Reconstruction:Latin/peccuinus

This Latin entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Latin

Alternative forms

• *pittinus

Etymology

Variant of pittinus, diminutive of *pittus, from earlier *piccus, borrowed from Proto-Celtic *bikkos (“small, little”). Alteration of -tt-/-cc- also possibly due to the influence of paucus (“few, little”).

Adjective

*peccuinus (feminine *peccuina, neuter *peccuinum); first/second-declension adjective (Proto-Romance)

1. small, little

Descendants

• Italian: piccino
• Mirandese: pequeinho
• Occitan:

  Gascon: pouninn

  Provençal: pechin

• Portuguese: pequeno
• Romanian: puțin, pucin
• Romanian: pic
• Sardinian: pithinnu
• Spanish: pequeño

Further reading

• Pianigiani, Ottorino (1907) “piccino”, in Vocabolario etimologico della lingua italiana (in Italian), Rome: Albrighi & Segati
• Coromines, Joan (1961) “pequeño”, in Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana [Brief etymological dictionary of the Spanish language] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 450b