Associativity and splitting of three compound names

Question

Pre-question (answered here): Is there a compound word A|B with original components A and B that might be slit as A'|B' if A borrows some letters from B (or the other way around) to form A', and B' keeps the rest?

With that background:

Is there a word with three components A|B|C such that diverse associativity interpretations could lead to alternative meanings? Like (A|B)|C being different from A|(B|C) ? Or reorganizing A'|B'|C' by creating new words with order and letter conservation?

I am not 100% sure I get what you want: Are you asking for something like Ur|Instinkt <> Urin|stinkt? — Arsak, Nov 22 '18 at 12:14
Yes, it is only proper German with a space in between, but I needed an example (even if it not fully matches). Would the components A, B, A' and B' need to be valid words when they are not used within the compound words? And are there limitations to their word classes? — Arsak, Nov 22 '18 at 12:41
Would Ei|dotter <> EId|otter be a better example? I found it in Hubert's answer to this question. — Arsak, Nov 22 '18 at 12:49
@Marzipanherz Yes, I was thinking of A,B,A' and B' having to be all valid words (or A' and A prefixes and or B or B' sufixes). No limitation of word classes, I just find that in Scrabble those words should count twice :D I see my question is a dupe, thanks for the info. — c.p., Nov 22 '18 at 12:49
I think, technically it's not a dupe, because you've asked in English. Plus, I can not really see a good 3-compound case in the other answers :) — Arsak, Nov 22 '18 at 14:46

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 22 '18 at 14:01

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A classical example for such a word is Staubecken which can be read as Stau-becken (from stauen and Becken) or Staub-ecken (from Staub and Ecke).

However, the two possibilites differ in number, as the former is singular and the latter is plural.

answered Nov 22 '18 at 14:01

RHa

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I think this should be replaced in our minds with Frustration. Much better example. – Janka Nov 22 '18 at 14:34
@Janka Frust-Ration and what else? I cannot see something like Fru-Stration – rexkogitans Nov 22 '18 at 18:38
Frus-tra-tion und Frust-ra-tion. – Janka Nov 22 '18 at 18:46
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But Frus-tra-tion is not a compound. – RHa Nov 22 '18 at 20:35

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 22 '18 at 15:10

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Example for a word with 3 components:

Die Fensterheberzeit (die Zeit, die der Heber für eine vollständige Öffnung oder Schließung benötigt) liegt bei diesem Fahrzeug bei gerade einmal 1,2 Sekunden.

Wer kurbelt denn heute noch, wir leben doch längst in einer Fensterheberzeit!

answered Nov 22 '18 at 15:10

Pollitzer

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Herrlich, dass es so was gibt. Kann ich fragen, wie du auf die Idee gekommen bist? – c.p. Nov 22 '18 at 15:43
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@c.p.: Ich habe gedanklich aus dem Fenster auf die Straße geschaut. Gesehen habe ich parkende Autos. – Pollitzer Nov 22 '18 at 16:17

Associativity and splitting of three compound names

2 Answers2