amalgamate
UK[əˈmælɡəmeɪt]US[əˈmælɡəmeɪt]
v
to combine two or more things into a single, unified whole, especially organizations or companies.
v
to mix or alloy (a metal) with mercury.
Etymology
the word 'amalgamate' originates from the medieval latin term 'amalgamare', meaning 'to mix with mercury'. this, in turn, derives from 'amalgama', a substance formed by mixing mercury with another metal. the latin term was borrowed from the greek 'malagma', meaning 'an emollient' or 'a softening agent', which comes from the verb 'malassein' ('to soften'). the journey of the word reflects a semantic broadening: from the specific, technical process of creating a mercury alloy, its meaning expanded to encompass any general act of blending or uniting disparate elements into a cohesive entity.
Analysis
the word is a simplex form derived as a whole from medieval latin. it is not productively segmentable into smaller, meaningful english substrings.
Examples
the two rival firms decided to amalgamate to better compete in the global market.
in the 19th century, dentists would amalgamate silver with mercury to create fillings.
the committee's task was to amalgamate the various proposals into one coherent plan.