Univerbation

In linguistics, univerbation is the diachronic process of combining a fixed expression of several words into a new single word.^[1]

The univerbating process is epitomized in Talmy Givón's aphorism that "today's morphology is yesterday's syntax".^[2]

^ Brinton, Laurel J., & Elizabeth Closs Traugott. 2005. Lexicalization and Language Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 48.
^ Givón, Talmy. 1971. Historical syntax and synchronic morphology: an archaeologist's field trip. Chicago Linguistic Society 7 (1):394–415, p.413.