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> Is it still used in common English? pumpkin Though now I think about it, it's very odd diminutive. Pumpkins are large rather than small.
by stevesimmons 2y ago
> Is it still used in common English?
pumpkin
Though now I think about it, it's very odd diminutive. Pumpkins are large rather than small.
- munificent 2y agoI don't think pumpkin gets is name from the "-kin" diminutive. Etymologyonline says: 1640s, "gourd-like fruit, of a deep orange-yellow color when ripe, of a coarse decumbent vine native to North America," an alteration of pompone, pumpion "melon, pumpkin" (1540s), from French pompon, from Latin peponem (nominative pepo) "melon," from Greek pepon "melon." So the "n" has been on the end of the word for a long time.
- Aloisius 2y agoOED says it was remodeled with the diminutive: > Alteration of pumpion, variant of pompion n., with remodelling of the ending after words in ‑kin suffix.
- ianburrell 2y agoDictionary says that pumpkin came from French pompon (large melon) and was originally pumpion. English colonists named the orange melon they discovered in New World pumpkin. Maybe it was joke pronunciation, calling large melon small. It could be a term of endearment for favorite melon. It could be they wanted to distinguish between all large melons and this large melon. Or it could be pronunciation drifting from use.
- onlypassingthru 2y ago... or were early New World squash just of the smaller variety and only recently have we selectively bred them once that Mendel fellow started messing around with his peas?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Earw0rm 2y agoJack o' lanterns are large, but plenty of the older varieties are softball sized.