Compound-forming ware: Presented at Researching Words session

This paper analyzes compounds with the word ware and their representation in several dictionaries of modern English. Our aim is to show that ware has developed into two different, currently productive compound-forming elements, one meaning goods, and the other meaning computer software. -Ware is commonly used to form noun compounds that roughly mean "Articles made of [first element in the compound]" or "Articles with [first element in the compound]" (e.g. brassware, glassware, chinaware; hollowware, stemware). The first element in the compound is usually a noun, although -ware also attaches to verbs (bakeware, cookware) and to adjectives (earthenware, flatware). This use of -ware has frequently given rise to proprietary names for kitchen items (CorningWare®, Farberware®). Compounds with -ware are often only used in the singular, although the word housewares is a notable exception. The word hardware has been applied to computer equipment since 1947 (Ayto, Twentieth Century Words, 1999: 280) and subsequently software was modeled on hardware (Ayto, 1999: 440). Currently -ware is a quite productive compound-forming element in computer science and the resulting word refers to some type of software, e.g. adware, freeware, groupware, shareware, spyware. Many of these creations are informal and humourous (e.g. shelfware, unused software that is consequently left on a shelf). A search for words ending in -ware on www.onelook.com shows that the software-related sense is currently more frequent than the goods-related sense. Several English dictionaries consulted did not include the software-related sense; in fact, some did not specifically mention the older use of -ware in compounds referring to goods. Although the software related sense may be too recent, too colloquial, or possibly too ephemeral for dictionary inclusion, the fact that many dictionaries do not have a separate sense for -ware as a compound forming element may be related to the difficulty of describing word-formation elements in a dictionary context (Kastovsky, 2000: "Words and Word-Formation: Morphology in OED"; Berg, 1993: 58-64, A Guide to the Oxford English Dictionary). In our paper we suggest how these forms might be described in a general dictionary

Compound-forming ware

This paper analyzes compounds with the word ware and their representation in several dictionaries of modern English. Our aim is to show that ware has developed into two different, currently productive compound-forming elements, one meaning goods, and the other meaning computer software. -Ware is commonly used to form noun compounds that roughly mean "Articles made of [first element in the compound]" or "Articles with [first element in the compound]" (e.g. brassware, glassware, chinaware; hollowware, stemware). The first element in the compound is usually a noun, although -ware also attaches to verbs (bakeware, cookware) and to adjectives (earthenware, flatware). This use of -ware has frequently given rise to proprietary names for kitchen items (CorningWare®, Farberware®). Compounds with -ware are often only used in the singular, although the word housewares is a notable exception. The word hardware has been applied to computer equipment since 1947 (Ayto, Twentieth Century Words, 1999: 280) and subsequently software was modeled on hardware (Ayto, 1999: 440). Currently -ware is a quite productive compound-forming element in computer science and the resulting word refers to some type of software, e.g. adware, freeware, groupware, shareware, spyware. Many of these creations are informal and humourous (e.g. shelfware, unused software that is consequently left on a shelf). A search for words ending in -ware on www.onelook.com shows that the software-related sense is currently more frequent than the goods-related sense. Several English dictionaries consulted did not include the software-related sense; in fact, some did not specifically mention the older use of -ware in compounds referring to goods. Although the software related sense may be too recent, too colloquial, or possibly too ephemeral for dictionary inclusion, the fact that many dictionaries do not have a separate sense for -ware as a compound forming element may be related to the difficulty of describing word-formation elements in a dictionary context (Kastovsky, 2000: "Words and Word-Formation: Morphology in OED"; Berg, 1993: 58-64, A Guide to the Oxford English Dictionary). In our paper we suggest how these forms might be described in a general dictionary

Studying Lexical Meaning in Context: from Collocation to Collocational Networks and Resonance

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