The joy of portmanteau words

Yesterday’s blog post discussed The joy of compound words. Portmanteaus are more compact combinations. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines a portmanteau as:

“A word or morpheme whose form and meaning are derived from as blending of two or more distinct forms (such as smog from smoke and fog).”

A portmanteau originally was a suitcase with two compartments, as is shown above. Wikipedia has a long list of portmanteau words.

Three portmanteaus I particularly like are:

Electrocute: electricity + execute

Jackalope: jackrabbit + antelope

Satisfice: satisfactory + suffice

There is a seven-minute YouTube video of a TEDYouth talk from 2014 by lexicographer Erin McKean titled  Go ahead, make up new words! in which she explains:

“Another way that you can make words in English is kind of like compounding, but instead you use so much force when you squish the words together that some parts fall off. So these are blend words, like ‘brunch’ is a blend of ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’." 

Portmanteau words come from 1865 in the novel Through the Looking Glass by Charles Dodson (Lewis Carroll). You can find the full text here at Gutenberg. In Chapter VI. Humpty Dumpty, he recites the first verse of the poem Jabberwocky:

“Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.”

Then he explains some terms:

“Well, ‘slithy’ means ‘lithe and slimy.’ ‘Lithe’ is the same as ‘active.’ You see it’s like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word….”

“Well, then, ‘mimsy’ is ‘flimsy and miserable’ (there’s another portmanteau for you).”

Wikipedia explains that the name Tiguan (a compact crossover vehicle from Volkswagen) is a portmanteau of tiger and leguan (German for iguana).  

Chapter 2 of Boise author Amanda K. Turner’s 2012 book This Little Piggy Went to the Liquor Store describes five humorous portmanteaus created by her in-laws, the Turners:

Balslamic: balsamic + Islamic

Dwelve: dwell + delve

Marianade: marinate + marinade

Snidbits: snippets + tidbits

Substanance: substance + sustenance