[65]
Compound
[p. 109]
words are formed by the prefix of a preposition as
in innocens, though care must be taken that two
conflicting prepositions are not prefixed as in
imperterritus:1 if this be avoided they may in certain
cases have a double prefix as in incompositus or
reconditus or the Ciceronian subabsurdtim. They may
also be formed by what I might term the combination of two independent units, as in maleficus.
1 Quintilian regards the negative in as a preposition. His objection to imperterritus (which is used by Vergil) seems to lie in the fact that while interritus is a natural way of expressing “unterrified,” it is unreasonable to negative perterritus, which means “thoroughly terrified.” The presence of the intensifying per conflicts with the force of the negative in.
Quintilian. With an English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1920.
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