Formation of Words. Simple and Complex Words. § 181. SIMPLE WORDS are such as cannot be traced back to any more elementary forms in the language. Such are 1. The Pronominal Forms I, me, thou, he, who. ten. 3. A large number of common NOUNS belonging to the oldest type of English: as, man, boy, girl, dog, cat, sun, moon, earth, star, water, fire, &c. 4. A large number of common monosyllabic ADJECTIVES, also belonging to the oldest type of English : as, good, bad, long, short, black, white, red, blue, sweet, high, low, clear, dark, rough, hard, soft, cold, &c. 5. Very many common monosyllabic VERBS, also belonging to the oldest type of English: as, be, is, go, come, live, die, speak, see, hear, feel, smell, freeze, thaw, blow, flow, &c. 6. The simple PREPOSITIONS: as, in, out, up, down, &c. 7. A few ADVERBS and CONJUNCTIONS: as, now, not, and, for. § 182. COMPLEX WORDS are such as are formed from other words by COMPOSITION or DERIVATION, or by a combination of both processes. § 183. COMPOUND WORDS.-Words formed by the coalescing* of two or more distinct words are called CoмPOUND WORDS: as, rainbow, walking-stick, corn-field, foresee, notwithstanding, nevertheless. When the coalescence is complete, the Compound is written as a single word, as blackbird, sunflower, railway. When the coalescence is less complete, a hyphen is used to tie the component words together: as, Will-o'-the-Wisp, homeward-bound, rosy-fingered, penny-wise, pound-foolish, manof-war, grass-plot, field-botany. Obs. It is often difficult to decide whether a given combination of words should be * Lat. coalescere, to grow into one. accent, we have before us a true compound, even though the compound words are written without any hyphen. Thus, lip-consonant, tooth-consonant, throatconsonant, are true compounds, however written, the accents on the syllables lip, tooth, throat, dominating over the entire word; and the same may be said for the philological terms, Old High Dutch, New High Dutch. So, blackbird (Lat. merula, "the merle"), being a true compound, has but one accent; whereas, if in describing a crow or raven, we were to speak of it as a black bird, each word would bear its own separate accent (Latham). But the ear may often leave us in doubt after all. § 184. DERIVED WORDS. Words formed from other words by some change of form in themselves, or by the addition of some element never found standing by itself, are called DERIVED WORDS or DERIVATIVES. Such are, man-ly, man-ni-kin, man-hood, un-man, from the Noun MAN; spoke, speak-er, speak-ing, be-speak, from the Verb SPEAK; king-ly, king-dom, king-ship, un-king-ed, from KING. Obs. It is sometimes possible to trace back a formative element to a distinct word. Thus, the ending -ly comes from the Adjective like. But since -ly is not used as a separate word, Adjectives and Adverbs in -ly must be regarded as Derivatives rather than as Compounds. § 185. When a Compound word has been taken bodily from another language, it is for us simply a Derived word, although in the language from which we have borrowed. it, it may be a true compound. Thus economy is for the English student a Derived word, being in fact the Greek oikovouía (Lat. œconomia) transferred to our language by a simple change of termination. The composition of the Greek word olkovoμía belongs to Greek etymology. § 186. COMPOUND-DERIVED WORDS.-Some words are at once compound and derived, being formed from two or more words by the addition of an inflexional element :* as, grey-haired, white-robed, web-footed, long-legged, hundred-handed, "many-fountain'd" (Tennyson), "full-faced" (ib.), iron-jointed, "supple-sinewed" (ib.); heart-rending, money-getting, "many-twinkling" (Byron, Keble), "hollow-sounding" (Hemans), all-personifying, "all-governing" (Grote); old-maidish, "screech-owlish" (Carlyle), "oldfriendish-ness" (Q. Rev. example in Earle); "gerundgrinder" (Carlyle); "ill-odorous," i.e. having an ill-odour (E. B. Browning). "In such instances the inflection reacts upon the whole compound with a consolidating force. Where the last member of a linked composite has an inflection, it seems to run back pervadingly through the others, supplying the whole with a thread of coherence." (Earle, p. 512.) [For the inflexional elements employed in such words, see § 191.] § 187. The most numerous and important Compounds are A. Compound Nouns. A. COMPOUND NOUNS. § 188. (1.) The great mass of Compound Nouns are formed by the simple juxtaposition of two Nouns, the former of which modifies the latter: as, song-thrush, missel-thrush, rose-tree, tree-rose, ring-finger, finger-ring, town-hall, parish-church, railway, printing-press, &c. N.B. This class of Compound Nouns far outnumbers all the rest put together. (2.) In some cases an Adjective has coalesced with a Noun from being frequently joined with it in a particular sense: as, freeman, nobleman, black-cock, bluebird, off-side and on-side (in foot-ball). (3.) In a few other cases a Noun appears preceded by a Transitive Verb, of which it is the Object: as, dare-devil, pick-pocket, turn-spit, spit-fire. (Here common phrases have been made Nouns of.) (4.) Also a considerable number of verbal Nouns are found in composition with adverbial prefixes: as, fore-sight, fore-thought, after-thought, after-math (that which is mowed after the first crop), after-glow, after-effect, &c. (5.) A few miscellaneous Noun Compounds remain to be noted such are, god-send, wind-fall, fore-noon, after-noon, ne'er-do-well, forget-me-not, bread-and-butter, no-ball (in cricket), &c. These again are instances of common phrases which have been made Nouns of. B. COMPOUND ADJECTIVES. § 189. (1.) The most important class of Compound Adjectives consists of those in which the meaning of an Adjective is modified by a Noun prefixed: as, snowwhite (white as snow), blood-red (red as blood), ice-cold (cold as ice), sea-green (of a greenish hue resembling the green of the sea), sky-blue (blue as the sky), pitch-dark (dark as pitch), breast-high (up to the breast), &c. (2.) Another class consists of those in which the meaning of an Adjective is modified by an adverbial prefix: as, all-powerful, al-mighty, over-strict, overprecise, non-resident. (3.) Sometimes two Adjectives are brought into juxtaposition, when the former modifies the latter: as, blue-black, blue-green, yellowish-white; "grimwhite" (Carlyle), "miscellaneous-historical" (do.), "mysterious-terrific" (do.); "silent-bare" (È. B. Browning), " innocent-wild" (do.). Such combinations are often used by authors without any idea of their becoming permanent words. Obs. When the two Adjectives are of Latin or Greek origin, they are often tied together by the vowel o [stem-vowel]: as, "theosophico-metaphysical" (Carlyle), "concavo-convex lens" (Galbraith and Haughton). C. COMPOUND VERBS. § 190. Compound Verbs are formed by means of Prefixes: as, fore-tell, out-do, over-do, over-lay, over-lie, underlie, up-rise, &c. [Compare lists of Prefixes, English and Latin, §§ 194, 199.] Many Verbs are really Compounds which have their meaning modified by a Preposition [Adverb] following: as, to call out, drive back, pull down, laugh at, root up, &c. In such cases the Preposition [Adverb] adheres to the Verb in the Passive Voice: as, he was called-out (challenged), the house was pulled-down; to be laughed-at, rooted-up, driven-back. Obs. A few Compound Verbs are formed from a Noun and a Verb: as, to back-bite (i.e. to bite or snarl at a person behind his back); to brow-beat (“to depress with severe brows and stern or lofty looks "-Johnson); to top-dress (dress or manure soil at the top); to hen-peck (Verb formed by false analogy from participial adjective henpecked), &c. § 191. Compounds of other Parts of Speech.-These are mostly of a miscellaneous character. For Compound Pronouns [whoso, whosoever, &c.], see § 98, foll.; Compound Relative Adverbs [whereby, wherein, &c.], see § 165, Obs. ; Compound Prepositions, § 174. Cbs. Other compound Adverbs are of various growths: take as examples, headforemost, upside-down, straightway, eftsoones [= presently: obsol.], in-doors, up-stairs, "plunged elbow-deep" (E. B. Browning), forsooth, somehow, somewhere, somewhen [rare]; nowise, otherwise, by-and-by, of-yore, &c. Derivatives. § 192. There are three principal modes of Derivation :1. By a Prefix: as, do, un-do; say, gain-say; daub, bedaub, &c. 2. By a Suffix or ending: as, good, good-ness. 3. By a change in the body of the word itself: as, sing, song; gold, gild; break, breach; dig, ditch. [N.B.-The most important class of words formed by internal change consists of the Past Tenses of primary Verbs, which are not usually classed as Derivatives: see § 156.] § 193. Also in many cases Verbs have been formed from Nouns (or vice versa) and Adjectives, without any change whatever compare, fish, and to fish; weed, and to weed [a garden]; air, and to air [clothes]; dust, and to dust [a room]; black, and to black [boots]. In the earlier stages of our language the Verb-formation would be marked by the termination -en. As instances of Verbs used as Nouns, take the following: to run, and a run; to struggle, and a struggle; to cry, and a cry. § 194. COMMON ENGLISH PREFIXES: |