A History of English Language

The nineteenth century and after 287
name for a boot fitted with a slide fastener, has become the universal name for the
fastener itself. Words formed by combining the initial or first few letters of two or more
words are known as acronyms. Radar (radio detecting and ranging) is an example, as are
scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) and OPEC (Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries). 1 In deliberate coinages there is often an analogy with
some other word or words in the language. This is felt, consciously or unconsciously, to
be desirable. It permits the meaning more easily to be guessed at, reveals a mild degree of
ingenuity on the part of the inventor, and focuses the attention on the distinctive syllable
or syllables. Mazola obviously refers to maize and oil, and Sine-off in addition to its
reference to sinuses evokes associations with “signing off” in broadcasting or going to
sleep. Dictaphone combines elements found in the words dictate and telephone, just as
travelogue is a cross between travel and dialogue. Bureaucrat and plutocrat are
obviously formed on the model of aristocrat, autocrat, etc., as electrocute is modeled
after execute. Sometimes a Latin formative element is used and the new word has a rather
specious classical air, as in novocaine from Latin novus (new) grafted upon the English
word cocaine.
1
More than 520,000 other examples have been collected in Acronyms, Initialisms, and
Abbreviations Dictionary, ed. Jennifer Mossman (16th ed., Detroit, 1992).