Re: OT: polyonomy
| From: | Eric Christopherson <rakko@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, December 9, 2006, 5:58 |
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On Dec 8, 2006, at 10:55 AM, caeruleancentaur wrote:
> The featured article today on Wikipedia is about Macedonia. The
> author uses the word "polyonomy" along
> with "heteronomy." "Heteronomy" is an entry in the AHD.
> However, "polyonomy" is not. I know what the author means, but I
> should think the word would be "polynomy." The word doesn't seem to
> warrant that extra "o." Neither form is in the AHD.
I'm not exactly sure what is meant by it in that article; it's a
little irritating that it isn't defined where it is used. I guess the
impression I get is that the name "Macedonia" can refer to several
different things, and that those things can also be called by other
names. I didn't find *any* of those words in the online AHD, FWIW.
Anyway, if the etymological meaning is "many names", I think it
should be <polyonymy>. The "extra" O is part of the Greek word for
"name", <onymos>. <Polynomy>, AFAICT, would mean "many systems of
government" or "many bodies of knowledge". <Polyonomy> seems like a
conflation of the two. (But I am not an expert.)