To anticipate objections to the rule respecting the disparity of accent, it may be well to state in fresh terms a fact already indicated, viz., that the same combination of words may in one sense be compound, and in the other double (or two). _An uphill game_ gives us the combination _up_ + _hill_ as a compound. _He ran up hill_ gives us the combination _up_ + _hill_ as two words. So it is with _down_ + _hill_, _down_ + _right_, and other words. _Man-servant_, _cock-sparrow_, &c., are double or compound, as they are pronounced _m['a]n-s['e]rvant_, _m['a]n-servant_, _c['o]ck-sp['a]rrow_, or _c['o]ck-sparrow_. The fourth class is hypothetical. I can, however, imagine that certain compounds may, if used almost exclusively in poetry, and with the accent at _par_, become so accented even in the current language. s. 420. For a remark on the words _peacock_, _peahen_, see the Chapter upon Gender.--If these words be rendered masculine or feminine by the addition of the elements _-cock_ and _-hen_, the statements made in the beginning of the present chapter are invalidated. Since, if the word _pea-_ be particularized, qualified, or defined by the words _-cock_ and _-hen_, the second term defines or particularises the first, which is contrary to the rule of p. 355. The truth, however, is, that the words _-cock_ and _-hen_ are defined by the prefix _pea-_. Preparatory to the exhibition of this, let us remember that the word _pea_ (although now found in composition only) is a true and independent substantive, the name of a species of fowl, like _pheasant_, _partridge_, or any other appellation. It is the Latin _pavo_, German _pfau_. Now, if the word _peacock_ mean a _pea_ (_pfau_ or _pavo_) that is a male, then do _wood-cock_, _black-cock_, and _bantam-cock_, mean _woods_, _blacks_, and _bantams_ that are male. Or if the word _peahen_ mean a _pea_ (_pfau_ or _pavo_) that is female, then do _moorhen_ and _guineahen_ mean _moors_ and _guineas_ that are female. Again, if a _peahen_ mean a _pea_ (_pfau_ or _pavo_) that is female, then does the compound _pheasant-hen_ mean the same as _hen-pheasant_; which is not the case. The fact is that _peacock_ means a _cock that is a pea_ (_pfau_ or _pavo_); {365} _peahen_ means a _hen that is a pea_ (_pfau_ or _pavo_); and, finally, _peafowl_ means a _fowl that is a pea_ (_pfau_ or _pavo_). In the same way _moorfowl_ means, not a _moor that is connected with a fowl_, but a _fowl that is connected with a moor_. s. 421. It must be clear, _ex vi termini_, that in every compound word there are two parts; _i. e._, the whole or part of the original, and the whole or part of the superadded word. In the most perfect forms of inflection there is a third element, _viz._, a vowel, consonant, or syllable that joins the first word with the second. In the older forms of all the Gothic languages the presence of this third element was the rule rather than the exception. In the present English it exists in but few words.