Neoclassical compounds are
compound word
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or sign) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. Compounding occurs when ...
s composed from combining forms (which act as
affix
In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...
es or
stems) derived from
classical Latin or
ancient Greek roots
A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients.
Root or roots may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...
.
New Latin
New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy a ...
comprises many such words and is a substantial component of the
technical
Technical may refer to:
* Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle
* Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data
* Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...
and
scientific
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence f ...
lexicon of
English and other languages, via
international scientific vocabulary (ISV). For example, ''
bio-'' combines with ''
-graphy
The English suffix -graphy means a "field of study" or related to "writing" a book, and is an anglicization of the French ''-graphie'' inherited from the Latin ''-graphia'', which is a transliterated direct borrowing from Greek.
Arts
* Cartog ...
'' to form ''
biography
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
'' ("life" + "writing/recording").
Source of international technical vocabulary
Neoclassical compounds represent a significant source of
Neo-Latin
New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...
vocabulary. Moreover, since these words are composed from
classical language
A classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large and ancient body of written literature. Classical languages are typically dead languages, or show a high degree of diglossia, as the spoken varieties of the ...
s whose prestige is or was respected throughout the Western European culture, these words typically appear in many different languages. Their widespread use makes
technical writing generally accessible to readers who may only have a smattering of the language in which it appears.
Not all European languages have been equally receptive to neoclassical technical compounds.
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
and
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
* Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and p ...
, for instance, have historically attempted to create their own technical vocabularies from native elements. Usually, these creations are German and Russian
calques
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...
on the international vocabulary, such as ''Wasserstoff'' and "водород" (''vodoród'') for ''
hydrogen''. Like any exercise in
language prescription, this endeavour has been only partially successful, so while official German may still speak of a ''Fernsprecher'', public
telephones will be labelled with the internationally recognized ''Telefon''.
Formation, spelling, and pronunciation
These words are compounds formed from Latin and Ancient Greek root words. Ancient Greek words are almost invariably romanized (see
transliteration of Ancient Greek into English). In English:
*Ancient Greek ''αι'' becomes ''e'' or ''æ''/''ae'';
*Ancient Greek groups with ''γ'' plus a velar
stop consonant
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lip ...
such as ''γγ'', ''γκ'' or ''γξ'' become ''ng'', ''nc'' (or ''nk'' in more recent borrowings) and ''nx'' respectively;
*Ancient Greek ''ει'' often becomes ''i'' (occasionally it is retained as ''ei'');
*Ancient Greek ''θ'' becomes ''th'';
*Ancient Greek ''κ'' becomes ''c'' (subject to
palatalization in English pronunciation) or ''k'';
*Ancient Greek ''οι'' becomes ''e'' or sometimes ''œ''/''oe'' in British English;
*Ancient Greek ''ου'' usually becomes ''u'', or occasionally ''ou'';
*Ancient Greek ' (
rho
Rho (uppercase Ρ, lowercase ρ or ; el, ρο or el, ρω, label=none) is the 17th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 100. It is derived from Phoenician letter res . Its uppercase form uses the sa ...
with ''
spiritus asper'') becomes ''rh'';
*Ancient Greek ''υ'' becomes ''y'';
*Ancient Greek ''φ'' becomes ''ph'' or, very rarely, ''f'';
*Ancient Greek ''χ'' becomes ''ch'';
*Ancient Greek ''ψ'' becomes ''ps'';
*Ancient Greek ''ω'' becomes ''o'';
*Ancient Greek rough breathing becomes ''h-''.
Thus, for example, Ancient Greek ''σφιγξ'' becomes English (and Latin) ''
sphinx''. Exceptions to these romanizing rules occur, such as ''
leukemia (leukaemia)''; compare ''
leukocyte'', also ''leucocyte''. In Latin, and in the target languages, the Greek vowels are given their neoclassical values rather than their contemporary values in
demotic Greek.
Ancient Greek words often contain
consonant cluster
In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fi ...
s which are foreign to the
phonology of contemporary English and other languages that incorporate these words into their lexicon: ''
diphthong
A diphthong ( ; , ), also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue (and/or other parts of the speech ...
''; ''
pneumatology'', ''
phthisis
Phthisis may refer to:
Mythology
* Phthisis (mythology), Classical/Greco-Roman personification of rot, decay and putrefaction
Medical terms
* Phthisis bulbi
Phthisis bulbi is a shrunken, non-functional eye. It may result from severe eye diseas ...
''. The traditional response in English is to treat the unfamiliar cluster as containing one or more
silent letters and suppress their pronunciation, more ''modern'' speakers tend to try and pronounce the unusual cluster. This adds to the irregularities of
English spelling; moreover, since many of these words are encountered in writing more often than they are heard spoken, it introduces uncertainty as to how to pronounce them when encountered.
Neoclassical compounds frequently vary their stressed syllable when
suffixes
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry g ...
are added: ''
ágriculture, agricúltural.'' This also gives rise to uncertainty when these words are encountered in print. Once a classical compound has been created and
borrowed, it typically becomes the foundation of a whole series of related words: e.g. ''
astrology
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
, astrological, astrologer/astrologist/astrologian, astrologism''.
Mainstream medical and ISV pronunciation in English is not the same as
Classical Latin pronunciation. Like
Ecclesiastical Latin, it has a regularity of its own, and individual sounds can be mapped or compared. Although the Classical Latin pronunciation of ''venae cavae'' would be approximately , the standard English medical pronunciation is .
History and reception
English began incorporating many of these words in the sixteenth century; ''
geography'' first appeared in an English text in 1535. Other early adopted words that still survive include ''
mystagogue
A mystagogue (from el, μυσταγωγός, mystagogos, "person who initiates into mysteries") is a person who initiates others into mystic beliefs, and an educator or person who has knowledge of the sacred mysteries of a belief system. Another ...
'', from the 1540s, and ''
androgyne
Androgyny is the possession of both masculine and feminine characteristics. Androgyny may be expressed with regard to biological sex, gender identity, or gender expression.
When ''androgyny'' refers to mixed biological sex characteristics in ...
'', from the 1550s. The use of these technical terms predates the
scientific method; the several varieties of
divination all take their names from neoclassical compounds, such as ''
alectryomancy'', divination by the pecking of
chickens.
Not all English writers have been friendly to the inflow of classical vocabulary. The Tudor period writer Sir
John Cheke
Sir John Cheke (or Cheek) (16 June 1514 – 13 September 1557) was an English classical scholar and statesman. One of the foremost teachers of his age, and the first Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, he played a great ...
wrote:
and therefore rejected what he called "
inkhorn terms".
Similar sentiments moved the nineteenth century author
William Barnes
William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...
to write "pure English," in which he avoided Greco-Latin words and find
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
equivalents therefor: for Barnes, the newly invented art of the ''
photograph'' became a ''sun-print''. Unlike this one, some of Barnes's coinages caught on, such as ''
foreword'', Barnes's replacement for the ''
preface'' of a book. Later,
Poul Anderson wrote a jocular piece called ''
Uncleftish Beholding'' in a
constructed language
A constructed language (sometimes called a conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of fiction. ...
based on English which others have called "Ander-Saxon"; this attempted to create a pure English vocabulary for
nuclear physics. For more information, see
Linguistic purism in English
Linguistic purism in English involves opposition to foreign influence in the English language. English has evolved with a great deal of borrowing from other languages, especially Old French, since the Norman conquest of England, and some of its ...
.
More recent developments
Many such words, such as ''
thermometer'', ''
dinosaur'', ''
rhinoceros'', and ''
rhododendron
''Rhododendron'' (; from Ancient Greek ''rhódon'' "rose" and ''déndron'' "tree") is a very large genus of about 1,024 species of woody plants in the heath family (Ericaceae). They can be either evergreen or deciduous. Most species are nat ...
'', are thoroughly incorporated into the English lexicon and are the ordinary words for their referents. Some are prone to
colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...
shortening; ''rhinoceros'' often becomes ''rhino''. The
binomial nomenclature
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
of
taxonomy and
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
is a major source for these items of vocabulary; for many unfamiliar species that lack a common English name, the name of the
genus becomes the English word for that life form.
In the
metric system, prefixes that indicate
multipliers are typically Greek in origin, such as ''kilogram'', while those that indicate
divisors are Latin, as in ''millimeter'': the base roots resemble Greek words, but in truth are
neologisms. These metric and other suffixes are added to native English roots as well, resulting in creations such as ''
gigabyte
The gigabyte () is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The prefix '' giga'' means 109 in the International System of Units (SI). Therefore, one gigabyte is one billion bytes. The unit symbol for the gigabyte is GB.
This definit ...
''. Words of mixed Latin and Greek lineage, or words that combine elements of the classical languages with English – so-called
hybrid word
A hybrid word or hybridism is a word that etymologically derives from at least two languages.
Common hybrids
The most common form of hybrid word in English combines Latin and Greek parts. Since many prefixes and suffixes in English are of Latin ...
s – were formerly castigated as "
barbarism
Barbarism, barbarity, or barbarous may refer to:
* Barbarism (linguistics), a non-standard word, expression, or pronunciation
** Hybrid words, formerly called "barbarisms"
* Any society construed as barbarian
** Barbarian invasions, a period of ...
s" by
prescriptionist usage commentators; this disapproval has mostly abated. Indeed, in scientific nomenclature, even more exotic hybrids have appeared, such as for example the dinosaur ''
Yangchuanosaurus
''Yangchuanosaurus'' is an extinct genus of metriacanthosaurid theropod dinosaur that lived in China from the Middle to Late Jurassic periods (Bathonian to Oxfordian stages), and was similar in size and appearance to its North American and ...
''. Personal
names appear in some scientific names such as ''
Fuchsia
''Fuchsia'' () is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first to be scientifically described, '' Fuchsia triphylla'', was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic ...
''.
Neoclassical compounds are sometimes used to lend grandeur or the impression of scientific rigour to humble pursuits: the study of ''
cosmetology
Cosmetology (from Greek , ''kosmētikos'', "beautifying"; and , ''-logia'') is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty include hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/pedicures, non-permanent hair removal such as ...
'' will not help anyone become an ''
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally ...
''. Compounds along these models are also sometimes coined for humorous effect, such as ''odontopodology'', the science of putting your foot into your mouth. These humorous coinages sometimes take on a life of their own, such as ''
garbology
Garbology is the study of modern refuse and trash as well as the use of trash cans, compactors and various types of trash can liners. As an academic discipline it was pioneered at the University of Arizona and long directed by William Rathje. Th ...
'', the study of
garbage
Garbage, trash, rubbish, or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or gaseous wastes, or toxic waste produc ...
.
Some neoclassical compounds form
classical plurals, and are therefore irregular in English. Others do not, while some vacillate between classical and regular plurals.
Translation
There are hundreds of neoclassical compounds in English and other European languages. As traditionally defined, combining forms cannot stand alone as free words, but there are many exceptions to this rule, and in the late 20th century such forms are increasingly used independently: ''bio'' as a clipping of ''biography'', ''telly'' as a respelt clipping of ''television''. Most neoclassical combining forms translate readily into everyday language, especially nouns: ''bio-'' as ‘life’ ''-graphy'' as ‘writing, description’. Because of this, the compounds of which they are part (usually ''classical'' or ''learned compounds'') can be more or less straightforwardly paraphrased: ''biography'' as ‘writing about a life’, ''neurology'' as ‘the study of the nervous system’. Many classical combining forms are designed to take initial or final position: ''autobiography'' has the two initial or preposed forms ''auto-'' and ''bio-'', and one postposed form ''-graphy''. Although most occupy one position or the other, some can occupy both: ''-graph-'' as in ''graphology'' and ''monograph''; ''-phil-'' as in ''philology'' and ''Anglophile''. Occasionally, the same base is repeated in one word: ''logology'' the study of words, ''phobophobia'' the fear of fear.
Preposed and postposed
Prefixes include: ''aero-'' air, ''crypto-'' hidden, ''demo-'' people, ''geo-'' earth, ''odonto-'' tooth, ''ornitho-'' bird, ''thalasso-'' sea. Many have both a traditional simple meaning and a modern telescopic meaning: in ''biology'', ''bio-'' means ‘life’, but in ''
bio-degradable
Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegradat ...
'' it telescopes ‘biologically’; although ''hypno-'' basically means ‘sleep’ (''hypnopaedia'' learning through sleep), it also stands for ‘hypnosis’ (''hypnotherapy'' cure through hypnosis).
When a form stands alone as a present-day word, it is usually a telescopic abbreviation: ''bio'' biography, ''chemo'' chemotherapy, ''hydro'' hydroelectricity, ''metro'' metropolitan. Some telescoped forms are shorter than the original neoclassical combining form: ''gynie'' is shorter than ''gyneco-'' and stands for both ''gynecology'' and ''gynecologist''; ''anthro'' is shorter than ''anthropo-'' and stands for ''anthropology''.
Suffixes include: ''-ectomy'' cutting out, ''-graphy'' writing, description, ''-kinesis'' motion, ''-logy'' study, ''-mancy'' divination, ''-onym'' name, ''-phagy'' eating, ''-phony'' sound, ''-therapy'' healing, ''-tomy'' cutting. They are generally listed in dictionaries without the interfixed vowel, which appears however in such casual phrases as ‘ologies and isms’.
Variants
Some classical combining forms are variants of one base.
Some are also free words, such as ''mania'' in ''dipsomania'' and ''phobia'' in ''claustrophobia''.
Some are composites of other elements, such as ''encephalo-'' brain, from ''en-'' in, ''-cephal-'' head; and ''-ectomy'' cutting out, from ''ec-'' out, ''-tom-'' cut, ''-y'', a noun-forming suffix that means "process of".
Formation
In Greek and Latin grammar, combining bases usually require a thematic or stem-forming vowel. In ''biography'', from Greek, the thematic is -''o''-; in ''agriculture'', from Latin, it is ''-i-''. In English morphology, this vowel can be considered as an
interfix: in biology, the interfix ''
-o-''; in ''miniskirt'', the interfix ''
-i-''. It is usually regarded as attached to the initial base (''bio-'', ''mini-'') rather than the final base (''-graphy'', ''-skirt''), but in forms where it is conventionally
stressed, it is sometimes considered as part of the final base (''-ography'', ''-ology''). If the final element begins with a vowel (for example, ''-archy'' as in ''monarchy''), the mediating vowel has traditionally been avoided (not *'), but in recent coinages it is often kept, sometimes accompanied by a hyphen (''auto-analysis'', ''
bioenergy
Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...
'', ''
hydroelectricity'', not *', *''bienergy'', *').
Its presence helps to distinguish neoclassical compounds like ''biography'' and ''agriculture'' from vernacular compounds like ''teapot'' and ''blackbird''.
Origin
Generally, English has acquired its neoclassical compounds in three ways: through French from Latin and Greek, directly from Latin and Greek, and by coinage in English on Greek and Latin patterns. An exception is ''schizophrenia'', which came into English through German, and is therefore pronounced ‘skitso’, not ‘’.
Terminological variation
Most dictionaries follow the ''
Oxford English Dictionary'' in using ''combining form'' (''comb. form'') to label such classical elements. In appendices to dictionaries and grammar books, classical combining forms are often loosely referred to as roots or affixes: ‘a logo …, properly speaking, is not a word at all but a prefix meaning word and short for logogram, a symbol, much as telly is short for television’ (Montreal ''Gazette'', 13 Apr. 1981). They are often referred to as affixes because some come first and some come last. But if they were
affix
In linguistics, an affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word or word form. Affixes may be derivational, like English ''-ness'' and ''pre-'', or inflectional, like English plural ''-s'' and past tense ''-ed''. They ar ...
es proper, a word like ''biography'' would have no base whatever. While affixes are grammatical (like prepositions), classical combining forms are
lexical (like nouns, adjectives, and verbs): for example, ''bio-'' translates as a noun (life), ''-graphy'' as a verbal noun (writing). This is why some reference works also call them
stems. They are also often loosely called roots because they are ancient and have a basic role in word formation, but functionally and often structurally they are distinct from
roots
A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients.
Root or roots may also refer to:
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...
proper: the ''-graph'' in ''autograph'' is both a root and a classical combining form, while the ''-graphy'' in ''cryptography'' consists of root ''-graph-'' and suffix ''-y'', and is only a classical combining form.
Philology
Conservative philological tradition
From the
Renaissance until the mid-20th century, the concept of derivational purity has often regulated the use of classical compounds, with a
philological goal of like with like (Greek with Greek, Latin with Latin) and a minimum of
hybridization
Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to:
*Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid
*Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals
*Nu ...
. For example, ''biography'' is Greek, ''agriculture'' Latin; but this ideal has seen only limited realization in practice, as for example the word ''television'' is a hybrid of Greek ''tele-'' and Latin ''-vision'' (probably so coined because the ‘pure’ form ''telescope'' had already been adopted for another purpose).
Contemporary developments
Generally, classical compounds were a closed system from the 16th century to the earlier 20th century: the people who used them were
classically educated, their teachers and exemplars generally took a purist's view on their use, contexts of use were mainly technical, and there was relatively little seepage into the language at large. However, with the decline of classical education and the spread of technical and quasitechnical jargon in the media, a continuum has evolved, with at least five stages:
Pure classical usage
In the older sciences, classical combining forms are generally used to form such strictly classical and usually Greek compounds as ''anthocyanin'', ''astrobleme'', ''chemotherapy'', ''chronobiology'', ''cytokinesis'', ''glossolalia'', ''lalophobia'', ''narcolepsy'', ''osteoporosis'', ''Pliohippus'', ''sympathomimetic''.
Hybrid classical usage
In technical, semitechnical, and quasitechnical usage at large, coiners of compounds increasingly treat Latin and Greek as one resource to produce such forms as ''accelerometer'', ''aero-generator'', ''bioprospector'', ''communicology'', ''electroconductive'', ''futurology'', ''mammography'', ''micro-gravity'', ''neoliberal'', ''Scientology'', ''servomechanism''.
Hybrid classical/vernacular usage
In the later 20th century, many forms have cut loose from ancient moorings: ''crypto-'' as in preposed ''Crypto-Fascist'' and ''pseudo-'' as in ''pseudoradical''; postposed ''-meter'' in ''speedometer'', ''clapometer''. Processes of analogy have created coinages like ''
petrodollar
Petrodollar recycling is the international spending or investment of a country's revenues from petroleum exports ("petrodollars"). It generally refers to the phenomenon of major petroleum-exporting states, mainly the OPEC members plus Russia ...
'', ''
psycho-warfare'', ''microwave'' on such models as ''
petrochemical
Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable so ...
'', ''psychology'', ''microscope''. Such stunt usages as ''eco-doom'', ''eco-fears'', ''eco-freaks'', common in journalism, often employ classical combining forms telescopically: ''eco-'' standing for ''ecology'' and ''ecological'' and not as used in ''economics''. In such matters, precision of meaning is secondary to compactness and vividness of expression.
Combining forms as separate words
In recent years, the orthography of many word forms has changed, usually without affecting pronunciation and stress. The same spoken usage may be written ''micro-missile'', ''micro missile'', ''micromissile'', reflecting the same uncertainty or flexibility as in ''businessman'', ''business-man'', ''business man''. When used in such ways, classical compounds are often telescopic: ''Hydro substation'' Hydro-Electricity Board substation, ''Metro highways'' Metropolitan highways, ''porno cult'' pornography cult.
New classical compounds
The mix of late 20th century techno-commercial coinages includes three groups of post- and non-classical forms: (1) ''Established forms'': ''econo-'' from ‘economic’, as in ''econometric'', ''Econo-Car''; ''mini-'' from ‘miniature’, as in ''miniskirt'', ''mini-boom''; ''-matic'' from ‘automatic’, as in ''Adjustamatic'', ''
Instamatic
: ''For the film formats associated with the ''Instamatic'' and ''Pocket Instamatic'' camera ranges, see 126 film and 110 film respectively.''
The Instamatic is a series of inexpensive, easy-to-load 126 and 110 cameras made by Kodak beginning ...
'', ''Stackomatic''. (2) Less established forms, often created by blending: ''accu-'' from ‘accurate’, as in ''
Accuvision''; ''compu-'' from ‘computer’, as in ''Compucorp''; ''docu-'' from ‘documentary’, as in ''docudrama''; ''perma-'' from ‘permanent’, as in ''permafrost'' and ''permaban''; ''dura-'' from ‘durable’, as in ''Duramark''. (3) Informal vernacular material in pseudo-classical form: ''
Easibird'', ''
Healthitone'', ''
Redi-pak'', ''
Relax-A-Cizor'' (relax, exerciser).
Similar systems
In East Asia, a similar role to Latin and Greek has been played by Chinese, with non-Chinese languages both borrowing a significant number of words from Chinese and using morphemes borrowed from Chinese to coin new words, particularly in formal or technical language. See
Sino-Japanese vocabulary,
Sino-Korean vocabulary
Sino-Korean vocabulary or Hanja-eo () refers to Korean words of Chinese origin. Sino-Korean vocabulary includes words borrowed directly from Chinese, as well as new Korean words created from Chinese characters, and words borrowed from Sino-Japane ...
, and
Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary for discussion.
The coinage of new native terms on Chinese roots is most notable in Japanese, where it is referred to as . Many of these have been subsequently borrowed into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, with the same (or corresponding) characters being pronounced differently according to language, just as happens in European languages – compare English ''
biology
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary ...
'' and French ''
biologie
Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary in ...
.''
For example, 自動車 (Japanese ''jidōsha,'' Korean ''jadongcha,'' Mandarin ''zìdòngchē'') is a Japanese-coined word meaning “automobile”, literally self-move-car; compare to ''auto'' (self) + ''mobile'' (moving).
See also
;Topics
*
English words of Greek origin
*
Hybrid word
A hybrid word or hybridism is a word that etymologically derives from at least two languages.
Common hybrids
The most common form of hybrid word in English combines Latin and Greek parts. Since many prefixes and suffixes in English are of Latin ...
*
Interlingua
*
International scientific vocabulary
*
Internationalism (linguistics)
*
-ism
''-ism'' is a suffix in many English words, originally derived from the Ancient Greek suffix ('), and reaching English through the Latin , and the French . It means "taking side with" or "imitation of", and is often used to describe philo ...
*
Latin influence in English
*
-ology
''-logy'' is a suffix in the English language, used with words originally adapted from Ancient Greek ending in ('). The earliest English examples were anglicizations of the French '' -logie'', which was in turn inherited from the Latin ''-logia ...
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Sino-xenic vocabularies
Sino-Xenic or Sinoxenic pronunciations are regular systems for reading Chinese characters in Japan, Korea and Vietnam, originating in medieval times and the source of large-scale borrowings of Chinese words into the Japanese, Korean and Vietnames ...
, for similar constructs in Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, etc.
;Lists
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List of Germanic and Latinate equivalents in English
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List of Greek and Latin roots in English
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List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names
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List of Latin words with English derivatives
Bibliography
* McArthur, Tom (ed.): ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'', (Oxford University Press, 1992).
* Plag, Ingo "Word-Formation in English", Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN à0521525632, 9780521525633
External links
* ''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language 1998'' entries o
classical compoundan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neoclassical Compound
English grammar
Etymology
Linguistic morphology
Greek language
Latin language