PART VIII.

ON THE COMPOSITION AND DERIVATION OF WORDS.

I.-Composition.

276. A compound word is one made up of two or more words, each of which has an independent meaning. Some of our compounds are written as one word, such as moonlight, vineyard, keyhole; others have the members separated by the mark, called a hyphen, such as nut-brown, well-being, button-hole, forget-me-not.

The first word usually limits the second: workhouse is a house where work is provided for the inmates; cornmill is a mill in which corn is ground.

(1.) COMPOUND NOUNS.

277. Compound Nouns are chiefly formed by joining two Nouns, or an Adjective and a Noun, or a Verb and a Noun.

Noun-Noun: shopkeeper, wine-merchant, birthday,

landlord.

Adjective-Noun: good-humour, ill-will, highway, gentle

man.

Verb-Noun: turnkey, pickpocket, spendthrift, treadmill.

(2.) COMPOUND ADJECTIVES.

278. Compound Adjectives are formed by joining a Noun and an Adjective, a Noun and a Participle, or an Adjective and an Adjective.

Noun-Adjective: snow-white, coal-black, fool-hardy. Noun-Participle: life-giving, heart-breaking, home

brewed.

Adjective-Adjective: red-hot, hard-working, all-wise.

(3.) COMPOUND verbs.

279. Compound Verbs are formed by joining a Noun and a Verb, or an Adjective and a Verb.

Noun-Verb: backbite, waylay, hoodwink.
Adjective-Verb: fulfil, whitewash.

II.—Derivation.

280. The Noun kingdom and the Adjective kingly are called Derivatives from the Noun king. Each is formed by adding to the word king an ending that conveys no meaning when it stands alone. These endings are called Suffixes. Many suffixes can be traced to words that once had an independent existence; thus -dom is from the Old English dôm, authority, dominion; and -ly is from the Old English lic, like.

(2.) LATIN DERIVATIVES.

282. Some of these are taken directly from Latin words, and others come from Latin through French words. The whole word, and not the termination only, is of Latin origin, the termination having in nearly every

instance been adapted to English speech. Examples

are:

1. Many ending in y

y:

-y, as comedy, family.

-cy, as infancy, innocency.

-ey, as valley, journey.

ty, as vanity, dignity.

-ony, as matrimony, parsimony.

-ary, as secretary, necessary, hereditary.

-ory, as history, oratory, laudatory.

2. Many with an / sound :

-al, as equal, cardinal.

-el, as chapel, cruel.

-il, as civil, vigil.

-ile, as ductile, missile, hostile.

-ble, as noble, feeble, double, humble.
-ple, as simple, triple, people.
-ible, as visible, terrible, possible.
-able, as saleable, lovable, blameable.

3. Many ending with an n sound:-
-an, as publican, human.

-ean, as European, hyperborean.
-ian, as historian, musician.

-ain, as certain, domain.

-ine, as divine, sanguine.
-ion, as action, occasion.

4. Many with an sound :

-or, as tutor, doctor; direct from the Latin. -our as honour, colour; through the French.

-ier, as cavalier, rapier.

-eer, as volunteer, charioteer.

-ure, as capture, nature, treasure.

5. Many in s sounds :

-ence, as innocence, conscience.
-ice, as novice, avarice.

-ose, as prose, morose.
-ous, as fabulous, barbarous.

6. Many in sounds :

-ct, as compact, perfect.

-pt, as abrupt, corrupt.
-ate, as mandate, magistrate.

-ant, as merchant, regnant, hydrant.
-ent, as agent, lenient.

-lent, as violent, corpulent.

-ment, as ornament, firmament.

-ist, as artist, pugilist, fatalist.

7. Also the following:

-ic, as rustic, civic.

-id, as rigid, splendid, squalid.
-tude, as magnitude, longitude.

-ee (French), as repartee, legatee, vendee.

And Verbs in

-ate, as migrate, congregate.

-ish, as polish, finish.

-ise, as chastise, promise.

-y, as apply, occupy.