Brunch is considered a particularly American idea, but the coinage of the word turns out to be doubly British. The word came into use in turn-of-the-century British university society. And the strategy used to coin it -- it is known as a "portmanteau word," a combination of the words "breakfast" and "lunch" -- was defined in 1871 by Lewis Carroll (who was, himself, a member of British university society).

In the course of her travels on the other side of the looking-glass, Alice meets Humpty Dumpty, sitting on his wall. She tries to persuade him that his lofty perch is quite dangerous, but he will not listen to reason. Instead, she decides to ask for his help deciphering "Jabberwocky," a poem which has been puzzling her for some time:

..Alice repeated the first verse:

"'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe."

"That's enough to begin with," Humpty Dumpty interrupted: "there are plenty of hard words there. 'Brillig' means four o'clock in the afternoon -- the time when you begin broiling things for dinner."

"That'll do very well," said Alice: "and 'slithy'?"

"Well, 'slithy' means 'lithe and slimy.' 'Lithe' is the same as 'active.' You see it's like a portmanteau -- there are two meanings packed up into one word."

From Through the Looking Glass: And What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (Puffin Classics, 1996).