Compound Words (Komposita)

Sometimes, perhaps due to the influence of English, some constellations are even written as separate words:

"die Monster Laufzeit" (monstrous contract period)

	Mobile internet without a monstrous contract period.

The previous examples of compound nouns are derived from other nouns. But the "determinative element" can also be a verb, which is represented by the stem:

	Feed-in of water for fire-fighting.

"die Baugenehmigung" (building permit); "das Esszimmer" (dining room); "der Fahrgast" (passenger); "das Lehrbuch" (textbook); "das Lesebuch" (storybook; reader); "das Löschwasser" (quench water [water for fire-fighting]); "der Mietvertrag" (rental agreement); "die Mitfahrgelegenheit" (ride; lift); "der Rasierapparat" (electric shaver); "der Rollstuhl" (wheelchair); "der Schreibtisch" (desk); "der Spielplatz" (playground); "die Sprechblase" (speech balloon; speech bubble [in a comic strip]); "die Stehlampe" (floor lamp); "die Tragfähigkeit" (carrying capacity); "die Verschlimmbesserung" (an intended improvement that makes things worse).

The "determinative element" can also be an adjective or adverb. One could make the case that some of these "determiners" fall into the category of separable prefix, at least when the "primary word," though a noun, derives from a verb. The effect is the same either way.

"der Feinschmecker" (gourmet); "der Fernfahrer" (long-distance trucker); "das Großmaul" (loudmouth); "die Hochkultur" (high culture); "der/die Schnellfahrer/in" (speeder); "die Schwarzmalerei" (doom-saying); "der Schwarzmarkt" (black market); "die Spätschicht" (late shift); "die Sprechstunde" (office hour); "der Wichtigtuer" (pompous ass); "die Zusammensetzung" (compound).

	unauthorized parked vehicles will be towed at the owner's expense

The "primary word" can also be a verb. The "determiner" then becomes a separable prefix:

"achtgeben" (to be careful; to pay attention); "gutmachen" (to make amends for); "preisgeben" (to relinquish; to disclose); "stattfinden" (to take place); "teilnehmen" (to participate); "wahrnehmen" (to discern; to experience; to avail oneself of).

Here are just a few other examples of augmentative constructions:

Some "determiners" appear so frequently that they have become a standard prefix. A word like "das Haupt," for example, an older term for head (and largely replaced in modern usage by "der Kopf"), appears in a great many well-established compounds, as well as in more spontaneous coinages. It means "central," "chief," "main," "primary," or "principal". Just a few examples:

"die Hauptachse" (main axle); "die Hauptabteilung" (central department); "der/die Hauptaktionär/in" (majority shareholder); "der Hauptakzent" (main emphasis); "der Hauptbahnhof" (main railway station); "die Hauptbeschäftigung" (main occupation); "die Haupteigenschaft" (primary characteristic; major feature); "der Haupteingang" (main entrance); "das Hauptfach" ([academic] major); "die Hauptfigur" (main character); "der Hauptgrund" (chief reason); "die Hauptperson" (central figure); "das Hauptproblem" (main problem); "die Hauptrolle" (primary role); "die Hauptsache" (most important thing); "die Hauptschuld" (primary share of the blame); "der Hauptsitz" (headquarters); "die Hauptstadt" (capital city); "die Hauptstraße" (main street); "die Haupttätigkeit" (main activity); "der Hauptunterschied" (principal difference); "der Hauptvertreter" (principal representative); "der Hauptwohnsitz" (primary residence); "das Hauptwort" (noun); "das Hauptziel" (primary goal).

	Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, the principal representative of German Idealism, lived from 1828-1831 in the house next-door (Am Kupfergraben 4a), which was destroyed in World War II.

In some compounds the "determiners" and "primary words" are equal:

"altklug" (precocious); "nasskalt" (wet and cold); "schwarzrotgold" (black-red-gold [the colors of the German flag]); "süßsauer" sweet-and-sour.

Still another form duplicates sounds, with the stem vowel changing between a high-front position and a lower-back one:

"der Mischmasch" (mishmash, hodgepodge); "schickimicki" (trendy, fancy-schmancy); "der Schnickschnack" (bric-a-brac, knick-knack); "der Wirrwarr" (hurly-burly, imbroglio); "wischiwaschi" (wishy-washy); "larifari" (airy-fairy).

Most of the previous examples consist of one determiner affixed to one primary word, but more elaborate noun chains are possible:

	Wheelchair Entrance

	Semester Ticket Office of AStA (Allgemeiner Studentenausschuss [Students' Association]) of the Free University of Berlin. Entrance to the left past the driveway.

"die Bankdienstleistungen" (banking services); "das Eintopfgericht" (stew; boiled dinner); "der/die Fußballspieler/in" (soccer player); "die Feuerwehrzufahrt" (fire department access); "die Geschirrspülmaschine" (dishwasher); "das Jugendschutzgesetz" (law for the protection of youth); "die Lebensversicherungsgesellschaft" (life-insurance company); "der Minderwertigkeitskomplex" (inferiority complex); "der Rathaussaal" (city council chamber); "der/die Rollstuhlfahrer/in" (wheelchair-user); "der Schreibtischcomputer" (desktop computer); "das Semesterticketbüro" (Semester Ticket Office [A semester ticket is a public transportation pass available to students during the term]); "der Windschutzscheibenwischer" (windshield wiper).

	Fire Department Access

Mark Twain is not the only person to find whimsical possibilities in complex compounds. There is a long tradition of constructing nouns like "die Hottentottenpotentatentantenattentäterin" (the Hottentot potentate's aunt's [female] assassin) or other humorous combinations:

The all-round-feel-good cough-drop		We wash washmachine water [ad by the Berlin Waterworks].

A more recent phenomenon is the "Weichei"-definition. A "Weichei" is a wimp or wussie, the opposite of a "real man." Some of the many definitions, which combine noun-compounds with the masculine suffix "-er":

More important are the complex meanings that can be compressed within compounds, constructions that are very hard to translate. Here is an example of one such possibility:

	Trittbrett (running-board)

In Hans-Ulrich Treichel's novel Tristanakkord (Suhrkamp, 2000), the protagonist is, in a small way, about to assist a famous musician in composing a work. In contemplating the fame that he will achieve, he refers to it as "eine Trittbrettunsterblichkeit" (p. 212). This coinage is made up of six separate elements: "der Tritt" (step) and "das Brett" (board) combine to fashion "das Trittbrett" (running-board, the foot-board that runs along the side of certain trucks and antique automobiles). German usage has given this word a metaphorical connotation: "hanging on" or "freeloading," especially in the term of "Trittbrettfahrer" (literally: running board rider). To "Trittbrett" the author adds "Unsterblichkeit" (immortality). That term is derived from "sterben" (to die); by adding the suffix "-lich" to the stem "sterb-", we get the adjective "sterblich" (mortal). To that comes the suffix "-keit", forming the noun "Sterblichkeit" (mortality). The prefix "un-", just as in English, produces the opposite meaning (immortality). Finally, the author combines "Trittbrett" and "Unsterblichkeit" to create a spontaneous coinage that will appear in no dictionary but is comprehensible to all: "Trittbrettunsterblichkeit" is an immortality that is achieved by riding in someone's wake (or on someone's coattails). The English translation necessarily lacks both the compactness - and the humor - of the German original.

	Floor-sander rentals

Portmanteau Words (Kofferwörter or Schachtelwörter)

German also uses portmanteau words, which blend two words and combine their meanings. Often these constructions are borrowed wholesale from English, e.g. "brunch", "motel", "smog", "brexit", but others are of German origin: