Cognate Set 6707 – Meaning: small

IE-CoR reference form:
*leit-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Germanic
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Justification:
No certain etymology outside of Germanic (Lehmann 1986:231, Kroonen 2013:339; cf. Heidermanns 1993:371-372 for discussion of variant forms within Germanic).
Found in clades:
Germanic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 1 clade by 13 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
109   Swedish liten ˈlìːtən
105   Norwegian: Bokmål liten ˈlìːtən ˈlìːtɛn more basic
110   Danish lille ˈlilə more frequent
104   Faroese lítil ˈlʊiːtʰɪl more basic TKD
103   Icelandic lítill ˈliːtɪd̥l more basic
107   Elfdalian litn lɪ̀ːtn̩ lɪ̀ːtn̩ "smą̊" is the plural form, "lisl-" in compounds
108   Old Swedish litil ˈlitil litil
114   Frisian lyts lits More 'thin' than 'small'?
111   Old English lȳtel ˈlyːtel ˈlyːtel
118   Old Saxon luttil ˈluttil ˈluttil
102   Old Icelandic lítill ˈliːtilː ˈliːtilː
101   Gothic leitils 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 ˈliːtils ˈliːtils
106   Norwegian: Nynorsk liten ˈliːtn̩ ˈliːtɛn
References
  • Faltings, Volkert F.: 353-354
    For the Frisian form, cf. s.v. leitika- 'klein'.
  • Heidermanns, Frank: 371-372
    S.v. Gmc. *leitila- 'klein'. From the root *leit- there also are *leitena-, *leitika-/*littika-. Beside these is a root *lū̆t- in *lut(t)i-, *luttika-, *lūtila-/*luttila-. It alternates also a) ei/i and ū/u, b) t and tt, c) the suffixes -ena-, -ika-, and -ila-. The root *leit- is common Germanic, while *litt- and lūt- are only West Germanic. Close possibilities for comparisons outside of Germanic are lacking.
  • Kroonen, Guus: 339
    S.v. Proto-Germanic *lītila- 'small'. The derivation of the word is problematic, and the radical alternation in the closely related OE lȳt, OS lū̆t, MHG luz 'few' *līt- ~ *lūt-, *lutt- remains unexplained. Until this alternation has been resolved it will be difficult to find a good etymology.
  • Lehmann, Winfred P.: 231
    S.v. Goth. L33 leitils 'μικρός', 'little'. No etymology.
  • Lühr, Rosemarie and Bichlmeier, Harald and Kozianka, Maria and Schuhmann, Roland: 1559-1561
    S.v. OHG luzzi 'klein, winzig, gering' in other Germanic languages corresponding to OS lut 'wenig', OE lyt 'wenig, klein' if the vowel in both is short.
  • Scarborough, Matthew:
    Root ref. form *leit- in this class follows Heidermanns 1993.