ON THE ORIGIN OF ADJECTIVES WITH THE SUFFIX -intelis (-ė)

Abstract

Diminutives with the suffix -intelis (< -int- + -elis), in the 16th17th centuries characteristic not only of the West Lithuanian (as in Modern Lithuanian) but also of the East Lithuanian dialects (cf. mažiñtelis ‘very small’ DK 7₁₆; DP l0x; SD¹ 76; SD³ 53,163, 434; SP 1299₁₈-₁₉, 366₃), are derived from archaic *-nt- nouns (cf. Lith.vien-iñt-elis and vien-ùnt-elis ‘quite alone’ wien-uñtas ‘someone’). In Indo-European they denote some kind of attributive (cf. participles and old hydronyms, e. g. Lith. Sãlantas) and diminutive meaning (cf. Lith. balt-iñt-elis and OCzech. běl-úcí ‘very white’, also Hitt. aššuwant- : aššu- ‘good’).