Portmanteau

This is not just the name of a travelling bag with two compartments (taken from the Middle French c.1584), but is also an adjective describing the blending of two of more different things of the same type.

However, for this blog, there is another more relevant meaning.  In 1882 portmanteau words entered the dictionary, thanks to Lewis Carroll, who coined the phrase as a noun to describe words made from a combination of two different words.  In Through the Looking Glass (1872), Humpty Dumpty tells Alice: "Well, slithy means 'lithe and slimy'...You see it's like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed into one word."  Another word, also created by Lewis Carroll in the same novel is still used to day - chortle, a blend of chuckle and snort.

Other portmanteau words I have heard recently are ginormous (a mix of giant and enormous) and fantabulous (fantastic and fabulous).  Von has coined her own portmanteau word - interweb (internet and world wide web).

Although Lewis Carroll is credited with creating portmanteau words, there is evidence that they have been around since the early nineteenth century.  One of the earliest (c.1832), was savagerous - a blend of savage and dangerous.  One of my favourites, from the 1870s, is infanticipate, to await the arrival of a baby.  Such a pity this word is no longer used.

Portmanteau words are easy and fun to create.  You never know, maybe you already have some in your vocabulary.

Sources:
Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (1988), Chambers.


Juliana