Abstract
B LENDS, AS THOMAS PYLES (1952, p. 181) has observed, very frequent nowadays. Many of them are nonce usages, and a bare list might be expanded for pages. The process is, of course, not at all new, and its very lack of subtlety probably accounts for its popularity; moreover, it is very easy to perform. In these comments, Pyles has focused on two of the most important characteristics of blended words: their antiquity and their modern popularity. The latter is attested by the many examples listed in twentieth-century studies of blends (Bergstr6m 1906; Wood 1911, 1912, 1915; Pound 1913a, 1913b, 1914; Horn 1921; Withington 1931, 1933, 1939; Wentworth 1934; Plate 1934; Behr 1935; Koziol 1937; Berrey 1939; Meredith 1948; Marchand 1960; Berman 1961; Hansen 1963; Hockett 1967; Soudek 1967, 1977; Adams 1973; Bryant 1974).1 As evidence of the former, Pyles (1971, p. 298) has cited hathel 'nobleman' from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an apparent blend of athel 'noble' and haleth 'warrior.' Undoubtedly there are many such older examples, but ancient blends that have survived to become established in the
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