The following quotation from Ben Jonson may be
read in two ways; and the accent may vary with the reading:
1.
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy silver shining quiver.
2.
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy silver-shining quiver.—Cynthia's Revels.
[§ 362]. 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 certain 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, each word having, then, a separate and independent existence. In a later stage of language, however, 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 bishop-ric. In the present language the word ric has no separate and independent existence. For all this, the word is a true compound, since, in Anglo-Saxon, we have the noun ríce 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