95480

Four ways in which Old English madę neK words:

A.    Determinative compoimding: common to all the Germanie languages, this kind of compounding forms new words by yoking together two normally independent nouns, e-g.

Earhring (earring); boesfae/^book-staff, i.e., letter); oran adjective and a noun, e.g. mirtddangeard (middle yard, i.e., earth); federhoma (feather coat, i.e., plumage); banlocan (bonę locker, i.e., body).

•    Many of these words make up the iuiique poetic vocabulary of OE literaturę, especially in metaphorical constructions known as kennings: e.g. hronrad (whale road, or sea).

B.    Repetitive compoimding: bringing together words that are veiy nearly identical, or that complement and reinforce each other for specific effect.

Thus, holtwudu (wood-wood, forest); gangel waefre (going about one, swift moving one, in OE reserved as the word for spider); under this class in the later compound flutterby, which was transposed in Mod. Eng. into butterfly.

C.    Noun-adjective formations: graesgrene (grass green); lofgeorn (praise eager); goldhroden (gold adomed)

In ME, tliis form of compoimding is revived in such phrases as king - emperor or fighter - bomber.

D.    Prefix formations: liere, as in other Germanie languages, it is the most common way of creating new words.

•    OE had many prefixes that derived from prepositions and that altered the meaning of words in special ways, e.g. becuman, geweorc.