hyphenation - Compound Adjectives and -ed


A colleague asked me this question, and I couldn't come up with an answer that satisfied him, so I'm wondering if anyone can help:


Why does a man with a short temper become a short-tempered man?
In other words, why do you need the -ed at the end?


Are there any special rules for this?



Answer



This must not be taken as a definitive answer. Only hints too long to fit in a comment.


A - In order to form a compound adjective of the type adj+noun-ed, I'd say:


1- the noun should be able to transform into a reasonably comprehensible ed-adjective



  • temper → tempered (s.o. or sth with a temper, seems OK)

  • chair (n) → *chaired (doesn't seem to make sense)


2- the adjective in the first part of the compound word must fit with the noun-ed adjective.



  • a blue-eyed boy seems OK

  • a blue-tempered boy doesn't seem to make sense


B- I've just gone back to an academic paper I'd read a while ago exploring compound adjectives and in particular "the noun + -ed structure".


Here's a paragraph from this paper, it doesn't really answer the "why" in your question, but points toward a possible answer. (Paper's in French, translation mine).



Many linguists have pointed out that this type of compound adjectives (adj+noun-ed) is mostly used when describing a physical (blue-eyed) or mental (bad-tempered) characteristic. This physical characteristic doesn't only apply to people but can be found in animals (short-winged, red-tailed) or objects (red-roofed, sharp-pointed). Assuming that the adj+noun-ed compound adjective gives a definitory attribute to the noun, some linguists and grammarians will be inclined to refuse compound adjectives whose first word would express the point of view of the speaker.



Further on in this paper the author compares the compound noun "middle-age" to the adjective "middle-aged". Could we imagine short-temper as a possible noun? Then could we say the -ed suffix differentiates the noun from the adjective?


A question with/without “-ed” for the compound adjectives formed by “adj.+noun”? had been asked on english.se, and thanks to FumbleFingers for pointing out to John Lawler's comment on the disappearance of "ed" in spoken (and consequently written form) English.


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