Thread: "Undiminutive"?

Originally Posted by Kudesnik

Чудовище (a monster) isn't augmentative, it has no "normal" form. "Чудище" (stress on "у") means the same, it looks like augmentative from "чудо" (not a marvel, but a fairy tale monster again). Both "чудище" and "чудо" (as a monster) are obsolete, most typically you may encounter them in skazki ("чудище ужасное, чудо лесное").

There are lot's of nouns with -ище that are not augmentative (училище, стойбище, толковище).

Isn't it possible that some or even all of these words used to be formed as augmentatives and just lost the connection to the basic word? The funny thing about Чудовище is that it's German counterpart "Ungeheuer" uses an augmentative prefix un-, but there is no "Geheuer" anymore either, outside of a single fixed phrase where it is an adjective meaning "understandable".

Another interesting suffix is -ющ, used in adjectives:

Вдруг откуда-то хитрющий котище
И шипит он в длинющий усище.

And does the former translate to "very smart large cat"? The second I don't get at all...

Originally Posted by bitpicker

Isn't it possible that some or even all of these words used to be formed as augmentatives and just lost the connection to the basic word?

I think you guess right.

And does the former translate to "very smart large cat"? The second I don't get at all...

Yes, and the second transletes to "very long huge whisker".

Originally Posted by bitpicker

Isn't it possible that some or even all of these words used to be formed as augmentatives and just lost the connection to the basic word?

No, mostly not. There are other meanings of this suffix, which are almost lost in time. Suffix -ище had meaning "a place for" (something or doing something) and produces neuter noun. So we have words like стойбище, пастбище, лежбище, убежище, кладбище (from verbs) топорище, голенище, огнище (from nouns) и т.д.

Originally Posted by bitpicker

And does the former translate to "very smart large cat"? The second I don't get at all...

Very cunning large cat. As for second, there is a way of speaking: when someone with усы (mustache or whisker) makes some sound (like hisses) with his mouth, it can be described as "шипит в усы".

BTW котище does not necessarily mean very large cat. The cat may be just very prominent in some sense. A special cat. Impressive. This is true about this suffix in general. But by default it means "very large".