The aim of this blog is to serve as a meeting point to those who study or have studied English philology and, more broadly, to all those who love literature and language.

22 Dec 2008

YES, I´M A LINGUAPHILE!

Are you a linguaphile, too? Maybe you are and you didn´t even know it! Check it out as soon as possible here http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=linguaphile , or here http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=linguaphile , or here! http://www.bartleby.com/61/59/L0185925.html

4 comments:

  1. Why not? Reading the definitions of ‘linguaphile’, I’d also say that I consider myself one.

    I did not know the word and, after looking it up, I’ve found it together with ‘logophile’ and ‘logolept’ as items in a list of “Worthless Word For The Day!! An obscure word refactory”, http://home.comcast.net/~wwftd/

    I suppose those terms are attempts to fill in the semantic gap left by ‘philology’ and its derivation, once that word has lost its etymological meaning in behalf of that of the study of language and literature.

    Is there anything similar in Spanish?

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  2. I´m afraid that the Spanish counterpart is a word that comes along with other different kinds of sexual perversions! 'Linguafilia. Dicese del placer o la excitación obtenidos al hablar' For some reason it appears with terms such as 'gerontofilia' or 'necrofilia'. You know, we are all kind perveses that way!
    Juan F.

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  3. How sophisticated meaning! I don't know why but I would have thought of a different sense of the Latin word 'lingua' if I had to think of possible sexual perversions. Anyway, I still find it a bit odd to mix a Latin word with a Greek suffix. In fact websites such as Wiktionary provide us with the term 'glossophilia', etymologycally more consistent. A quick Google search has led me to a different use of 'linguafilia', more in the sense of 'love for languages'. I think that wordsmiths are busy in all languages.

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  4. Seems to be an equivalent of some senses of "philologist"—and, btw, one of the meanings of "philology" according to the Oxford English Dictionary is "Love of much babbling"!

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