linguistic morphology In linguistics, morphology is the study of words, including the principles by which they are formed, and how they relate to one another within a language. Most approaches to morphology investigate the structure of words in terms of morphemes, wh ...

a cranberry morpheme (also called unique morpheme or fossilized term) is a type of

bound morpheme In linguistics, a bound morpheme is a morpheme (the elementary unit of morphosyntax) that can appear only as part of a larger expression, while a free morpheme (or unbound morpheme) is one that can stand alone. A bound morpheme is a type of bound f ...

that cannot be assigned an ''independent'' meaning and grammatical function, but nonetheless serves to distinguish one word from another.

Etymology

The

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous archetypal example is the ''cran'' of ''

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to long and in height; they have slender stems that are not th ...

''. Unrelated to the homonym '' cran'' with the meaning "''a case of

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

s''", this ''cran'' actually comes from '' crane'' (the bird), although the connection is not immediately evident. Similarly, ''mul'' (from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

'' morus'', the mulberry tree) exists only in ''

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of 19 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 subordinat ...

''. Phonetically, the first morpheme of ''

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of several plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the Rosaceae, rose family, most of which are in the subgenus ''Rubus#Modern classification, Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Ras ...

'' also counts as a cranberry morpheme, even though the word "

rasp A rasp is a coarse form of file used for shaping wood, metal, or other material. Typically a hand tool, it consists of a generally tapered rectangular, round, or half-round sectioned bar of case hardened steel with distinct, individually cu ...

" does occur by itself. Compare these with ''

blackberry BlackBerry is a discontinued brand of handheld devices and related mobile services, originally developed and maintained by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM, later known as BlackBerry Limited) until 2016. The first BlackBerry device ...

'', which has two obvious unbound morphemes ("

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

" + "

berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

"), and to '' loganberry'' and '' boysenberry'', both of which have first morphemes derived from surnames ( James Harvey Logan and Rudolph Boysen, respectively).

Examples

Other cranberry morphemes in English include: * ''cob'' in ''cobweb'', from the obsolete word ' ("spider"). * Many elements in English

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

s, such as "

-ing ''-ing'' is a suffix used to make one of the inflection, inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words ...

" ("Reading", "Dorking", "Washington") from an Old English term meaning "the people of..." or "belonging to..." (Note, however, that the "

" at the end of words such as "reading", the verb, is not a cranberry morpheme but rather an affixed morpheme.) * ''dew'' in dewlap, assuming that the particle popularly associated with literal

dew Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. As the exposed surface cools by thermal radiation, radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate grea ...

folk etymology Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a mo ...

and not lost.

Emergence

Cranberry morphemes can arise in several ways: * A

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

al word can become part of the standard language in a compound, but not in its root form: e.g. ''blatherskite'' ("one who talks nonsense"), as Scots has the word ' ("contemptible person"). * A word can become obsolete in its root form but remain current in a compound: e.g. ''lukewarm'' from

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

'' luke'' ("tepid"). * A compound

loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

may have a recognisable native

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

for one element but not the other: e.g. '' hinterland'' is from German '' hinter'' ("behind") + ''

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...

'' ("land"). * A loanword may have one part misanalysed to a

false cognate False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds or spelling and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family. For exampl ...

: e.g. a '' taffrail'' is a type of rail, but the word comes from Dutch ' ("carved panel").

References

Morpheme A morpheme is any of the smallest meaningful constituents within a linguistic expression and particularly within a word. Many words are themselves standalone morphemes, while other words contain multiple morphemes; in linguistic terminology, this ...

Etymology

Examples

Emergence

See also

References