s. 418. _On certain words wherein the fact of their being compound is obscured._--Composition is the addition of a word to a word, derivation is the addition of letters or syllables to a word. In a compound form each element has a separate and independent existence; in a derived form, only one of the elements has such. Now it is very possible that in an older stage of a language two words may exist, may be put together, and may so form a compound; at the time in point each word having a separate and independent existence: whilst, in a later stage of language, only one of these words may have a separate and independent existence, the other having become obsolete. In this case a compound word would take the appearance of a derived one, since but one of its elements could be exhibited as a separate and independent word. Such is the case with, amongst others, the word _bishopric_. In the present language the word _ric_ has no separate and independent existence. For all this, the word {362} is a true compound, since, in Anglo-Saxon, we have the noun _r['i]ce_ as a separate, independent word, signifying _kingdom_ or domain. Again, without becoming obsolete, a word may alter its form. This is the case with most of our adjectives in _-ly_. At present they appear derivative; their termination _-ly_ having no separate and independent existence. The older language, however, shows that they are compounds; since _-ly_ is nothing else than _-lic_, Anglo-Saxon; _-lih_, Old High German; _-leiks_, Moeso-Gothic;=_like_, or _similis_, and equally with it an independent separate word. For the following words a separate independent root is presumed rather than shown. It is presumed, however, on grounds that satisfy the etymologist. _Mis-_, as in _misdeed_, &c.--Moeso-Gothic, _miss[^o]_=_in turns_; Old Norse, _[^a] mis_=_alternately_; Middle High German, _misse_=_mistake_. The original notion _alternation_, thence _change_, thence _defect_. Compare the Greek [Greek: allos].--Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik, ii. 470. _Dom_, as in _wisdom_, &c.--The substantive _d[^o]m_ presumed.--Deutsche Grammatik, ii. 491. _Hood_ and _head_, as in _Godhead_, _manhood_, &c.--The substantive _h['a]ids_=_person_, _order_, _kind_, presumed.--Deutsche Grammatik, ii. 497. Nothing to do with the word _head_. _Ship_, as in _friendship_.--Anglo-Saxon, _-scipe_ and _-sceaeft_; German, _-schaft_; Moeso-Gothic, _gaskafts_=_a creature_, or _creation_. The substantive _skafts_ or _skap_ presumed. The _-skip_ or _-scape_ in _landskip_ is only an older form.--Deutsche Grammatik, ii. 522. _Less_, as in _sleepless_, &c., has nothing to do with _less_. Derived from _l['a]us_, _l[^o]s_, _destitute of_=Latin, _expers_.--Deutsche Grammatik, ii. 565. For the further details, which are very numerous, see the Deutsche Grammatik, vol. iii.