When I first heard the word, I thought it was, well, too good to be true. "Linguaphile?" C'mon! Banking on my mixed feelings, I though others might have a similar response.
You deserve credit for owning up, however. Too bad your unabridged Webster's threw you a curveball.
It is a bastard word, as far I as I can see. Linguaphile seems to have root words from both Latin and Greek. I cannot think of a word in Greek, off the top of my head that transliterates into "lingua" Latin, on the other hand...
"logophile" is the all-Greek near-equivalent, although with the implication of love of words and perhaps knowledge rather than love of words and language.
I plan on inserting this word in a conversation sometime soon. My only concern is whether "logophile," as per Martin's comment, might be a purer alternative.
Naaw. I'll use them both.
Sprittbee wrote:
"So I guess that makes me a linguaphile?"
The fact that you're part of this conversation proves that!
It most certainly is etemologically purer but it may be less clear. Although it would follow suit with another greek rooted word, "logorrhea." But it would seem, here, that would be a dirty word (pun intended).
When I first heard the word, I thought it was, well, too good to be true. "Linguaphile?" C'mon! Banking on my mixed feelings, I though others might have a similar response.
You deserve credit for owning up, however. Too bad your unabridged Webster's threw you a curveball.
It is a bastard word, as far I as I can see. Linguaphile seems to have root words from both Latin and Greek. I cannot think of a word in Greek, off the top of my head that transliterates into "lingua" Latin, on the other hand...
"logophile" is the all-Greek near-equivalent, although with the implication of love of words and perhaps knowledge rather than love of words and language.
I plan on inserting this word in a conversation sometime soon. My only concern is whether "logophile," as per Martin's comment, might be a purer alternative.
Naaw. I'll use them both.
Sprittbee wrote:
"So I guess that makes me a linguaphile?"
The fact that you're part of this conversation proves that!
It most certainly is etemologically purer but it may be less clear. Although it would follow suit with another greek rooted word, "logorrhea." But it would seem, here, that would be a dirty word (pun intended).
8 Comments:
When I first heard the word, I thought it was, well, too good to be true. "Linguaphile?" C'mon! Banking on my mixed feelings, I though others might have a similar response.
You deserve credit for owning up, however. Too bad your unabridged Webster's threw you a curveball.
It is a bastard word, as far I as I can see. Linguaphile seems to have root words from both Latin and Greek. I cannot think of a word in Greek, off the top of my head that transliterates into "lingua" Latin, on the other hand...
I would wager it is a word created by fiat.
argh, a lot of typos in the my last comment: Haste makes waste
heh, I thought, "no way!"
I hate being wrong, but I love the new (to me anyway) word!
"logophile" is the all-Greek near-equivalent, although with the implication of love of words and perhaps knowledge rather than love of words and language.
It sounded dirty - my first reaction was to relate it to pedophile. I admit - I cheated. I had to look it up, as I can't resist a new word.
So I guess that makes me a linguaphile?
I plan on inserting this word in a conversation sometime soon. My only concern is whether "logophile," as per Martin's comment, might be a purer alternative.
Naaw. I'll use them both.
Sprittbee wrote:
"So I guess that makes me a linguaphile?"
The fact that you're part of this conversation proves that!
It most certainly is etemologically purer but it may be less clear. Although it would follow suit with another greek rooted word, "logorrhea." But it would seem, here, that would be a dirty word (pun intended).
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