Um ,væða' og ,væðingu' og hlutverk þeirra í samsetningum
Abstract
In the last century, most languages have had to create or accomodate a large number of lexical items, denoting new appliances and their applications, probably more than ever before. In the various languages, a number of suffixes have become quite productive in this function. Cases in point are suffixes like those found in e.g. English <i>privatize, computerize.</i> Corresponding to these, Icelandic, however, has <i>einkavæða</i> 'privatize', <i>tölvuvæða</i> 'computerize'. Icelandic, possessing no corresponding productive suffixation rules, takes a different road, judging by a certain word-formation process.
The origins of this process seem to be simple: The Old and New Icelandic verb <i>hervæða</i> 'supply with armour, arm' is itself a regularly formed denominative from <i>herváð(ir),</i> 'armour', a compound noun composed of <i>her</i> 'army' and <i>váð</i> 'cloth, covering'. (The simple verb <i>væða,</i> probably never common, can now be considered nearly defunct.) So far, this formation has received little attention in the literature but see Gustavs (1989).
The type <i>hervæða</i> became the model for neologisms already in the forties when forms like <i>iðnvæða</i> 'industrialize' and <i>rafvæða</i> 'electrify' are first attested. Now, it seems that constraints on the use of <i>-væða</i> as a general verbalizer in compounds have been almost totally dropped and <i>-væða</i> has become highly productive at the present time according to the corpora of the Institute of Lexicography at the University of Iceland and other sources. So, it could easily be argued that the formation has not only attested itself but also become very productive.
Many of the words in question are rather "learned" like <i>hnattvæða</i> 'globalize' and <i>tölvuvæða</i> 'computerize', others less so as <i>ADSL-væða</i> 'supply with ADSL', <i>bloggvæða</i> 'bloggify' and so on. Most of the verbs in <i>-væða</i> have the meanings 'supply with', 'equip with', 'introduce X',' provide with X'. Nominalization is automatic: Any verb in <i>-væða</i> yields a fem. noun in <i>-væðing.</i>
The question arises whether Icelandic has acquired a new suffix <i>"-væða"</i> (primary compound), i.e. <i>-væða</i> has acquired the status of grammaticalization, or whether verbs in <i>-væða</i> should be considered as incorporations (synthetic compounds). From the diachronic point of view the process is clear; we have been able to follow it since its beginning. Synchronically, the two solutions, the compounding or derivation suffix, seem equally arguable. But if/when <i>væða</i> acquires the status of suffix it will be the first Icelandic verb to do so. A number of other verbal second parts of compounds might provide an interesting object of investigation.
