A History of English Language

A history of the english language 286
first element as in fluorine (from Latin fluere, to flow). Panchromatic comes from the
Greek words παv- (all) and χρωµατικóς (relating to color), and is thus used in
photography to describe a plate or film that is sensitive to all colors. An automobile is
something that moves of itself (Greek
‘self’+Latin mobilis ‘movable’).
Orthodontia is from Greek ‘straight’ and ‘tooth’, and
thus describes the branch of dentistry that endeavors to straighten irregular teeth. A few
minutes spent in looking up recent scientific words in any dictionary will supply
abundant illustrations of this common method of English word formation.
219. Prefixes and Suffixes.
Another method of enlarging the vocabulary is by appending familiar prefixes and
suffixes to existing words on the pattern of similar words in the language. Several of the
Latin prefixes seem to lend themselves readily to new combinations. Thus in the period
under discussion we have formed transoceanic, transcontinental, trans-Siberian,
transliterate, transformer, and several more or less technical terms such as transfinite,
transmarine, transpontine, etc. We speak of postimpressionists in art, postprandial
oratory, the postclassical period, and postgraduate study. In the same way we use pre- in
such words as prenatal, preschool age, prehistoric, pre-Raphaelite, preregistration; we
may preheat or precool in certain technical processes; and passengers who need more
time may preboard. In film parlance we may have a preview, a prerelease, or even a
prequel. From World War I came counterattack and from World War II
counterintelligence. In his Man and Superman Bernard Shaw coined the word superman
to translate the German Übermensch of Nietzschian philosophy. We subirrigate and build
a subcellar, and foreign movies sometimes come to us with subtitles. We can decode a
message, defrost a refrigerator, deflate the currency, and we may debunk a statement,
debug a machine, and decaffeinate coffee. It is so also with suffixes. Twentieth-century
popular creations on old patterns are stardom,filmdom,fandom, gangster, pollster,
profiteer, racketeer. Familiar endings like -some, -ful, -less can be freely added in
accordance with longstanding habits in the language.
220. Coinages.
A considerable number of new words must be attributed to deliberate invention or
coinage. There has probably never been a time when the creative impulse has not spent
itself occasionally in inventing new words, but their chances of general adoption are
nowadays often increased by a campaign of advertising as deliberate as the effort that
created them. They are mostly the product of ingenuity and imitation, the two being
blended in variable proportions. Thus the trademark Kodak, which seems to be pure
invention, was popularly used for years to refer to cameras of any brand, and Victrola and
Frigidaire enjoyed something of the same currency as synonyms for phonograph and
refrigerator. Kleenex and Xerox are trade terms that are often treated as common nouns,
and Zipper, a word coined by the B.F. Goodrich Company and registered in 1925 as the