Re: CHAT: German help

Hi!

Philip Newton writes:
> On 6/30/06, Julia Schnecki Simon <helicula@...> wrote:
> > This type of adjective formation (N+ig meaning "having N", e.g.
> > _löchrig_ "holey" or _rothaarig_ "red-haired") isn't uncommon, but
> > it's not productive anymore
>
> Which is why I'd put a star on *gebrauchsspurig, personally -- it's
> not a "valid word" in my internal lexicon, and since the suffix is not
> productive, you can't coin new valid words with it.
I find the word perfectly good, but with a bureaucratic/legalese feel,
probably by putting a little too much information into one word
instead of using two or three.  I'd translate 'with traces of usage on
the outside' more naturally as 'außen mit Gebrachsspuren', I think.

(BTW, on 'Spur' the '-ig' morpheme does occur in everyday words,
e.g. 'vierspurig' = 'with four lanes').

>...
> And it's possible that it _is_ a word in common use in the jargon of
> the used-books trade, ...
I think so, yes.

**Henrik