Word History: " 'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy." Perhaps Lewis Carroll would chortle a bit himself to find that people are still using the word chortle, which he coined in Through the Looking-Glass, published in 1872. In any case, Carroll had constructed his word well, combining the words chuckle and snort. He also provided us means of referring to such hybrids, which are often prosaically called blends. In Through the Looking-Glass Humpty Dumpty uses portmanteau (a suitcase that opens into two hinged compartments) to describe the word slithy, saying, "It's like a portmanteau—there are two meanings packed up into one word" (the meanings being "lithe" and "slimy").