1035: False Correlations: Diminutive -el Oct 9, 2017

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One thing to be aware of when looking at patterns in various aspects of language is that even if two things look to be related, that does not mean that there is a valid correlation to be made. For instance, the words 'kernel' and 'satchel' both are historically diminutives with the '-el' ending. Nevertheless, due in part to the fact that English is somewhat of a hodgepodge of other languages, it happens that these two words come from completely different origins. Unlike other suffixes like '-en' [1] or '-et' that act as diminutive suffixes for multiple words that derive from the same language, the '-el' in 'kernel' comes from the Old English diminutive 'corn', 'cyrnel' while for 'satchel', the ending isn't really a suffix at all but instead comes from the Latin 'sacellus' from 'saccus' meaning 'bag', via the Old French 'sachel'. Interestingly enough, the verb 'sachet' is also a diminutive that ultimately comes from 'saccus', but here it takes the standard diminutive '-et' suffix in French.

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