Other non-affixational operations

Let us look in more detail at other non-affixational operations leading to -ate verbs. Four forms seems to be the product of conversion (citrate, hydroborate, phosphate, xanthate)¹, one is a back-derived or clipped form (patriate < repatriate), and four derivatives are coined in analogy to other forms. Thus, inactivate, radioactivate and stereoregulate have models in the pairs active-activate, regular-regulate, while plasticate seems to follow masticate, both technical terms in rubber production (cf. the first quotation for plastication in the OED). There are five or six derivatives that are rather idiosyncratic: dissonate is unique because it is the only verbal derivative encountered so far that expresses a stative meaning, 'be dissonant'. Apart from this derivative, the stative meaning is never attested in neologisms involving overt affixes, but only with some zero-derived verbs. Fidate is a semantically opaque technical term in chess, which is most probably an intentional invention. Pathosticate, vagulate, and tambourinate are creations that only surface in the literary works of their inventors, i.e. the writers Shaw, Woolf, and Mackenzie, respectively. These forms are based on local analogies at best. Coventrate is apparently a loan-translation from German and an example of the kind of derivatives where -ate only serves to indicate the verbal category.²

¹ I have treated derivatives as resulting from conversion if their segmental and prosodie form is unalterted.

² Alternatively, coventrate could be analyzed as a resultative form with concomitant metonymy of Coventry. Under this analysis, coventrate is closely linked to the LCS proposed for -ate formations above.