-culus

culus cülus English Suffix en -cule diminutive suffix. Usage notes In English this suffix exists only synchronically, as English words that end in -culus (listed below) are borrowed intact from Latin, rather than diachronically being an English root plus an English suffix. Derived terms en derivable synchronically only canaliculus colliculus flocculus fonticulus funiculus homunculus loculus monticulus oculus panniculus pediculus ranunculus sacculus surculus ventriculus Latin Alternative forms la -clus Etymology la diminutive :inh itc-pro:*-kelos suffix la of diminutive suffix la -ulus on nouns ending in la -cus, used freely. However, osc zicolom day acc. sg., from itc-pro *djēkelos, indicates that this suffix may be old and reconstructible to la itc-pro *-kelos. Pronunciation -culus Stressed on the antepenult, as in la masculus [ˈmas.kʊ.ɫʊs]. Suffix -culus la -ulus added to a noun to form a diminutive of that noun. added to an adjective to form a diminutive of that adjective. Usage notes The ending -culus occurs originally and frequently in diminutives formed from third declension nouns with stems ending in /n/ or /s/.Derivation of Adjectives: Nominal Adjectives in Meagan Ayer, Allen and Greenough’s New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2014. It is used also to form diminutives of other third declension nouns and adjectives (particularly i-stems and r-stems, sometimes others), and of fourth and fifth declension nouns. In the form -iculus, it is sometimes used instead of la -ulus to form diminutives of other consonant stem nouns or of first or second declension nouns."The Formation of Latin Diminutives of Nouns and Adjectives," Ian Andreas Miller, ResearchGate, Jan 2012 Rarely, la -culus is attached directly after la -r- of a second-declension noun with a stem in la -ro- (e.g. la puer, la puerculus; compare the more regularly formed la puellus and la puerulus). As with other Latin diminutive suffixes, the gender of the diminutive regularly matches the gender of the base noun. The unextended form la -culus, -cula, -culum cannot directly follow a consonant other than /l/, /n/, /r/, or /s/. After other consonants, the suffix la -cul- occurs only with an intervening vowel before it: this is usually short la -i-, but can also be la -ī-, la -ē-, la -u-, la -ū-: la -icul- with short /i/ occurs in diminutives of many third-declension nouns and adjectives, and also regularly in diminutives of fourth-declension nouns (where /i/ replaces the stem-final /u/ of the base noun, as in la acicula, la corniculum and la geniculum from la acus, la cornū, la genū). Etymologically, this /i/ is often derived from the stem-final vowel of the base word: many words that form diminutives in la -icul- were originally i-stem forms (whether of the "pure" parisyllabic or neuter types, or the "mixed" imparisyllabic type). Likewise, the use of la -icul- for diminutives of fourth declension nouns reflects the regular vowel reduction of the fourth-declension stem vowel /u/ to /i/ in a word-medial open syllable. However, la -icul- can also be found in diminutives of third-declension words that are etymologically consonant-stem nouns (such as la anaticula, from la anas) and on the other hand, some i-stem nouns form diminutives in la -cul- with no preceding la -I- (such as la animalculum, from la animal). Synchronically, therefore, the /i/ can be interpreted as part of the suffix (making la -iculus an allomorph of la -culus) or as a linking vowel. la -īcul- with long /iː/ occurs unpredictably as an alternative to la -icul- in diminutives of third-declension nouns, mostly ones that end in la -is in the nominative singular, such as la canīcula, la febrīcula, la cutīcula, la crātīcula from la canis, la febris, la cutis, la crātis. There is no definite rule for the use of la -īcul- vs. la -icul-. In poetry, the selection might be affected by metrical constraints, since a pronunciation such as la cŭtĭcŭla, with three short syllables in a row, would not be allowed in dactylic verse. Priscian describes short la -icul- as the regular pronunciation and explains Juvenal's use of la cutīcula as a poetic license.Grammatici Latini: Libros I - XII continens, Volumes 1-2 106 https://books.google.com/books?id=RbdGAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA106 in "is" vero vel in "e" desinentia omnia vel in "ns" monosyllaba vel in "rs" dativo corripientia i assumunt supra dictas syllabas et faciunt diminutivum, ut ignis igniculus, testis testiculus, navis navicula, cutis cuticula, avis avicula, clavis clavicula, rete reticulum, fons fonticulus, mons monticulus, pons ponticulus, lens lenticula, pars particula, dulcis dulciculus et dulcicula dulciculum, securis securicula. [...] Et cum omnia huiuscemodi diminutiva tam paenultimam quam antepaenultimam corripiunt, "cuticula" i antepaenultimam producit. Iuvenalis: "combibet aestivum contracta cuticula solem", quod eum facere metri necessitas compulit: quattuor enim breves habens dictio in heroico poni aliter non poterat Priscian Priscian Martin Hertz c. 500 AD 1855 However, Romance descendants imply that the pronunciation la -īcul- (syncopated to la -īcl-) became popular in speech for certain diminutives, including some from nouns that did not end in la -is in Classical Latin, such as la falcīcula from la falx. For example, Romance outcomes of la -īcl- are seen in French fr lentille, Portuguese pt lentilha and Italian it lenticchia from *la lentīcla (a variant form of la lenticula): these are distinct from the outcomes of la -icl- as seen in French fr oreille, Portuguese pt orelha, Italian it orecchia from Latin la ōrĭcla (a variant form of la auricula). -ēcul- with long /eː/ occurs in diminutives of fifth declension nouns (such as la diēcula from la diēs) and sometimes in diminutives of third declension nouns that end in la -ēs in the nominative singular (such as la nūbēcula from la nūbēs). la -uculus -ucul- with short /u/ occurs as a Late Latin variant of la -icul-. It perhaps originated in diminutives of fourth-declension nouns, such as la genuculum (an alternative to la geniculum, from la genū) but it was eventually attached also to third- and second-declension nouns. There is also some evidence in Romance languages for a variant la -ūcul-, with long /uː/, as in la acūcula. The stem that the diminutive is built on is sometimes different from the stem found in the genitive singular of the base: Some diminutives end in la -scul-. In this context, la -s- often represents the original stem-final *s of a word that developed la -r- in the oblique stem due to the sound change of rhotacism. (Original stem-final la s was usually retained in the nominative singular form of neuter nouns, but was analogically replaced by la -r in the nominative singular of masculine nouns such as la rūmor m; nevertheless, the diminutive la rūmusculus is formed as if from the original oblique stem ending in la *-os-.) From these, the frequent ending la -usculus was occasionally extended by analogy to form diminutives of nouns that were not etymologically s-stems; thus, the r-stem nouns la marmor (genitive la marmoris) and la iecur (genitive la iecinoris or la iecoris) have diminutives la marmusculum and la iecusculum, the o-stem noun la rāmus (genitive la rāmī) has a diminutive la rāmusculus, and the ā-stem noun la herba (genitive la herbae) has a diminutive la herbuscula. N-stem nouns (most of which have nominatives ending in la -ō and oblique stems ending in la -ōn- or la -in-) form diminutives in la -un-cul- because of regular sound changes that turned original itc-pro *ō or itc-pro *o into short /u/ before the cluster /nk/. This vocalism was extended by analogy to diminutives from n-stem nouns that originally had other vowels before the stem-final /n/ (such as la pecten, la pectinis, diminutive la pectunculus). Occasionally, the ending la -unculus was extended to form diminutives of nouns that were not n-stems. Examples: la ōs mouth ōsculum little mouth n n ōs, ōris la lepus lepusculus hare young hare, leveret m m lepus, leporis la arbor arbuscula tree shrub f f arbor, arboris la uxor uxorcula wife little wife f f uxor, uxōris la sermō sermunculus talk, rumor rumor; small talk m m sermō, sermōnis la carō caruncula flesh little bit of flesh f f carō, carnis la clāvis key clāvicula little key f f clāvis, clāvis Declension -culus Derived terms la la -unculus rebracketing la -usculus rebracketing la -uculus rebracketing Descendants From -ĭculus (accusative -ĭculum): pt -elho es -ejo From -īculus (accusative -īculum): es -ijo References la diminutive suffixes