Origin The word portmanteau was first used in this context by Lewis Carroll in the book Through the Looking-Glass (1871),[9] in which Humpty Dumpty explains to Alice the coinage of the unusual words in Jabberwocky,[10] where slithy means lithe and slimy and mimsy is flimsy and miserable. Humpty Dumpty explains the practice of combining words in various ways by telling Alice, You see its like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word. In his introduction to The Hunting of the Snark, Carroll uses portmanteau when discussing lexical selection: Humpty Dumptys theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words fuming and furious. Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first ... if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say frumious.[10] In then-contemporary English, a portmanteau was a suitcase that opened into two equal sections. The etymology of the word is the French portemanteau, from porter, to carry, and manteau, cloak (from Old French mantel, from Latin mantellum).[11] In modern French, a porte-manteau is a clothes valet, a coat-tree or similar article of furniture for hanging up jackets, hats, umbrellas and the like. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 05:52:57 +0000
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