# What GREEK root should be used to reference linguistics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866 "2008-02-23T18:40:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866/1 "2008-02-23T18:40:40Z")
Every English language word I can think of that refers to linguistics derives from the Latin word _lingua_. I can’t think of any that derive from Greek. Best I can come up with is phonetics, but that more means “sound of”, right? Like, as a suffix? **bienville** _phonetics_ (or **bienville** _phonics_) would be the _sound of **bienville** _, not so much the _language of **bienville** _, right? So, what would the appropriate Greek root be to denote “language of” or “speech of”? Oh, and in anticipation of all you television-lovers who want to tell me I shouldn’t get hung up about mixing Greek and Latin roots and I should just use “lingua”, well, Homey don’t play that. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866/2 "2008-02-23T18:47:43Z")
[QUOTE=bienville] Every English language word I can think of that refers to linguistics derives from the Latin word _lingua_. I can’t think of any that derive from Greek. Best I can come up with is phonetics, but that more means “sound of”, right? Like, as a suffix? **bienville** _phonetics_ (or **bienville** _phonics_) would be the _sound of **bienville** _, not so much the _language of **bienville** _, right? So, what would the appropriate Greek root be to denote “language of” or “speech of”? Oh, and in anticipation of all you television-lovers who want to tell me I shouldn’t get hung up about mixing Greek and Latin roots and I should just use “lingua”, well, Homey don’t play that. [/QUOTE] Philology isn’t (wasn’t? are there still philologists in the technical sense?) linguistics, but does involves (ed?) a sensitivity to nuances of meaning and an understanding of the history of languages etc etc. -FrL- ETA: [Philology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philology) ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866/3 "2008-02-23T18:50:12Z")
Hmm you’re right I can think of plenty of words (glossa- (i.e. glossary), lexicon, dialect) but anything used as a root that things are added on seems to derive from Latin. [QUOTE=Frylock] Philology isn’t (wasn’t? are there still philologists in the technical sense?) linguistics, but does involves (ed?) a sensitivity to nuances of meaning and an understanding of the history of languages etc etc. -FrL- ETA: [Philology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philology) [/QUOTE] IIRC, “-ology” means study of, so it’s not a straight word, he’s looking for the root/suffix that’s tacked onw hen you want something to be about language. Ology would be tacked on in study (i.e. biology). ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866/4 "2008-02-23T19:03:28Z")
[QUOTE=Jragon] Hmm you’re right I can think of plenty of words (glossa- (i.e. glossary), lexicon, dialect) but anything used as a root that things are added on seems to derive from Latin. IIRC, “-ology” means study of, so it’s not a straight word, he’s looking for the root/suffix that’s tacked onw hen you want something to be about language. Ology would be tacked on in study (i.e. biology). [/QUOTE] In “philology,” “philo” means something like “the love of” and “log” means (in this case) “words.” Its analogous to “Philosophy,” which “means” “the love of wisdom.” -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![ragerdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ragerdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ragerdude)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866/5 "2008-02-23T19:46:51Z")
\*Glossa \* (\*glotta \* in the Attic dialect) is the Greek word for “language.” Most literally it means “tongue,” and “language” is a transferred usage. It’s like the Latin \*lingua \* which does double duty for both “tongue” and “language.” We get words like \*polyglot \* and \*glossary \* from this word. ---
**Author:** ![ragerdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ragerdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ragerdude)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866/6 "2008-02-23T19:48:26Z")
There is also _lexia_, from which we get _lexicon_, _dialect_, _idiolect_. ---
**Author:** ![ragerdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d07c76/32.png) [@ragerdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ragerdude)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-greek-root-should-be-used-to-reference-linguistics/438866/7 "2008-02-23T19:51:24Z")
_Idiolect_, by the way, refers to one’s own individual language use, just like _dialect_, except for just one person instead of a group.