In linguistic morphology a cranberry morpheme (also called unique morpheme or fossilized term) is a type of bound morpheme that cannot be assigned an ''independent'' meaning and grammatical function, but nonetheless serves to distinguish one word from another."Cranberry morpheme"
Lexicon of Linguistic

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Etymology

The

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous archetypal example is the ''cran'' of ''

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus '' Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species '' Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

''. Unrelated to the homonym '' cran'' with the meaning "''a case of herrings''", this ''cran'' actually comes from '' crane'' (the bird), although the connection is not immediately evident. Similarly, ''mul'' (from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

'' morus'', the mulberry tree) exists only in '' mulberry''.

Phonetically Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

, the first morpheme of '' raspberry'' also counts as a cranberry morpheme, even though the word "

rasp A rasp is a coarse form of file used for coarsely shaping wood or other material. Typically a hand tool, it consists of a generally tapered rectangular, round, or half-round sectioned bar of case hardened steel with distinct, individually cut ...

" does occur by itself. Compare these with ''

blackberry The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the genus ''Rubus'' in the family Rosaceae, hybrids among these species within the subgenus ''Rubus'', and hybrids between the subgenera ''Rubus'' and ''Idaeobatus''. The taxonomy ...

'', which has two obvious unbound morphemes ("

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

" + " berry"), and to ''

loganberry The loganberry (''Rubus'' × ''loganobaccus'') is a hybrid of the North American blackberry (''Rubus ursinus'') and the European raspberry ('' Rubus idaeus''). The plant and the fruit resemble the blackberry more than the raspberry, but the fru ...

'' and '' boysenberry'', both of which have first morphemes derived from surnames (

James Harvey Logan James Harvey Logan (December 8, 1841 - July 16, 1928) was a judge in Santa Cruz, California, and an amateur botanist credited with the 1881 creation of the loganberry, a cross between the raspberry and the blackberry. He was District Attorney i ...

and

Rudolph Boysen Charles Rudolph Boysen (July 14, 1895 – November 25, 1950) was a California horticulturist who created the boysenberry, a hybrid between several varieties of blackberries, raspberries, and loganberries. Boysenberry Rudolph Boysen had experim ...

, respectively).

Examples

Other cranberry morphemes in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

include: * ''cob'' in ''cobweb'', from the obsolete word ' ("spider"). * Many elements in English

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

s, such as "

-ing ''-ing'' is a suffix used to make one of the inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words like ''morn ...

" ("Reading," "Dorking," "Washington") from an Old English term meaning "the people of..." or "belonging to..." (Note, however, that the "

" at the end of words such as "reading", the verb, is not a cranberry morpheme but rather an affixed morpheme.)

Emergence

Cranberry morphemes can arise in several ways: * A

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

al word can become part of the standard language in a compound, but not in its root form: e.g. ''blatherskite'' ("one who talks nonsense"), as Scots has the word ' ("contemptible person"). * A word can become obsolete in its root form but remain current in a compound: e.g. ''lukewarm'' from

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English ...

luke People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

'' ("tepid"). * A compound

loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because t ...

may have a recognisable native cognate for one element but not the other: e.g. '' hinterland'' is from

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

'' hinter'' ("behind") + ''

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...

'' ("land"). * A loanword may have one part misanalysed to a

false cognate False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the same language or from different languages, even within the same family. For example, the Engl ...

: e.g. a '' taffrail'' is a type of rail, but the word comes from

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

' ("carved panel").

References

Morpheme A morpheme is the smallest meaningful constituent of a linguistic expression. The field of linguistic study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. In English, morphemes are often but not necessarily words. Morphemes that stand alone are ...

Etymology

Examples

Emergence

See also

References