Re: noun compounds

John Vertical wrote:
[snip]
>
> I don't see any reason either why words like "watermelon" wouldn't be
> compounds, but you seemed to be saying that they REALLY weren't: "There
> are epither-noun-constructions, which are different from the so-called
> compound nouns, but for REAL compound nouns, we have to look at a
> language such as Greek..."
There is indeed a difference between true compound nouns and the
epithet-noun construction.

> In other words, I assumed you had some specific reason to bring Greek
> into the discussion.
That's only because it was the first language that came to mind that
does readily compound nouns. If I had known that the German for "apple
and blackberry pie" is 'Apfel-Brombeer-Pastete', I would have quoted
German rather than Greek.

I got the impression (I still do not know whether rightly or wrongly)
from Andreas email that the Swedish for "apple and blackberry pie" is
'äppel- och björnbärspaj'. I thus assumed, quite wrongly as Carsten as
explained to us, that the German for "apple and blackberry pie" was
'Apfel- und Brombeerpastete' - it ain't.

As far as I am concerned, 'Apfel-Brombeer-Pastete' is a true compound.
It contrast with the English "apple and blackberry pie" where the
conjunction 'and' is need as it conjoining the epithet nouns 'apple' and
'blackberry', both being epithets of the head noun 'pie'.

The English "apple pie" could be further expanded, e.g. "apple, pear and
quince pie". That means _one_ pie, filled with a mix of apples, pears
and quinces. I guess the German would be something like
"Apfel-Birnen-Quitten-Pastete" (Does one need the hyphens?)

Yep - Greek does have true compound nouns, but so does German. They do
exist in English also, but to a much lesser degree. English, like
several other languages, makes much use of the 'epithet-noun +
head-noun' construct.

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