Comment by master-lincoln

Comment by master-lincoln 3 days ago

> The "chen" suffix is difficult to pronounce for English speakers, so it's replaced by the word "keys" (as in the buttons of a keyboard)

Not quite. The -ke ending here is just another regional variant of the diminutive. The s at the end is a colloquial plural form.

So the transformation from German to this weird german-english would be:

Knöpfe - Knöpfchen - Knöppkes - Cnoeppkes

sandbach 3 days ago

Another detail you didn't mention: knopp or knoppe is a Low German (northern German) variant of Standard German Knopf. That's where the pf--pp alternation arises.

Reply View 2 replies

nkmnz 3 days ago

Knopp is actually common in southern German dialects as well, including palatinate and hessian. Using -ke for diminutives is common across Westphalia, especially the Munster region.

Reply View | 1 reply
- Pet_Ant 2 days ago
  
  That's interesting because in Polish it is "ek" and my great-grand mother was part of the diaspora there before the war.
  
  Reply View | 0 replies