: German compounds

[Peter &/or Graham]

Bob mentioned the German "Handschuh" as a light-hearted example of
compounding from language poverty.

Shifting from Neolithic to modern, many German explanatory compounds are due
to the lack of a standardised  or central dialect at a time when wider
communication (e.g. for commercial purposes) was becoming necessary.    You
could not advertise "semmel" in areas that used some other word for it, but
"broetchen" (= "little bread") could be understood readily anywhere.

So some at least of these explanatory compounds derive not from poverty but
from excess.

Peter