>>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.
>Eric Christopherson <rakko@...> wrote:
>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.)
I see your point. The prefix can be either "hetero-" or "heter-"
depending on what follows: hetero-sexual, heter-onomy.
There is only one form for "poly-": poly-gon, poly-onomy. There is
the noun "polynom," so the two different noun stems would have to be
differentiated. "Polyonomy" just looks funny until the etymology is
known.
Charlie
http://wiki.frath.net/senjecas