ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2352
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2352
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25 Sep 2001
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for information about the formation of diminutives of
Swiss-German feminine given names using the suffix <-i>, particularly in
the 15th and 16th centuries.  You noted that you use the form <Kathri> as a
diminutive of <Katherine>.  Here is what we have found.

The use of <-i> as a diminutive ending in German began at least by the
second half of the 13th century.  Early examples include <Beli> 1267 and
<Jutzci> 1295.  Other examples have been Latinized, with the German <-i>
replaced by Latin <-ina>: <Belina>, <Ellina>, <Elsina>, <Engina>, <Gerina>,
<Gisina>, <Gutine>, <Hedina>, <Hiltina>, <Irmina>, <Itina>, <Juczina>,
<Metzina>, <Richina>.  A similar pattern exists for masculine names, with
Latin <-inus> for diminutives in <-i> [1].

With one or two exceptions, all of the feminine examples listed above are
derived from German roots [2], with the diminutive <-i> added to the first
element (prototheme) or part of the first element of a two-element name.
<Gerina> (and the underlying German <Geri>) might have derived from
<Gertrud>, while <Irmina> (and the German form <Irmi>) might be from
<Irmingard>.

The clear exception is <Beli>, <Belina>, from Latin <Bella>, which
demonstrates that imported names were at least sometimes treated similarly
as early as the 13th century.  <Ellina> (German <Elli>) may be another
example, from <Elizabeth>.  By the mid-15th century, a similar diminutive
had been formed from <Katharine>: <Kethe> is recorded in Silesia in 1365,
1369, and 1383; and Martin Luther's wife <Katharina von Bora> was known
familiarly as <Ka:the>.  The colon in the name represents an umlaut (two
dots) over the preceding letter.  These are simply variant spellings of the
name that was later recorded as <Kati> or <Kathi> [3, 4].  We can't date
the last two forms to our period, but given the other evidence, it is
reasonable to speculate that they might have been used in 16th century
German-speaking Switzerland.  <Ka:the> was pronounced \KEH-t@\, where \@\
stands for the sound of the <a> in <about>; <Kathi> and <Kati> were
pronounced \KAH-tee\.

Please note that the names you cited in your letter, <Ba:rli> and <Swanli>,
are not examples of this style of diminutive.  In those cases, the
diminutive ending is <-li>, which is the High German equivalent of Low
German <-lein> [5].

We can't recommend <Kathri> as a plausible period form.  We found no
examples of diminutives in <-ri>, and we feel that the construction
<Kathr-> + <-i> is inconsistent with the evidence: The historical <Kethe>
and <Ka:the> demonstrate that Germans parsed the name <Kathrina> as
<Kath-> plus <-rina>, not <Kathr-> plus <-ina>.


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any part of
it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was assisted in
researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Julie Stampnitzky,
Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  25 Sep 2001


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References

[1] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen
Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1903;
Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966), pp.48-9, 52-3, 63.

[2] Socin, pp.51-64.

[3] Drosdowski, Guenther, _Duden Lexikon der Vornamen_, 2nd ed. (Mannheim:
Dudenverlag, 1974), s.nn. Kati, Ka:the.

[4] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia", revised
edition (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/

[5] High German refers to the dialects of German spoken in the south and
southeastern parts of German-speaking Europe, which were higher in
elevation than the Low German-speaking northern and northwestern region.