Re: Question about a grammatical term

bnathyuw writes:
 >  --- Christophe Grandsire
 > >
 > > So, finally, let's give a final answer to the
 > > question of Mr. I-am-nothing ;)) :
 > > What is the grammatical term referring to the
 > > construction in things
 > > like "water cooler" and "toilet humour"? Answer:
 > > compounding :)) .
 > >
 > > Christophe.
 > >
 >
 > just to complicate matters, compounding can be further
 > analysed. sanskrt does this pretty systematically, but
 > i can't remember whether it has a term for this sort
 > of compound
 >

Water cooler, Coke machine, and store hours I'm pretty sure are
tatpurusha compounds.  The others are either tatpurusha or
karmadharaya, but I'm not sure which.  The difference (from this page:
http://freespace.virgin.net/francis.miles/el4comp.htm)

is:

|In tatpurusha compounds AB can be analysed as
|
|B of an A
|B in an A
|B from an A
|B near an A
|
|or some similar prepositional phrase; or occasionally 'which does B to
|A,' with A the object of the verb B (man-eating). This is a very
|common and productive form of compound in English, both for compound
|nouns and compound adjectives.

|If AB is a karmadharaya noun, A is an adjective element (blackbird) or
|sometimes a noun in the relationship 'B is an A' (girlfriend); if AB
|is a karmadharaya adjective, A may be an adverb (well-known), or a
|noun in the relationship 'B like an A' (ice cold) or similar.
|
|Notice that if AB is an adjective-noun karmadharaya, it always carries
|some special meaning, not just the same as an A B: a blackbird isn't
|just a black bird, like a crow, raven or jackdaw. (The same is usually
|true of Sanskrit, though krshnashakuri, literally 'blackbird,'
|actually means a crow. But maharajah is much the same as mahah rajah,
|'great king.')