Morpheme
-illa
Type
suffix
Denotation
diminuative suffix denoting “of” (plural -illae)
Etymology
(1) Latin -illa, -illus, from rebracketing of diminutive suffix -lus; (2) Spanish -illa; Old Spanish -iella; Latin -ellam, from -ella, from -ellus, variant of -ulus from rebracketing of diminutives (e.g. libellus from liber + -lus, fēmella from fēmina + -la) and diminutives of diminutives (porcellus from porculus + -lus), from -lus
Evidence
cabrilla, chinchilla, coronilla, flotilla, guerrilla, hydrilla, orchilla, rachilla, rhachilla, seguidilla, tortilla
Notes
<ll> spells [j] in loanwords directly from Spanish
See Also
-ac(u)le [-acule, -acle], -c(u)le [-cule, -cle], -cula, -culae, -culum, -culus, -culi, -cello, -celli, -ula, -ula, -ulae, -(u)le [-ule, -le], -ulum, -ulus, -uli, -ulo, -ellus, -ellum, -ella
