"Hello again Word Lovers!"
Today we are taking a brief aside into hybrid word, sometimes known as mongrel words. This is the area of etymology that explores words that comprise of elements from two different roots. Mongrel has some negative connotations, hybrid seen as a more politically correct word.
Hybrid comes to us through hubris which is a Greek word from hybris meaning "presumption toward the gods". This has a PIE root for the first par of ud - up or out but the second half is a matter of much debate.
Mongrel is used to refer to a dog of "mixed race", often considered not to be a pedigree. Hybrid sees wide use in English to discuss technology, plants, animals, ideas of combined origin. Mongrel is much more likely to be retained exclusively to describe a dog, normally a street dog. (The development of the language regarding street dogs is discussed in our forthcoming Language Lounge episode on Collective Nouns). The Old English word was a gemong, meaning among and coming from Proto-Germanic meaning "to mingle".
So classically trained scholars object to certain words being created using mixed roots. Examples:
Television: Something that enables us to see something far away. A perfect word was ready to be used, but was unfortunately adopted for something else - telescope. So a Greek prefix was combined with a Latin suffix giving a word that is in use in almost every language in the world. (Another such example of a near global word is Penguin, find out more on the unlikely source of the word penguin here. Take a guess, you'll never believe this one!)
The Fowler Brothers, authors of The King's English, object to certain hybrid words:
Amoral: (without morality - as we learnt in our exploration of Greek prefixes here) The problem is the Greek prefix is combined with a Latin suffix (oh the horror!) They suggest that "it is desirable that in making new words the two languages should not be mixed"
Is this a valid or useful position to hold?
Some people object to polyamory and homosexuality, but not on the basis of their inability to comply with current year social values but actually due to the hybrid formation of the words. Polyamory should be multiamory or polyphilia. Tom Stoppard makes a joke about homosexuality being half Greek and half Latin in one of his plays.
This is a brief sojourn as it is clearly a backwater of etymological dinner party debate. If television and amoral are so problematic, then why no clamour of outrage at some of the other examples:
neuroscience
automobile
hypercorrection
loveable
merriment
monolingual
sociology
talkative
Explore the full Interesting Etymologies series archive here
As well as being the host of our Interesting Etymologies series, Charly Taylor is a stand up comedian and author. His latest offering is available now:
SkipDeLirio's Worst Ever Gig : A novel by Charly Taylor
Caesar’s army has returned from the long campaign in Gaul and the enemy has been all but defeated. Some of Pompey’s army, however, remains in Africa. Together with straggling Roman rebels and the local king Juba, they are gathering forces to prepare one last attack on what is now Caesar’s Rome. But there is one problem – a descendant of Scipio Africanus is fighting on the side of the Africans. And without a Scipio of their own, the superstitious Romans refuse to go to Africa to fight.
So Caesar sends out soldiers to find himself a Scipio. Luckily, there is a man of such name right there in Rome – a local drunkard and tavern entertainer distantly descended from the legendary warrior. Kidnapped solely on account of his ‘heritage’, the lowly clown is forced to lead out the troops in the battle of Thapsus. There, ‘history’ tells us, Scipio ‘disappears from the historical record’.
Until now.
This is the story of how ‘Nobody’ Skip DeLirio, with the cards finally all dealt in his favour, still managed to fuck it up. History will only take you so far. The rest is make-believe.
Order your copy here