Phobia describing the fear of long words.........any thoughts?
2007-01-19 13:28:46 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
Sesquipedalian means, literally, "a foot and a half long" . It is used to mean "given to using long words". It comes from Latin, specifically the writings of Horace.
The "hippopotamonstro-" is a jocular addition. "Hippopotamus" is Greek from "hippo" horse and "potamos" river meaning "river horse". "monstro" comes from the Middle English "monster" which came from Old French and originally Latin but it didn't get the modern meaning of "monster" until Middle English. If you stick "phobia" on the end, that is Greek again.
This gives you a word that is Greek, Middle English, Latin and Greek in that order - which is very much a 20th century jocular construction.
2007-01-19 19:00:54 · answer #1 · answered by tentofield 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Enormous question!
Good Luck & Blessings
2007-01-19 13:37:58 · answer #2 · answered by Wood Smoke ~ Free2Bme! 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
so when someone asks them wut their phobia is, they'll have to say *** hippopatamonstra usisquippeddal *** and get all freaked out since they have a fear of long words? ASSSOME
2007-01-19 14:37:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋