If there a name for words made up of a combination of other words such as *Guesstimation * (to make a very rough estimate) or Automagically (very clever or obscured automation).
I realise these are effectively slang terms but a definition may exist.
To add a bit of fun to the thread has anyone got any other good combination words?? Rules are the whole word must sound very similar to the main definition but the addition of the extra word adds context!
Portmanteau words?
I think Lewis Carroll coined the term ‘portmanteau words’. A less colorful term is ‘blend words’.
A few examples that come to mind are ‘brunch’ and ‘humongous’
A related phenomenon is ‘tmeisis’, putting one word inside another as in ‘un-freakin-believeable’.
Another example of such a word is “fantabulous”.
Infotainment
Docudrama
Spork
“portmanteau word” from AHD:
Another term is “frankenword”. That is less elegant than “portmanteau word”, and probably more applicable to creations like “edutainment”.
As observed, Lewis Carrol is usually credited with coining “portmanteau word”, putting it in the mouth of Humpty Dumpty. A “portmanteau” means a large travelling case in two halves which are connected by a hinge, so the derivation was obvious to Victorians. That word is seldom used today.
Cheers guys, once you’ve got the term it’s a lot easier to find examples!
Here is a list contributed to by the public.
The other thing I found that was quite interesting is the amount of words that I didn’t realise were blend words. e.g. Smog = smoke and fog, chortle = chuckle + snort.
mangina
Every freaking word in Jabberwocky.
I know (I think) that’s supposed to be a joke, but the vast majority of the words in Jabberwocky are real but obsolete terms findable in the OED.
I’m pretty sure Lewis Carrol was the first to use all of the unusual words in Jabberwocky, including chortle. I’d search, but I have a final to take soon and I need to get to class, (nevermind the fact that I’m posting and reading SDMB even as I say that).
That the majority are real words adapted for the poem and that a few were invented portmanteau words can simultaneously be true. Not only can be true but absolutely is true.
“Every freaking word” OTOH is not.
A few links:
http://www.home.ix.netcom.com/~kyamazak/myth/alice/jabglossary-e.htm
My dictionary attributes both “chortle” and “frabjous” to Carroll, and then I got bored…
Is “freaking” a portmanteau or just bowdlerization?
Orangina
Did fezpp’s list work for anyone? I got a blank page.
dakravel is right. Almost all of the unusual words in Jabberwocky are Corrollian coinages. You can find some of them in the OED, but the first cite is always Carroll.
Furthermore, most, if not all, are not blends. Even chortle is probably not a blend, since it doesn’t follow the usual form that blends have. I know he (through Humpty Dumpty) claimed it was a blend of chuckle and snort, but that doesn’t mean that was how he coined it. It’s more likely a post facto explanation.
The problem is that you can’t get the list directly from that link. You need to go to:
http://creativityforyou.com/portman.html
and click the “see portmanteau” button
Please feel free to add some of your own to make it more interesting.
Ex Map, your first link doesn’t seem to me to support the contention that most of the unusual words in Jabberwocky are actual English words. It seems to indicate that they were invented by Carroll.