Re: 'Fortran' is the word an acronym or a portmanteau?

In article <jsmdnVqf_9V47-7ZnZ2dnUVZ_vWdnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>,
glen herrmannsfeldt <gah@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Kevin G. Rhoads wrote:

I don't see, though, how it differs from Radar or Matlab.

MatLab and RADAR are different. RADAR is from Radio Automatic
Detection And Ranging --
classic acronym, using initial letters from words in a phrase. MatLab
is, AFAIK, not
an acronym, but a portmanteau, as is Fortran.

From the previous example, a portmanteau uses the beginning of one word
and the end of another word, which Fortran does not do.

Portmanteau words first appeared in Lewis Carroll's Through the
Looking-Glass: "Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy'... You see it's
like a portmanteau - there are two meanings packed up into one word."
And in that very first example Carroll did not use the beginning of one
word and the end of the other. If he had, 'slithy' would have had to be
'slithe' because 'limy' already meant something else (and quite
different from 'limey', which postdated 'slithy' according to OED.)

Admittedly, many portmanteau words are constructed that way, such as
Carroll's own 'mimsy' or the later but now even commoner 'motel'.

FWIW Fortran appears to be an acronym as well as a portmanteau word
because OED's examples of acronyms include Amvets, Nabisco, TacSatCom.

-- John Harper, School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science,
Victoria University, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
e-mail john.harper@xxxxxxxxx phone (+64)(4)463 5341 fax (+64)(4)463 5045
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Fortran is the word an acronym or a portmanteau?
    ... My understanding is that the word s a portmanteau and NOT an acronym. ... this abbreviated written form. ... Based on what the OP said, Fortran is very definitly a portmanteau. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)
  • Re: Fortran is the word an acronym or a portmanteau?
    ... My understanding is that the word s a portmanteau and NOT an acronym. ... this abbreviated written form. ... Based on what the OP said, Fortran is very definitly a portmanteau. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)
  • Re: Fortran is the word an acronym or a portmanteau?
    ... classic acronym, using initial letters from words in a phrase. ... an acronym, but a portmanteau, as is Fortran. ... and the end of another word, which Fortran does not do. ... Now, it seems that most acronyms use the initial one or two letters of words, and Fortran uses three and four, but that doesn't seem to rule out an acronym, but just stretch the definition a little. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)
  • Re: Fortran is the word an acronym or a portmanteau?
    ... And in that very first example Carroll did not use the beginning of one word and the end of the other. ... If he had, 'slithy' would have had to be 'slithe' because 'limy' already meant something else ... Also, it looks to me that a portmanteau should combine words that are similar parts of speech, such that it could go in place of either word in a sentence. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)
  • Re: Fortran is the word an acronym or a portmanteau?
    ... And in that very first example Carroll did not use the beginning of one word and the end of the other. ... If he had, 'slithy' would have had to be 'slithe' because 'limy' already meant something else ... Also, it looks to me that a portmanteau should combine words that are similar parts of speech, such that it could go in place of either word in a sentence. ... While formula and translation are both nouns, I am finding it hard to think of a sentence where I could substitute Fortran for either one. ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)