Portmanteau words are when two terms are combined to make one: brunch, motels, glitterati, jazzercize, puggles, ligers, sitcoms, sporks, keytars, jeggings, mocktails, bromance – all of my favourite things! Why make a totally new word when you can just shove two together.
Lewis Carroll utterly loved doing this. He invented the word chortle by combining chuckle and snort.
Galumph = gallop + triumph
Frumious = fuming + furious
Frabjous = fair + joyous
He also originated this usage of portmanteau in Through the Looking Glass. In Lewis Carroll’s time, in English, a portmanteau was a type of luggage which consisted of two compartments, folding into one. He posited it as the perfect solution to that moment when you want to say two different words at once, and a combination flows out.
Humpty Dumpty says, “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).”
From the Latin for portare – to carry and mantellum –a cloak, the word itself combines two aspects. Although it sounds French, in modern French it apparently means hat stand, which is no use to us whatsoever.
The Internet is filled with portmanteau names for things – blog, Wikipedia, email, Skype, Pinterest etc. It’s a good way to name a new phenomenon: combining two familiar terms to make something entirely new, but please don’t push it. I’m looking at you, Sharknado.
Do you have a favourite (or least favourite) portmanteau word? Comments please!
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2015 marks the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Find out more here.
I make up words all the time, but not always as portmanteaus. For the life of me I can’t think of an example at the moment, but I loved reading Carroll. His word choices in general are fantastic, but this is a great example of his creative usage. Thanks for sharing this. I never knew this was an actual thing!
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Lovely. Thank you for commenting! Making up words is great fun – keep at it!
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