Abstract: This paper explores the history of the notion
of blending. It is argued that this notion was first given a theoretical status in the
neogrammarian movement, under the name of contamination, coined by Hermann
Paul. Contamination is closely related to analogy, a notion which was pressed into
service in order to account for some exceptions to phonetic laws. Because the focus
was on unintentional instances, the study of contaminations laid the framework for
the first systematic analyses of speech errors and accidental blends.
The mostly synchronic and morphological study of lexical blends constitutes
another strand of research which seems to be posterior to the neogrammarian school
and relatively independent from it, though both intersect in some studies. Particular
emphasis is placed on this strand, its evolution, and on the various definitions and
typologies of lexical blends which have been proposed in the literature.
The last part of the paper tries to map the course of a more recent line of research
which is rooted in cognitive linguistics. This line of research, as is shown, brings back
a theoretical pattern that is, in some respects, reminiscent of the neogrammarians.
