, in its French form of "ick" or "ic", became in vogue for official names in the second half of the 20th century:

In Breton, the diminutive form "...ig" can be given to any kind of names, nouns or adjectives, (un tammig, a few), while in French it relates only to Christian names.

The name Soazig shows more than the ending "ig". Often in Breton a hypocoristic form of a Christian name can be made by putting away the first syllable. "Frañsoaz" becomes a familiar "Soaz" then, given to a child, the name is "Soazig", but not as an official name. This is also a difference between French and Breton: the diminutive ending "...ig" in Breton is only used as a temporary form for young children, while "...ick" is official and permanent in French names, and has lost his sense of a diminutive.

For words, French often produces hypocorisms either by truncating a word after the letter o, or by chopping off the end of the word and adding an o: McDo from McDonalds; gynéco from gynécologue; dico from dictionnaire; dodo (childish word for sleep, from dormir, to sleep); écolo from écologiste; coco from communiste; catho from catholique; psycho from psychologie.

The ending -oche (with or without an intervening consonant or phoneme to make it easier to pronounce) is also sometimes used: cinoche (cinéma), MacDoche (McDonalds), fastoche (easy-peezy, from facile, easy). Words or names may also be shortened or abbreviated without an O: fixs from fixations, 'ski bindings'; Jean-Phi from Jean-Philippe; amphi from amphithéatre (large classroom or lecture hall); ciné (another informal word for cinéma). These words are familiar/informal versions of the underlying words.

The connotation of familiarity (my friend Jean-Phi, as opposed to my new work colleague Jean-Philippe; cinoche, the place I often go for entertainment, as opposed to cinéma, the neutral word for a movie theater) is what makes them hypocorisms.

German

Hypocorisms of first names are commonly based on truncation, only keeping the first (Max) or last (Hans) syllable(s), sometimes in contracted form as these examples show. Often the ending -i is added to these truncated nameforms. The name might also undergo a sound shift (Sepp). Further diminutives can be added with the suffixes -lein or -chen, e. g. Gretchen as a diminutive for Grete.

Sometimes female names may have the ending -el instead of -i, or any other shortening, especially in southern Germany:

An ending for nicknames, sometimes considererd “typical german” is -z:

Hungarian

Hypocorisms of first names are commonly based on truncation, only keeping the first (Kat-; Jul-) syllable, sometimes in contracted form as these examples show. Often the ending -i is added to these truncated nameforms (Kati, Laci, Julcsi, Ági, Feri). Further diminutives can be added with the suffixes -csi or -ka, e. g. Julcsi and Lacika as a diminutive respectively for Júlia and László. The shorter forms are often can be given as first names in their own right (Tóni, Lili, Béni etc.)

Italian

Some diminutive forms can be further modified by abbreviation depending on the region. Some diminutive can be abbreviation of more than one name (ex. Pippo' can be Giuseppe or Filippo, Lele can be diminutive of pretty much all the names which end in "ele": Gabriele, Raffaele, Emanuele).

As catholic tradition until 1945 a child was forced to be named after a saint or a byblical persona, therefore some people have an Anglosaxon Hypocorism which derives from a very obsolete italian name ex. Calogero, Gerardo or Virginio become Jerry, Genoveffa becomes Jenny, Anastasia becomes Stacy and Maria Grazia becomes Grace.

Polish

In Polish there are multiple affixes used to create the diminutive. Some of them are -ka, -sia, -cia, -unia, -enka, -śka, -lka for feminine nouns and -ek, -uś, -ciek, -czek, -uń, -eńki, -lki for masculine (among others). Some of the stems change, particularly to more archaic forms of the name (e.g. Andrzej → Jędrek). Masculine names occasionally take an -a suffix, which is a more archaic Slavic form as in Russian (e.g. Michał → Misza). Here is a list of common names with some of them:

  • Agnieszka → Aga, Agnisia
  • Aleksandra → Ola, Oleńka
  • Aleksander → Olek, Alek, Oluś
  • Andrzej → Andrzejek, Jędrek, Jędruś
  • Anna → Ania, Anka, Anusia
  • Antoni → Antek, Antoś
  • Antonina → Tosia, Tola
  • Arkadiusz → Arek, Aruś
  • Barbara → Basia, Baśka
  • Bartłomiej → Bartek, Bartuś
  • Bartosz → Bartek, Bartuś
  • Dariusz → Darek, Dareczek
  • Edward → Edek, Edzio
  • Elżbieta → Ela, Elżunia
  • Emilia → Emilka
  • Ewa → Ewka, Ewusia
  • Genowefa → Genia
  • Grzegorz → Grzesiek, Grześ
  • Hanna → Hania, Hanka
  • Henryka → Henia
  • Henryk → Henio, Heniek
  • Iwona → Iwonka, Iwcia, Iwa, Iwka
  • Jakub → Kuba, Kubuś
  • Jarosław → Jarek, Jaruś
  • Jan → Jaś, Janek, Janeczek
  • Janusz → Januszek
  • Jerzy → Jurek, Jerzyk
  • Joanna → Joasia, Asia
  • Julia → Julka, Julcia
  • Katarzyna → Kasia, Kaśka, Kasieńka, Kasiunia
  • Krzysztof → Krzysiek, Krzyś
  • Maciej → Maciek, Maciuś
  • Małgorzata → Małgosia, Małgośka, Gośka, Gosia, Gosieńka
  • Maria → Marysia, Maryśka, Mania, Marysieńka
  • Michał → Michalek, Misza
  • Mirosław → Mirek, Mireczek, Mirko, Miruś
  • Paweł → Pawełek
  • Piotr → Piotrek, Piotruś
  • Roman → Romek, Romeczek, Romuś
  • Ryszard → Rysiek, Ryś
  • Sławomir → Sławek
  • Tadeusz → Tadek, Tadzio
  • Tomasz → Tomek, Tomuś, Tomcio, Tomaszek, Tomeczek
  • Władysław → Władek
  • Włodzimierz → Włodek
  • Witold → Witek
  • Wojciech → Wojtek, Wojtuś
  • Zofia → Zosia, Zośka
  • Zbigniew → Zbyszek

Romanian

Russian

Russian has a wide variety of diminutive forms for names, to the point that for non-Russian speakers it can be difficult to connect a nickname to the original. Diminutive forms for nouns are usually distinguished with an -ик (-ik), -ок (-ok), -ёк (-yok) (masculine gender), -чк-/-шк- (-chk-/-shk-) and -оньк-/-еньк- (-on’k-/-en’k-) suffixes. Names can be somewhat more arbitrary, but still follow a loose pattern. A list of common names and their diminutive forms:

Some names can also be modified with a -ka ending to add a further level of familiarity, but are not normally used for adults who are not family members.

Serbian

Spanish

See also: Spanish naming customs and Philippine name

Spanish forms diminutives by adding one of several diminutive suffixes. -ito/a, -cito/a, -ecito/a, -ico/a, -cico/a -illo/a, -cillo/a, -uelo/a, -zuelo/a, -ete/a, -ín, -iño/a:

It is common for a person to be known by 2 first names: José Luis, María Teresa, Juan Carlos etc. Combining the 2 names into one is another common way to form a hypocorism:

  • María Teresa → Maritere, Mayte, Maité, Marité
  • María Luisa → Marisa
  • María del Carmen → Mayca, Mame, Mamen
  • María Isabel → Maribel, Marisa
  • Luz María → Luzma
  • María Fernanda → Marifer, Mafer
  • María Salvadora → Marisa
  • Juan Carlos → Juanca
  • Juan Esteban → Juanes
  • Juan Manuel → Juanma
  • Juan Miguel → Juanmi

Many Spanish nicknames, however, are or can seem very unlike the original name. Notice, however, that the -ch- [tʃ] sound is common in these diminutives:

  • Alberto → Berto, Beto
  • Alfonso → Fon, Fonso, Fonsi, Poncho
  • Anastasio → Tasio, Tacho
  • Aniceto → Cheto
  • Antonio → Toño
  • Beatriz → Bea, Beti
  • Carlos → Cacho
  • Concepción → Concha, Conchita, Conchi
  • Consuelo → Chelo
  • Diego → Yago
  • Dolores → Lola
  • Eduardo → Edu, Lalo
  • Enrique → Quique, Rico
  • Ernesto → Neto
  • Feliciano → Chano
  • Felipe → Feli, Pipe
  • Federico → Quico, Kiko
  • Fernanda → Fer, Nanda
  • Fernando → Fer, Nando, Fercho
  • Francisco → Fran, Paco, Curro, Pancho, Pacho, Quico
  • Graciela → Chela, Gra
  • Guadalupe → Lupe, Lupita
  • Guillermo → Guille, Guillo, Memo, Picho
  • Ignacia → Nacha
  • Ignacio → Nacho
  • Isabel → Isa, Chavela, Chabela, Chábel, Chava
  • Jesús → Chuy, Chus, Chucho, Suso, Jesusín
  • Jorge → Coque
  • José → Pepe, Chepe
  • José María → Chema, Josema
  • Juan → Juancho, Juani
  • Laura → Lala, Lau, Yaya
  • Lidia → Yiya
  • Luis → Lucho, Güicho
  • Luisa → Lucha
  • Manuel → Manu, Manolo, Lolo
  • María Fernanda → Máfer, Marifer
  • María José → Coté, Marijose, Majo
  • Marisela → Chabela, Chela
  • Maximina → Chimina
  • Mercedes → Meche
  • Miguel → Migue
  • Ramón → Moncho, Monchi, Ramoncito
  • Refugio, María del Refugio → Cuca
  • Roberto → Rober, Berto, Beto
  • Rosario → Chayo, Charo
  • Santiago → Santi, Chago
  • Sergio → Checo
  • Silvia → Chiva
  • Soledad → Sole, Lola
  • Vicente → Vicen, Chente

Also, several names (especially female) may have their endings cut off and the vowel -"i" added at the end in the formation of pet names:

Speakers of Philippine languages follow the same system.

Swedish

Male hypocorisms are often based on the first syllable of the name (shortening it if it's long), plus the ending -"e":

  • Anders → Adde, Ante
  • Andreas → Adde, Ante
  • Bengt → Bengan, Benke
  • Bo → Bosse
  • Daniel → Danne
  • Filip → Fille
  • Frans → Frasse
  • Fredrik → Fredde
  • Gustav → Gurra
  • Henrik → Henke
  • Henning → Henke
  • Jan → Janne
  • Joakim → Jocke
  • John → Jonte
  • Jonatan → Jonte
  • Karl → Kalle
  • Krister → Krille
  • Kristian → Krille
  • Kristoffer → Krille, Stoffe
  • Lars → Lasse
  • Leif → Leffe
  • Magnus → Mange
  • Mikael → Micke
  • Oskar → Orre
  • Per → Pelle, Perra
  • Pontus → Putte
  • Roland → Rolle
  • Sebastian → Sebbe, Basse
  • Sigvard → Sigge
  • Stefan → Steffe
  • Sven → Svempa, Svenne
  • Tobias → Tobbe
  • Tomas → Tompa
  • Torbjörn → Tobbe
  • Torsten → Totta
  • Ulf → Uffe
  • Viktor → Vicke
  • Vilhelm → Ville

These forms may be quite old: the oldest possible attestation may be the name Sibbi on the Rök Runestone dating to about 800 AD.

See also

References

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, online edition: "hypocorism". Retrieved 24 June 2008.
  2. ^ http://www.esperanto.mv.ru/Seppik/lec19.html