Re: Graeco-Latin hybrids

THC> (Matronym, not metronym, is what you meant, I'm sure.)

RAB> I'm darn sure Philip meant 'metronym' - he does know Greek!

BPJ goes by "Philip"? I didn't know that.

Regardless, your reply on his behalf seems to me to be unduly vehement. I'm
sure Tom meant no offense; perhaps the righteous indignation should be saved
for cases where the offense is intentional? It was an easy mistake to make,
as while everyone on this list is a linguaphile, we're not necessariliy all
philologists. Mr. Chappell certainly jumped the gun by issuing a public
correction without being certain of his facts - but I imagine he has now
learned his lesson and won't make that mistake again. In fact, he'll
probably be quite paranoid on the subject. :)

THC> (what would a "metronym" be?

BPJ> What do you mean be "would be"? The word 'metronym' is perfectly good
BPJ> _English_, as a reference to any half-decent dictionary should show.

I'm afraid that "half-decent" is not good enough, since neither my copy of
M-W nor AHD have "metronym". (At least they don't have "matronym" either.) I
guess you need a fully-decent dictionary like the OED.

--
Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...>

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