hypocorism
{{Short description|Diminutive form of a name}}
{{Distinguish|Hypocrisy}}
{{Redirect|Pet name|naming of pets|Personal name#Names of pets|other uses}}
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A hypocorism ({{IPAc-en|h|aɪ|ˈ|p|ɒ|k|ər|ɪ|z|əm}} {{respell|hy|POK|ər|iz|əm}} or {{IPAc-en|ˌ|h|aɪ|p|ə|ˈ|k|ɒr|ɪ|z|əm}} {{respell|HY|pə|KORR|iz|əm}}; from Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|ὑποκόρισμα}} {{lang|grc-Latn|hypokórisma}}; sometimes also hypocoristic), or pet name, is a name used to show affection for a person.{{Cite web |title=hypocorism |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocorism |website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |language=en |access-date=2 February 2021}}{{Cite web |title=pet name |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pet%20name |access-date=2022-12-20 |website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary |language=en}} It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as Izzy for Isabel or Bob for Robert, or it may be unrelated.
Origins and usage
Etymologically, the term hypocorism is from Ancient Greek {{lang|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|ὑποκόρισμα}}}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|hypokórisma}}), from {{lang|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|ὑποκορίζεσθαι}}}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|hypokorízesthai}}), meaning 'to call by endearing names'. The prefix {{lang|grc-Latn|hypo-}} refers in this case to creating a diminutive, something that is smaller in a tender or affectionate sense; the root {{lang|grc-Latn|korízesthai}} originates in the Greek for 'to caress' or 'to treat with tokens of affection', and is related to the words {{lang|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|κόρος}}}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|kóros}}) 'boy, youth' and {{lang|grc|{{wikt-lang|grc|κόρη}}}} ({{lang|grc-Latn|kórē}}) 'girl, young woman'.
In linguistics, the term can be used more specifically to refer to the morphological process by which the standard form of the word is transformed into a form denoting affection, or to words resulting from this process. In English, a word is often clipped down to a closed monosyllable and then suffixed with ‑y or ‑ie (phonologically {{IPAc-en|-|i}}).{{cite book |last1=McGregor |first1=William B. |title=Linguistics: An Introduction |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |isbn=9780567483393 |edition=2. |url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/linguistics-an-introduction-9780567483393/|page=86|author-link=William B. McGregor}} Sometimes the suffix -o is included as well as other forms{{cite web |last1=Bromhead |first1=Helen |title=Gatho, lippy, rego — why Australians love hypocoristics|url=https://www.lingoblog.dk/en/gatho-lippy-rego-why-australians-love-hypocoristics/ |website=Lingoblog.dk |access-date=7 July 2022 |date=9 March 2021}}{{cite book | last=Simpson | first=Jane | title=The Pacific and Australasia | chapter=Hypocoristics in Australian English | publisher=Mouton de Gruyter | year=2008 | doi=10.1515/9783110208412.2.398 | pages=398–414| isbn=978-3-11-019637-5 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333036715}}{{cite news|author-last=Lipski|author-first=John M.|year=1995|title=Spanish hypocoristics: towards a unified prosodic analysis|journal=Hispanic Linguistics|volume=6|pages=387–434|url=http://test.scripts.psu.edu/users/j/m/jml34/hypo.pdf|access-date=2022-07-07|archive-date=2022-07-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707213500/http://test.scripts.psu.edu/users/j/m/jml34/hypo.pdf|url-status=dead}} or templates.{{cite journal | last1=Davis | first1=Stuart | last2=Zawaydeh | first2=Bushra Adnan | title=Arabic Hypocoristics and the Status of the Consonantal Root | journal=Linguistic Inquiry | publisher=The MIT Press | volume=32 | issue=3 | year=2001 | issn=0024-3892| jstor=4179159 | pages=512–520 | doi=10.1162/002438901750372540 | s2cid=18921857 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4179159 | access-date=7 July 2022| url-access=subscription }}
See also
References
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Category:Rhetorical techniques
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