Re: noun compounds

John Vertical wrote:
[snip]

>> In a language like ancient Greek which had real compound
>> nouns you just could not do as this Swedish trick.
>
>
> I read it to mean that "real" compounds exist only in some languages,
> such as Ancient Greek.
""
No - what I meant is that in languages that do have compound nouns you
do not AFAIK find compounds split up with a conjunction shoved in the
middle. I wrote that when I assumed that Andreas was saying that the
Swedish _äppel- och björnbärspaj_ means the same as English 'apple and
blackberry pie'. In the languages that I am familiar with you would need
a compound like the German _Apfel-Brombeer-Pastete_. Now in English we
do not say *appleblackberrypie.

Is there really some reason why compounds like  "watermelon" wouldn't be
"real"?

It is a real compound. I do not know why you would think it is not so or
put 'real' in quotes. In an earlier email I said quite clearly that
there are true compounds in English and gave examples. A watermelon is
not a melon containing water. We cannot expand the compound in the way
that we can expand the non-compound 'apple pie'; we cannot, for example,
say a *'a water- and whiskey-melon' (Now there's a thought  ;)

--
Ray
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http://www.carolandray.plus.com
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