Formation of compound words In
German, the interfix
-s- has to be used between certain nouns in compound words, but not all, such as
Arbeitszimmer ("workroom") as opposed to
Schlafzimmer ("bedroom"). This originates from the
masculine and neuter
genitive singular suffix
-s. German has many other interfixes, for example
-es-,
-(e)n-,
-er- and
-e-. Not all of them originate from the genitive. Likewise, it is often stated that German interfixes originated from plural forms, when in fact German plural forms and linking forms developed parallel to each other and are only partly similar by coincidence. In
Dutch, the interfix
-e- (
schwa) sometimes can be traced back to the original form of the first part ending in an
-e that has been lost in the present day form:
zielerust ("peace of mind") was derived in
Middle Dutch from
ziele ("soul") and
rust ("rest, peace"), but modern Dutch has
ziel for "soul". In other compounds the
-e- stems from a case suffix:
petekind ("godchild") from
peet ("godfather") and
kind ("child"). The very common interfixes
-s- and
-en- originally were genitive suffixes. The much less frequent
-er- in compounds can be seen as the remnant of an original plural suffix:
rundergehakt, "ground beef" from
rund, plural
runderen "bovine(s)". In
English, when technical compound words are formed from non-technical roots, an
-o- interfix is sometimes used, as
o has come to be seen as a connecting vowel (
speed-o-meter, mile-o-meter) by analogy to
tacho-meter, odo-meter, compounds of which the first part comes from an
Ancient Greek noun whose
stem includes
o. In
Swedish, compound nouns are written as one word, and interfixes are very common.
-s- is frequently used in this way, as in
fabriksarbetare, which consists of
fabrik ("factory") and
arbetare ("worker"). Examples of other interfixes are
-e-, as in when
familj and
far ("family" and "father") become
familjefar, and
-a-, when
viking and
by ("viking" and "village") become
vikingaby. However, just like in Norwegian, not all compound words are written with an interfix. For example
stenålder, which consists of
sten ("stone") and
ålder ("age"). Some words ending in a vowel lose the last letter. For example
arbetarklass ("working class") consists of
arbetare ("worker") and
klass ("class").
Norwegian is closely related to Swedish and has a similar pattern, but uses interfixing somewhat more moderately. Examples:
arbeid +
rom =
arbeidsrom ("workroom"), but
fabrikk +
arbeider =
fabrikkarbeider and
familie +
far =
familiefar. The most common interfix is
-s-, but there are examples with
-e-:
barn +
hage =
barnehage ("kindergarten"), and
bjørn +
hi =
bjørnehi ("bear hive" / "bear's nest"). In
Serbo-Croatian, interfixes
-o- and
-e- are obligatory when forming a compound. For example,
brod +
gradilište =
brodogradilište ("shipyard"), but
kuća +
pazitelj =
kućepazitelj ("concierge"). Unless an interfix is added, the new-formed word is considered to be a
word-joining, such as
zimzelen (
zima +
zelen, "evergreen"). In Russian the most popular interfixes are letters
-o- and
-e- (Russian letters). For example: the word
паровоз (пар-о-воз) — "parovoz" (par-o-voz) means "locomotive";
par means "steam" and
voz means "cart". ==See also==