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-el (nominal)
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Dutch has two unproductive nominal Germanic suffixes -el /əl/: one is found in nouns derived from nouns and has a diminutive semantics (druppel (small) drop < drup, drop drop, wegel small road < weg road), the other derives nouns from verbs and has a semantics difficult to generalize over (zetel seat < zitten to sit, sleutel key < sluiten to lock). Both are unstressed (because of schwa) and cohering. Nouns in -el are of common gender and have a plural form in -s.

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Dutch has a number of native suffixes -el, including the one found in verbs that are basically frequentative(De Jager 1875-1878), e.g. duikelen to tumble (< duiken to dive). All are unstressed (because of schwa), cohering and unproductive. Haas (1993: 255-256) distinguish two nominal ones, a denominal one and a deverbal one. Nouns in -el are of common gender and have a plural form in -s.

  • denominal -el derives nouns with a diminutive meaning from nouns: knokel knuckle (< obsolete knook bone), luifel awning, canopy (< obsolete luif roof, canopy).
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    eikel acorn (< eik oak) and obsolete beukel beechnut (< beuk beech) are derived by means of -el, but only few native speakers will recognize the diminutive meaning. wegel small road (< weg road) is only found in Belgium.

    Haas (1993: 255) point out that the analysis of formations such as trommel drum and druppel drop is not straightforward: either they are denominal -el derivations from trom drum and drup drop, respectively, or they are the result of conversion of the verbs trommelen to drum and druppelen to drip, to trickle, which are themselves derived by means of the frequentative -el from the simplex verbs trommen to drum (obsolete) and druppen to drip, to trickle, respectively. Or perhaps these verbs are the result of conversion of the derived nouns? Other cases in point are krabbel scribble, scratch, kreukel wrinkle and kruimel crumb with their corresponding verbs krabben, krabbelen to scratch, kreuken, kreukelen to wrinkle and kruimelen to drop crumbles.

  • deverbal -el is found in nouns derives from native verb stems, often with ablaut or other types of stem allomorphy: zetel seat < zitten to sit, wrevel spite, resentment < wrijven to rub, sleutel key < sluiten to lock, to close, vleugel wing < vliegen to fly, bundel bundle, sheaf < binden to bind. Note that there is abundant stem allomorphy. Haas (1993: 255) qualify the semantics of these formations as "diverse", Van der Sijs (2001: 162 ff) calls them "instrumentals".
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Haas (1993: 255) analyse stekel prickle, sting as denominal but perhaps it is derived from the verb steken to sting, to prick (WNT).

Haas (1993: 255) also point at vaandel banner, pennant, standard as the only neuter case, but this may be a loan from German (Etymologiebank). Zadel saddle probably contains a different suffix, one with a collective semantics (Etymologiebank). Affixes.org analyses English sickle (cf. Dutch sikkel sickle) as derived by means of -le, the English counterpart of Dutch -el, but Etymologiebank considers it to be a remnant of Latin morphology. English apple (cf. Dutch appel apple), is also analyzed as containing -le, but Etymologiebank hypothesizes that it is a cognate.

Nouns derived with -el can enter in all kind of morphological processes, even diminutive formation, as seen in cases like druppeltje drop-DIM-DIM small drop.

References
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
  • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
  • Jager, Arie de1875-1878Woordenboek der frequentatieven in het NederlandschGoudaVan Goor
  • Sijs, Nicoline van der2001Chronologisch woordenboek. De ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissenAmsterdamL.J. Veen
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