402 The Loom of Language
p&vero-povermo (poor—poor dear), poco-pochino (little-wee). There Is
scarcely any limit to usage of this sort.
In Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian alike, the chief augmentative
suffix comes from the Latin -one. Hence in Spanish hombre-hombron
(man—big man), in Italian libro-ltbrone (book-tome). The Latin depre-
ciatory suffix -aceus (or -uceus) becomes -acho (or -ucho) in Spanish,
-ami? in Italian. Thus we have the Spanish couplet vino-macho (wine—
poor wine), or the Italian tempo-tempacdo (weather—bad weather).
These affixes are fair game for the beginner. Alfred-accio is good Italian
for naughty Alfred. One prefix deserves special mention. It is the
Italian £~, a shortened form of the Latin &-, e.g. sbandare (disband),
sbarbato (beardless), sbarcare (disembark), sfare (undo), smmuire
(diminish),
FURTHER READING
CHARLES DUFF The Basis and Essentials of French.
The Basis and Essentials of Italian.
The Basis and Essentials of Spanish.
DE BAE2A Brush Up Your Spanish.
HARTOG Brush Up Your French.
TASSINAJRI Brush Up Your Italian.
Also French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish in Hugo's Simplified
System, and Teach Yourself Spanish- Teach Yourself French^ Teach
Yourself Italian in the Teach Yourself Books (English University Press).