Q. #-incë suf. “diminutive ending” (Category: Small, Little)
The most common Quenya diminutive suffix as seen in words like Atarinkë “Little Father” (PM/353), lepinke “little finger” (VT47/26; VT48/5), or luminke “a little while” (CPT/1296). It is used to indicate little things, but it is also used to form affectionate words like hérinkë “*little lady” (UT/195). With adjectives it means “a little, somewhat, -ish” as in luininkĭ “bluish” (VT48/18). It is clearly based on the primitive diminutive suffix ✶-i(n)ki which also produced Sindarin diminutive S. -eg/-ig.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had suffixes ᴱQ. -īne, -inēa under the early root ᴱ√INI “small” (QL/42), but also “dim[inutive] endings” ᴱQ. -pi, pit, -pin, -pinke under the early root ᴱ√PIK or ᴱ√PINI (QL/73). The Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s had diminutive ᴱQ. -(i)tsa with adverbial variant -ste(n) (PE14/47, 80), while the typescript version also had diminutive prefixes ᴱQ. mi(e)-, miki-, mike- and ᴱQ. itsi-, itse- (PE41/81). The last of these was often used as a suffix in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in words like ᴱQ. inwilitse “little fairy” (QL/42) and ᴱQ. miqilitse “little or tender kiss” (QL/61). The Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s also had suffixes for “less intense”, including -íne and -ínea as mentioned above, but also ᴱQ. -(w)inte or -linte, (PE14/49, 81), with variants -inya, -(w)inta, -(l)inta appearing only in the typescript version (PE14/81).
Reference ✧ UT/195 ✧ #-inkë
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