and been replaced by clūdo, which was taken from the compounds. So plicāre instead of *plecere (Gr. πλέκω) or of *plocāre, from expliādre, complicāre. This process is sometimes called Decomposition.
§ 22. The same kind of reasoning by Analogy often conceals the true history of a word. From the negative adjectival compounds in-decēns, ‘unbecoming,’ improbus ‘not excellent, bad,’ were created the verbs indecet ‘it mis-becomes, is unfitted,’ improbo ‘I count bad, I disapprove,’ which came to be felt as compounds of decet and probo. From the adjective operātus ‘full of work, seriously occupied,’ which was derived from opera ‘work’ as ansātus ‘handled’ from ansa ‘handle,’ but which looked very much like a participle (such as hortātus, pālātus) there was formed later on the Deponent verb operāri ‘to devote oneself to (some duty).’ Such new words are called Retroformates.
§ 23. It is to be noted carefully that all the changes which have been described are changes of Sound, taking place in the spoken language, often long before the epoch in which the language was written down. When a language comes to be written down, and fixed spelling is established,—a thing which has happened to the languages of all civilised peoples,—and still more when the language comes to be printed, we generally find that the sounds actually existing in speech are only roughly represented in writing or printing. This is particularly true of English. The spelling of Latin was much more exact; but in all languages which have come to be written, when a spelling is once established,
