E OF THE HYPHEN 9

SUPPLEMENTARY READING 16

REVIEW QUESTIONS 17

COMPOUND WORDS

INTRODUCTION

The English language contains a great many words and phrases which are
made up of two or more words combined or related in such a way as to
form a new verbal phrase having a distinct meaning of its own and
differing in meaning from the sum of the component words taken singly.
_Income_ and _outgo_, for example, have quite definite meanings related,
it is true, to _come_ and _go_ and to _in_ and _out_, but sharply
differentiated from those words in their ordinary and general
signification. We use these compound words and phrases so commonly that
we never stop to think how numerous they are, or how frequently new ones
are coined. Any living language is constantly growing and developing new
forms. New objects have to be named, new sensations expressed, new
experiences described.

Sometimes these words are mere aggregations like _automobile_,
_monotype_, _sidewalk_, _policeman_ and the like. Sometimes, indeed very
often, they are short cuts. A _hatbox_ is a box for carrying a hat, a
_red-haired_ man is a man with red hair. A _bookcase_ is a case to
contain books, etc.

Sometimes the phrase consists of two or more separate words, such as
_well known_ or _nicely kept_. Sometimes it consists of words joined by
a hyphen, such as _boarding-house_, _sleeping-car_. Sometimes it
consists of a single word formed by amalgamating or running together the
components, such as _penholder_, _nevertheless_.

In which of these forms shall we write the phrase we speak so easily?
How shall we shape the new word we have just coined? Which of these
three forms shall we use, and why? Ordinarily we look for the answer to
such questions from three sources, historical development, the past of
the language; some logical principle of general application; or some
recognized standard of authority. Unfortunately we get little help from
either of these sources in this special difficulty.

The history of the language is a history of constant change. The
Anglo-Saxon tongue was full of compounds, but the hyphen was an unknown
device to those who spoke it. The English of Chaucer, the period when
our new-born English tongue was differentiated from those which
contributed to its composition, is full of compounds, and the compounds
were generally written with a hyphen. Shakespeare used many compound
wo