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I recently read a joke about the use of Latin -tor and -trix nouns in modern English. The punchline was that "trix is for kids".

This got me wondering: Is there a way to make diminutives from agent nouns?

For example, knowing that the diminutive form of rex is regulus, the diminutive form of saltatrix might conceivably be saltatrigula, although I admit it sounds a bit clunky, and it could be completely wrong.

I have no idea what the masculine equivalent would be, however. Saltatorulus sounds much more wrong than saltatrigula.

Are there any existing diminutives of agent (-tor/-trix) nouns?

3 Answers 3

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There are agent nouns for all genders. For example, saltare gives rise to saltator, saltatrix, and saltatrum. For more details, see this question.

The stem is revealed by the genitive form. For my three examples they are saltator- (third conjugation), saltatric- (third), and saltatr- (second). (The stem of rex is reg-, so it has a g instead of a c.) If you want to use the usual -ulus/-ula/-ulum for diminutives, it would have to be attached to these stems. So the natural guesses would be saltatorulus, saltatricula, and saltatrulum.

Then it remains to check whether such diminutives are actually in use. The word saltatricula is post-classical but attested. The given translation is, unsurprisingly, "little dancing girl". For another similar example, cicatricula is a diminutive of cicatrix, and also nutricula comes from nutrix. These make a decent case for diminutives of words ending in -trix, including feminine agents.

I found no examples of -torulus (apart from the word torulus, a small torus). A different kind of diminutive suffix might work, and -torculus sounds more natural to me. Indeed, it does exist: amatorculus. I found no other examples though, so perhaps there is another way or this just is so rare. If you need a diminutive of a masculine agent, I suggest -torculus.

I found no examples of -trulum or -trellum. They both sound reasonable to me so I would go with either of them, but I have not managed to find any examples of such words in a dictionary.

So, the three little dancers should probably be saltatorculus, saltatricula, and saltatrulum or saltatrellum. Such diminutives are rarely pre-existing words, but diminutives and agents are productive in Latin and especially in proper context such words are easily understandable.

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  • If there are/were any neuter diminutives old enough to take part in the relevant sound changes, it would probably have ended up as -tellum. No idea if there are any of those either, though. Commented Jan 17, 2020 at 0:01
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    Thanks for a great answer! And for pointing out the neuter form, which had slipped my mind entirely.
    – Dhi
    Commented Jan 17, 2020 at 17:15
  • Wells, there's always the good old "saltatrix parva" :P Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 19:15
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The example that I'm familiar with is meretricula, found in, e.g., Plautus, Rudens 62-63:

ipse hinc ilico
conscendit navem, avehit meretriculas.

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Are there any existing diminutives of agent (-tor/-trix) nouns?

Yes, though the rarest.

Examples for -trix have been already mentioned by @Joonas and @cnread: nutricula, meretricula...

I'd like to add an example for an adjective derived from a -tor word: punctatoriola, as the diminutive of punctatorius from punctator: the reference is Festi Fragm. e Cod. Farn.:

"punctatoriolas levis pugnas appellat Cato in ea, quam dixit de re Histriae militari".


If you'd like to know some good sources addressing the topic, you might be interested in:

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    That's not quite the same though, is it? The agent noun itself isn't being made into a diminutive. Instead the derived adjective punctatorius is. Diminutives from adjectives aren't so uncommon (whereas, apparently, diminutives of masculine agent nouns are.)
    – cnread
    Commented Jan 17, 2020 at 0:21
  • @cnread I agree with you; however, I've reported the hypothesis of Hanssen, who says that Cato may have used there the same word *punctator i.sstatic.net/XhNKf.png Commented Jan 17, 2020 at 7:34
  • 2 questions: 1. Why is it nutricola (sounds like a healthy soda, btw) but metetricula? 2. What does it mean when you use the diminutive form of an adjective? Is it like prexifing an adjective in English with "a little"?
    – Dhi
    Commented Jan 17, 2020 at 17:19
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    @Dhi Because obviously I've miswritten XD Thanks, it's nutricula, otherwise yeah it would be a healthy soda (i.sstatic.net/pX0SQ.png), or a jellyfish. There are in Latin (also in Italian) diminutives of adjectives - not for all adjectives though. In English they are usually rendered as you write, by prefixing (a little, a bit, quite), or by using word such teeny, weeny... Commented Jan 17, 2020 at 17:48
  • barcarole (a kind of song), if from barca (a kind of ship, from Egy bar) would exhibit o anyway. Wonder if -ca is also diminutive, cp Ger -chen, -ken, Pol -ska (not to be confused with Slavic fem. suf. -ka?).
    – vectory
    Commented Jan 19, 2020 at 9:16

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