What’s a hypocorism?

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A hypocorism is an altered, usually abbreviated, version of a word or name that is usually used in informal or family situations. Nicknames, pet names, and terms of endearment, such as those used between friends, family members, or lovers, are often hypocorisms. The most conspicuous hypocoristic forms derive from people’s proper names, but can also be formed from other nouns. Hypocorisms exist in many languages ​​and are formed in many different ways.

In English and a number of other languages, such as French and German, a common way to form a hypocorism is to simply shorten the original name. For example, given names Alexander, Benjamin and Jennifer are often shortened to their first syllable to become Al, Ben and Jen. Some nouns can be shortened to a single successive syllable, such as turning Ezekiel into Zeke.

A hypocorism sometimes involves the alteration of the name, which may or may not include shortening it. The creation of the hypocoristic names Ted, Jack and Bob by Edward, John and Robert are an example of this. In some cases a hypocorism retains only a small resemblance to the original name. For example, Hal and Hank are both used as family forms of the name Henry.

A type of hypocorism can also be formed using a diminutive – an altered form of the noun that conveys smallness. In English this is commonly done by adding “-ie” or “-y” to a noun. For example, the diminutive of the name John is Johhny or Johnnie. The diminutive is often formed from an already altered version of the name that has also been altered in one of the ways described above. For example, Timothy and William can become Timmy and Billy.

Other languages ​​have their own ways of forming diminutives and often use suffixes as well. Latin uses the suffixes “-ulus” and “-ula”, as in the name of the infamous emperor Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his childhood nickname Caligula (“little boot”). Russian has a number of diminutive suffixes used for nouns, with “-ya” and “-ushka” being common examples, and given names often have many possible diminutive variants. The name Ivan, for example, can become Ivanushka, Vanyusha or Vanya, among many other possibilities.

Using a hypocoristic version of a person’s name usually implies some degree of familiarity or at least informality. A man named James is more likely to be called Jim or Jimmy by his friends or his wife than by a stranger or business client, for example. Diminutives are commonly used to address children, although they are also used to express familiarity or affection between adults.

Addressing someone by a hypocoristic version of their name in less familiar contexts is often seen as rude, condescending, or offensive. Diminutives, in particular, can be used as slurs in some languages ​​when used outside of a friendly context, because addressing someone by a childish or abridged version of their name can be used to express contempt or contempt by implying that the person at addressed is weak, unimportant, or unworthy of respect. Inappropriate use of a hypocoristic version of a woman’s name in a formal context is also often considered sexist or demeaning.

Hypocorisms can also be used for other nouns, including common nouns and other types of proper nouns. Their hypocorstic forms are made in the same way as those for given names, most commonly by shortening the word and adding a suffix to make it diminutive. This includes words like “telly,” short for “television,” and “film,” which was originally a shortened form of “moving picture” but has now almost completely replaced the term from which it derives. Some hypocoristic names for objects are based on the way young children speak or on the simplified, high-pitched form of speech often used by parents with young children. The use of the diminutives “doggy” and “kitty” to refer to cats and dogs is a common example.

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