A transition from such compounds to really combinatory speech is extremely easy. Let _sheu_, in the sense of hand, become obsolete, and be replaced in the ordinary language by another word for hand; and let such names as _shu-sheu_, author, _shui-sheu_, boatsman, be retained, and the people who speak this language will soon accustom themselves to look upon _sheu_ as a mere derivative, and use it by a kind of false analogy, even where the original meaning of _sheu_, hand, would not have been applicable.[11] We can watch the same process even in comparatively modern languages. In Anglo-Saxon, for instance, _hâd_ means state, order. It is used as an independent word, and continued to be so used as late as Spenser, who wrote:-- “Cuddie, I wote thou kenst little good, So vainly t’ advaunce thy headlesse hood.” After a time, however, _hâd_, as an independent word, was lost, and its place taken by more classical expressions, such as _habit_, _nature_, or _disposition_. But there remained such compounds as _man-hâd_, the state of man, _God-hâd_, the nature of God; and in these words the last element, being an empty word and no longer understood, was soon looked upon as a mere suffix. Having lost its vitality, it was all the more exposed to phonetic decay, and became both _hood_ and _head_. Or, let us take another instance, The name given to the fox in ancient German poetry was _Regin-hart_. _Regin_ in Old High German means thought or cunning, _hart_, the Gothic _hardu_, means strong. This _hart_[12] corresponds to the Greek κράτος, which, in its adjectival form of κρατης, forms as many proper names in Greek as _hart_ in German. In Sanskrit the same word exists as _kratu_, meaning intellectual rather than bodily strength, a shade of meaning which is still perceivable even in the German _hart_, and in the English _hard_ and _hardy_. _Reginhart_, therefore, was originally a compound, meaning “thought-strong,” strong in cunning. Other words formed in the same or a very similar manner are: _Peranhart_ and _Bernhart_, literally, bear-minded, or bold like a bear; _Eburhart_, boar-minded; _Engil-hart_, angel-minded; _Gothart_, god-minded; _Egin-hart_, fierce-minded; _Hugihart_, wise-minded or strong in thought, the English _Hogarth_. In Low German the second element, _hart_, lost its _h_ and became _ard_. This _ard_ ceased to convey any definite meaning, and though in some words which are formed by _ard_ we may still discover its original power, it soon became a mere derivative, and was added promiscuously to form new words. In the Low German name for the fox, _Reinaert_, neither the first nor the second word tells us any longer anything, and the two words together have become a mere proper name. In other words the first portion retains its meaning, but the second, _ard_, is nothing but a suffix. Thus we find the Low German _dronk-ard_, a drunkard; _dick-ard_, a thick fellow; _rik-ard_, a rich fellow; _gêrard_, a miser. In English