The  only  word  Captain  Alfred  T.  Mahau  can
be  said  to  have  coined  is  sea  power,  which  is
rather  a  phrase  than  a  word.  It  was  born  of
his  preference  for  the  English  "sea"  over  the
Latin  adjective  "  maritime,"  though  he  recognized
the  incongruity  of  marrying  ''sea"  to  the  Latin
word  "power."  There  was,  however,  no  handy
equivalent,  and  the  Germans  have  been  puzzled
to  find  one  in  their  tongue.  Afterward  Cap-
tain Mahan  retained  the  expression  because  he
thought  its  very  roughness  over  "maritime
power  "  would  arrest  and  fix  attention  and  so  give
vogue,  at  which  he  aimed.  The  result  has  justi-
fied the  expedient.
He  used  once  by  chance  the  word  ereuflcs.'< —
"dull,  weary,  eventless  month."  The  word
slipped  without  premeditation  off  his  pen.  He
immediately  thought  it  without  authority  and
found  it  not  in  Worcester.  Nevertheless  he  stuck
to  it.  "Moneyless,"  "shameless,"  "heartless,"  are
its  analogies,  and  its  only  recognized  equivalent,
uneventful,  is  a  stupidity.  First  full  is  afiixed-
and  then  un  prefixed  to  neutralize  it.  Eventless
strikes  Captain  ^lahan  as  briefer,  stronger,  and
much  more  significant.  In  speaking  of  eccentric
— for  military  operations — he  uses  excentric,  as
the  secondary  meaning  is  now  most  common.     He


NEOLOGISMS  BY  LIVING  AMERICAN  AUTHORS.   81

doesn't  kuow  that  he  originated  this,  or,  if  he  did
not,  where  he  got  it.
