Saturday, August 4, 2007

Abibliophobia

WORD OF THE DAY: Abibliophobia (noun)

Pronunciation: [ê-bi-bli-ê-'fo-bee-yê]

Definition: The morbid fear of running out of reading material.

Usage: It is quite interesting that this word has popped up on the Web, the greatest source of reading material the world has ever known. Irony will never cease. Were there such a phobia, those subject to it would be abibliophobes , who would be abibliophobic. They would comport themselves abibliophobically , whatever that might mean.

Suggested Usage: Words on –phobia originally referred to psychotic conditions but now we have extracted a word, "phobia," from the suffix and add it wherever we please: "Wylie is such an abibliophobe that he never leaves the house without several magazines under his arm." In a world where this word could refer to a psychotic state, we could say, "What better refuge from abibliophobia than the library?"

Etymology: Today's was probably a nonce word created for amusement more than linguistic use. However, it is constructed better than most nonce words and has survived and is flourishing in Cyberia. Greek a "not" + bibli-(on) "book" + o, a connector + phob(os) "fear" + ia, a nominal suffix. "Biblion" referred to a small book or scroll or section of a larger work, a biblos. The plural of "biblion" is "biblia," whence "Bible" from the Late Latin biblia sacra "sac red writings."

-- Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

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