Note 7 — Chapter V · LANGUAGE
Reading edition
Noun incorporation is really an etymological process rather than a grammatical one. In most cases it is the result of a language permitting compounds of nouns with verbs, or verbs with verbs, to form verbs: “to rabbit-kill,” “to run-kill,” and so on. This construction, which is perfectly natural and logical, happens to be so alien to the genius of the Indo-European languages that it has been singled out as far more notable and significant than it deserves. Pronominal incorporation is discussed below (§ 60).