‘Slithy,’ ‘chortle,’ and other portmanteau words
Lewis Carroll is credited with memorable portmanteau words, including “slithy”: a combination of “slimy” and “lithe.”
I have enjoyed writing this column over the past five years. I can't imagine a kinder, more enthusiastic readership anywhere, and I have learned a lot from you all.
In looking over potential topics, I realized that I have never written about English speakers' favorite way of creating new words. For this final column, then, let's talk about portmanteaus, or portemanteaux if you want to be French about it.
In the 19th century, a portmanteau was a kind of suitcase made of stiff leather and divided into two equal parts. Lewis Carroll laid claim to the term for language lovers in his 1875 "Through the Looking Glass," the sequel to "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland." According to Humpty Dumpty, the word slithy from Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" is a combination of slimy and lithe: "It’s like a portmanteau," the egg expounds – "there are two meanings packed up into one word." Portmanteau is itself a portmanteau, as it comes from the French porter ("to carry") plus manteau ("coat"). Slithy never caught on, but portmanteau did – it is more memorable than blend, the name linguists use for these combos.
Carroll also coined two portmanteau terms that did spread: chortle (to "laugh or chuckle especially when amused or pleased," according to Merriam-Webster) and galumph ("to move with a clumsy heavy tread"). The fun of portmanteau words is that they can be decoded – the parent words are recognizable in the offspring. Chortle is a combination of chuckle and snort, while galumph is apparently gallop + triumph.
Some portmanteaus are utilitarian and widely used. In the early 20th century, scientists named the thick, pollutant-filled air in urban areas smog (smoke + fog). The motel (motor + hotel), located on the outskirts of town with plenty of parking, developed in response to burgeoning car culture in the 1920s. Brunch is of course breakfast + lunch, but does the blend refer to the timing of the meal or the menu? I was happy to discover that at least when the term was popularized in 1895, brunch was a lunchtime feast of breakfast food, not a couple of sandwiches eaten at 10 a.m.
Over the past hundred years or so we’ve gotten hangry (angry because of hunger), had bromances (intense male friendships), and dealt with frenemies (friends who are also rivals). We’ve made guesstimates (estimates on the basis of little information) at work and contemplated things that are so huge that they are not just gigantic, not just enormous, but ginormous. From the ephemeral to the essential, portmanteaus demonstrate English speakers' creativity and love of wordplay.