Lesson 10. B 10.B.1 Introduction to Compound Words The dhatu (root) is the basic form of a word denoting verbal activity: in order to form a noun (naman) or adjective (visesana) etc., this activity needs to 'freeze', as it were, to make it into an object that is manifest and knowable. This 'fixing' of the meaning is accomplished by the addition of a suffix (pratyaya); the process in English is similar; for example, from the verb 'attend' given in 8.B.1, are derived: attendant one who attends, attendance the action of attending, attention the quality of attending, attentive having the quality of attending, attentiveness the state of having the quality of attending. As shown by the last word in this list, these suffixes may be concatenated; and further prefixes may be added, as for example, 'inattentiveness'. Words thus 'fixed' by a suffix (pratyaya) may be joined together to form a compound word, as in the following English examples: headache housekeeping newspaper paperback rattlesnake screwdriver sightseeing songwriter sunrise wheelbarrow bedroom fireside blackbird gingerbread breakfast greenback daydream haircut dressmaker handwriting The compound word may simply be a conveniently brief way of expressing a longer phrase (e.g. gravestone: stone marking a grave), or express a specific idea related to its parts (e.g. fireman), or may have a meaning quite different from its parts (e.g. pigtail : a plait of hair hanging down from the back of the head [from its resemblance to the tail of a pig]). When a compound is not yet fully accepted in English writing (e.g. where it may cause one to stumble when reading it), it is hyphenated, as: bread-winner break-down double-decker far-fetched fire-fly full-grown ginger-beer heart-shaped hot-house lamp-post light-weight old-fashioned pony-tail red-hot right-handed roof-garden single-minded store-room whole-hearted world-wide
