* Weiben Wang said on 2002-02-13 21:54:05 +0100
> I have a niggly question about German grammar which I
> hope is appropriate to ask here.  I was asked why you
> add the S's in "Bundesgesundheitsamt."

Assumably for the same reason those extra s-es show up in Norwegian
and Swedish.

> So, where do the S's come from?  I
> presume there's a better explanation than simply,
> "That's just how it works."

Yep, that's just the way it is :) It's there for aesthetic reasons.

Seriously: the Norwegian term is "binde-s" (binding s) or "fuge-s"
and it is used (but not always) when making a new word out of parts.
It seems to be put inbetween words in combinations if the first word
ends in a consonant, or if the first word itself is a combination, or
if the first word ends with specific morphemes:

skipsfører: skip + s + fører (ship + binde-s + pilot)
brennevinsflaske: brenne_vin + s + flaske (spirits + binde-s + bottle)
stasjonsmester: sta_sjon_ + s + mester (railway station + master)

N. has a binde-e too:

barnehage: barn + e + hage (child/children (indefinite) + binde-e + garden)

The name of the newest prestige-building at my uni. is "realfagbygget",
"realfag" is the natural sciences ("proper" science ;) ); maths, biology,
chemistry, physics, (and sometimes CS is included too), "bygget" is the
definite form of "bygg", a building. I, and many with me, are quite
annoyed by that name because "realfagsbygget", with binde-s, sounds much
better. Last I heard, a petition to have the name changed was in the works.

For those who can read Norwegian, here's what the faq says:
http://www.sprakrad.no/oss.htm#bindes


t.