iminutive

iminutive

English

Etymology

Back formation from diminutive.

Noun

iminutive (plural not attested)

1. (grammar, rare) In Yiddish, a second-degree or more intensive diminutive form.
   • 1984, A Faber, RD King, “Yiddish and the settlement of Ashkenazic Jewry”, in Mankind quarterly, volume 24, page 393:

     What is not common, however, in German dialects is the existence of an intensive diminutive (or, as it sometimes is called, an iminutive) having the shape -ele.

   • 2005, Neil G. Jacobs, Yiddish: A Linguistic Introduction:

     Faber and King note that Yiddish and Bavarian both have an "intensive diminutive," i.e., a second degree of diminution (iminutive); thus, StY štot 'city,' štetl 'market town', štetɘlɘ 'little market town [endearing].'

   • 2008, Max Weinreich, History of the Yiddish Language:

     The main point in the diminutive and iminutive system is, however, not only that elements of two dialectally different subsystems of German have fused in the German component.

   • 2015, Lily Kahn, Colloquial Yiddish:

     In addition to the diminutive, Yiddish has an 'iminutive', which is used to indicate that something is even smaller (as well as cuter, more lovable, or possibly more inferior) than a diminutive noun.

Translations

second-degree diminutive in Yiddish

Yiddish: please add this translation if you can