orteil42
absolutely zero relation between italian portamento and french porte-manteau
mortimermcmirestinks
for anyone else curious:
portamento = Italian, “slidey music thing”
porte-manteau = French, “suitcase thing”
portmanteau = English, “a new word made from two other words”
they are all related to each other etymologically but they do mean three completely different things
aimarann
It would be a coat hanger and not a suitcase in french. A “suitcase word” would be “a new word made from two other words”.
oh, damn, you right about the french thing, “porte-manteau” means coat hanger in french, not suitcase. I googled hastily and was confused
so, revised:
portamento = Italian, “slidey music thing”
porte-manteau = French, “coat hanger thing”
portmanteau = English, “a new word made from two other words”
they are all related to each other etymologically but they do mean three completely different things
