Obsessed with dying on hills? You’re an orothanatomaniac.

I have noticed in the last two or three years that there are increasingly people who seem desperate to die on whatever (political, social, or moral) hill they see. Whatever issue or cause comes along, they immediately make it their entire personality – everything about them is devoted to it. They will spend hours and hours of their life fighting imagined mortal enemies online over their new cause. And then a few days or weeks later, another issue or cause – or even just vague concept – will come along, and that is now their new personality – the one thing in all of time that they must dedicate their life to.

It’s a phenomenon I see more on the political left than the political right.

I found I needed a word for such people: perhaps orothanatomaniac. Oro- is an English prefix of Greek origin meaning ‘mountain’ or ‘hill’. Orography or orology is the study of mountains and their formation. Orogenesis is the process of mountain formation. An oronym is the name of a mountain.

Thanato- is an English prefix of Greek origin meaning ‘death’. Thanatology is the study of death. And -mania is an English prefix of Greek origin meaning ‘madness’ or ‘obsession’. So orothanatomania is the obsession with dying on hills – in this case metaphorical ones. An orothanatomaniac is someone who exhibits this obsession.

Words of Pain – Words that end with the Greek element ‘-algia’

The word ‘nostalgia’ refers to a sense of longing for a time in the past – perhaps a time in one’s own life or a time long before one’s life.

This word used to have a different meaning: a sense of longing to return home. This makes more sense given its etymology – it’s from Greek nostos, meaning ‘returning home’, and Greek algos, meaning ‘pain’.

The word is part of an entire etymological family of words that end with ‘-algia’. There are actually quite a lot of them. Most of them are nothing as abstract and philosophical as ‘nostalgia’ – most of them just refer, very literally, to pain in a certain part of the body. The table below lists a few (though far from all, as there are A LOT).

Noun	Meaning
myalgia	muscle pain
abdominalgia	abdominal pain (obviously)
brachialgia	arm pain
cephalalgia	head pain – a headache
dentalgia	tooth pain – toothache
glossalgia	tongue pain
ophthalmalgia	eye pain
polyalgia	many pains

There are a few particularly interesting ones. ‘Analgia’ – a state of painlessness. ‘Hypalgia’ – a reduced sensitivity to pain. ‘Hyperalgia’ – an increased sensitivity to pain. ‘Hypnalgia’ – pain during sleep. ‘Pygalgia’ – a pain in the arse.

There is another abstract one – ‘solastalgia’ – referring to a type of homesickness not when one has moved, but when one’s environment has changed. A very useful word.

Words of Healing – Words that end with the Greek element ‘-iatry’

What’s the difference between a psychiatrist and a psychologist? I remember wondering this years ago, and learning that a psychiatrist is the actual medical practitioner, while a psychologist is an academic who studies the human psyche.

I had this distinction memorised for many years without knowing the etymologies of the words. (Well, without knowing the etymology of ‘psychiatrist’ – ‘psychology’ is a fairly easy etymology to work out.) But recently I wondered where this ‘-iatrist’ ending comes from.

‘Psychiatrist’ is obviously just the agent noun from ‘psychiatry’, which is in turn from Greek psykhe, meaning ‘mind’, and Greek iatreia, meaning ‘healing’. So it’s a perfectly-formed word – no etymological quirks.

There are a few other Modern English words that use this ‘-iatry’ ending – or its derivatives and variants ‘-iatric’ and ‘-iatrist’. I’ve listed some of these in the table below. Curiously, in each case, only one form – the adjective, the noun, or the agent noun – is commonly used in Modern English, with the others not, and sounding a bit out-of-place. I’ve put the common-ish words in bold.

Adjective	Meaning	Noun	Agent Noun
bariatric	‘of or pertaining to obesity’, ‘of or pertaining to the healing of obesity’	bariatry	bariatrist
geriatric	‘of or pertaining to old age’, ‘of or pertaining to the care of the elderly’	geriatry	geriatrist
paediatric	‘of or pertaining to the care of children’	paediatry	paediatrist*
podiatric	‘of or pertaining to the healing of the feet’	podiatry	podiatrist

(*Of course we usually use the word ‘paediatrician’ here, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be ‘paediatrist’.)

Not a very large selection of words. It’s curious that such a useful word-forming element is not used that much.

As I have done with the other posts in this series, however, we can get creative and imagine some new words that use this ending.

Noun	Meaning	Adjective	Agent Noun
ailuriatry	‘the healing of cats’	ailuriatric	ailuriatrist
cyniatry	‘the healing of dogs’	cyniatric	cyniatrist
chiriatry	‘the healing of the hands’	chiriatric	chiriatrist

And more. Such words could be quite useful in fantasy fiction, where there might be various different kinds of healer.

Words of Divination – Words that end with the Greek element ‘-mancy’

Continuing my series of posts on words from the same etymological families, in this post we will look at words that end in ‘-mancy’.

‘-mancy’ is a word-forming element of Greek origin that means ‘divination by means of’. For example, ‘cartomancy’ is ‘divination by means of playing-cards’. And ‘tasseomancy’ is ‘divination by means of reading tea leaves’ (which you might remember from Harry Potter).

We also use words ending in ‘-mancy’ to denote kinds of magic. ‘Necromancy’ is often used to mean a type of magic capable of reanimating dead bodies. ‘Pyromancy’ is often used as a general term for ‘fire magic’ – as in Game of Thrones. (Interestingly, it is the Mad King’s fire mages who are called ‘pyromancers’, but Melisandre is far more fitting of the term, since she does actually use fire for divination.)

This family of words is, clearly, of great use to writers of fantasy. And, it turns out, there are a lot more words in this family than one might first expect – most of them aren’t used very often – perhaps an opportunity to bring some back.

Below are words ending in ‘-mancy’ that I’ve been able to find in dictionaries.

Word	Meaning and Etymology	Agent Noun
bibliomancy	divination by means of opening a book at random; from Greek biblion, meaning ‘paper’, ‘scroll’; could perhaps also be used to refer to any magic that uses books	bibliomancer
spodomancy	divination by means of ashes; from Greek spodos, meaning ‘ashes’, ’embers’	spodomancer
sciomancy	divination by communication with shades of the dead; from Greek skia, meaning ‘shade’, ‘shadow’; could perhaps also be used just to mean ‘shadow-magic’	sciomancer
chiromancy	divination by the hand – palm-reading, essentially; from Greek kheir, meaning ‘hand’; could also be used to refer to any kind of magic that uses hand gestures	chiromancer
geomancy	divination by means of signs in the Earth – from Greek ge, meaning ‘Earth’	geomancer
lecanomancy	divination by inspection of water in a basin; ultimately from Greek lekos, meaning ‘plate’, ‘pan’; could also be used to mean divination by inspecting broken plates or pottery	lecanomancer
capnomancy	divination by smoke; from Greek kapnos, meaning ‘smoke’	capnomancer
gyromancy	divination by walking in circles; this is quite a funny one; from Greek gyros, meaning ‘circle’	gyromancer
crystallomancy	divination by means of crystals – looking into a crystal ball; from Greek krystallos, meaning ‘clear ice’; this word could also be used for ‘divination by looking into ice’ or ‘ice magic’	crystallomancer
rhabdomancy	divination by use of a divining rod; from Greek rhabdos, meaning ‘rod’, ‘wand’, ‘staff’; could also just be used to mean ‘wand-magic’ – so possibly quite a useful word; much of the magic in Harry Potter could perhaps be described as rhabdomancy	rhabdomancer
rhapsodomancy	divination by means of verses; from Greek rhapsodos, meaning ‘reciter of epic poems’; could be used to refer to any kind of magic that uses incantations – and so, like rhabdomancy, could refer to a type of magic that appears commonly in fiction; could also be used to refer to a kind of magic that uses songs	rhapsodomancer
cartomancy	divination by means of playing-cards; from Greek khartes, meaning ‘layer of papyrus’; could be used for any kind of magic that involves paper	cartomancer
astromancy	divination by means of the stars and planets – what today is commonly called ‘astrology’	astromancer
oneiromancy	divination through dreams; from Greek oneiros, meaning ‘dream’	oneiromancer
ophiomancy	divination through interpreting the movements of coiling snakes; from Greek ophis, meaning ‘snake’	ophiomancer
anthracomancy	divination by inspection of burning coals; from Greek anthrax, meaning ‘live coal’; potentially a useful word in combination with ‘pyromancy’	anthracomancer
arithmancy	divination by numbers; from Greek arithmos, meaning ‘number’	arithmancer
catoptromancy	divination by means of a mirror; this is quite a good one; from Greek katoptron, meaning ‘mirror’	catoptromancer
psephomancy	divination by means of pebbles; from Greek psephos, meaning ‘pebble’	psephomancer
tephromancy	divination by means of ashes (from a sacrifice); from Greek tephra, meaning ‘ashes’	tephromancer
ornithomancy	divination by means of birds; from Greek ornis, meaning ‘bird’	ornithomancer
pegomancy	divination by fountains; from Greek pege, meaning ‘fountain’, ‘spring’	pegomancer
pyromancy	divination by means of fire; from Greek pyr, meaning ‘fire’; also just a general word for ‘fire magic’	pyromancer
cubomancy	divination by throwing dice; from Greek kybos, meaning ‘die’	cubomancer
ceromancy	divination by inspection of melted wax; from Greek keros, meaning ‘beeswax’	ceromancer
psychomancy	divination by consultation with souls of the deceased; from Greek psykhe, meaning ‘soul’, ‘mind’; could just be used to refer generally to psychic powers	psychomancer
necromancy	divination by communication with the dead; from Greek nekros, meaning ‘dead body’; has the more general meaning of ‘black magic’, and is often used to mean ‘magic involving dead bodies’	necromancer
xylomancy	divination by means of wood; from Greek xylon, meaning ‘wood’, ‘timber’	xylomancer
onomancy	divination from the letters of a name; from Greek onoma, meaning ‘name’	onomancer
phyllomancy	divination by means of leaves; from Greek phullon, meaning ‘leaf’	phyllomancer
hydromancy	divination by the appearance or motion of liquids; from Greek hydor, meaning ‘water’; could just be used as a general term for ‘water-magic’ (such as water-bending in Avatar)	hydromancer
aeromancy	divination by means of air; from Greek aer, meaning ‘air’; could just be used as a general term for ‘air-magic’ (such as air-bending in Avatar)	aeromancer
lithomancy	divination by stones; from Greek lithos, meaning ‘stone’; can be used for ‘stone-magic’	lithomancer
chronomancy	divination to determine the favourable time for an action; from Greek khronos, meaning ‘time’; could just be used for ‘time-magic’	chronomancer

There are a few others that I found, but they were less interesting. As you can see, there’s a lot of them – you could use them in some quite interesting ways in fantasy stories.

The table below gives some words ending in ‘-mancy’ that I’ve made up with my limited knowledge of Classical Greek. (I haven’t checked if anyone else has made these up too – it’s quite possible.)

Word	Meaning and Etymology	Agent Noun
electromancy	divination by means of amber; divination by means of electricity; electricity-magic; from Greek elektron, meaning ‘amber’	electromancer
chromomancy	divination by means of colour; colour-magic; from Greek khroma, meaning ‘colour’	chromomancer
heliomancy	divination by means of the Sun; Sun-magic; from Greek helios, meaning ‘the Sun’	heliomancer
logomancy	word-magic; speech-magic; perhaps a term for any magic that involves incantations; from Greek logos, meaning ‘word’, ‘speech’	logomancer
anthomancy	flower-magic; from Greek anthos, meaning ‘flower’	anthomancer
selenomancy	divination by means of the Moon; from Greek selene, meaning ‘the Moon’	selenomancer

As is usual with these posts, I may add more words over time.

Words of Hatred – Words that start with the Greek element ‘miso-’

‘Misanthropy’ is a hatred of humankind. ‘Misandry’ is a hatred of men; ‘misogyny’ is a hatred of women. Together they are part of a family of words that use the Greek element miso- / mis-, meaning ‘hatred’, as a prefix.

When I was looking up miso- on etymonline.com one day, I saw that there are other words that start with this element, such as ‘misocapnic’ – ‘hating smoke’ – and ‘misocynic’ – ‘hating dogs’ – and wondered if there are other miso- words that, through circumstance, hadn’t made it into Modern English (or at least, weren’t common in Modern English).

I found quite a few. Misologia – a hatred of argument or discourse – a very useful word for the modern day. Misodemia – a hatred of democracy – also very useful. Misagathia – a hatred of good – an extremely useful one both for describing some people in the real world and for describing some people in fantasy worlds.

So I’ve compiled this short list (which I may add to later) of words that start with miso- / mis-, that describe a kind of hatred, and which might be particularly useful, and so good to bring into Modern English. I myself will be using several of these quite a lot.

Words I found a dictionary entry for

Greek	Romanised Greek / English Neologism	Meaning	Adjectival Form
μισαγαθία	misagathia	a hatred of good	misagathic
μισοδημία	misodemia	a hatred of democracy	misodemic
μισολογία	misologia	a hatred of argument	misologic
μισοπονηρία	misoponeria	a hatred of evil	misoponeric
μισαλληλία	misallelia	mutual hatred	misallelic
	misosophia / misosophy	a hatred of wisdom (opposite of philosophy)	misosophic, misosophical

Note that the English neologisms could be given spellings that follow the same evolutionary changes as words like ‘misanthropy’ – i.e., ‘misagathy’, ‘misodemy’. Personally I prefer the -ia ending.

Words that I have constructed based on my limited knowledge of Classical Greek

The words in the table below I did not find a direct dictionary entry for. I have constructed them from other words and entries. My knowledge of Classical Greek is very limited, and doubtless there is an expert out there who can tell me if these inferred words are correct (both in terms of their construction and their romanisation).

Greek	Romanised Greek / English Neologism	Meaning	Adjectival Form
μισοκαπνία	misocapnia	a hatred of smoke	misocapnic
μισοκυνία	misocynia	a hatred of dogs	misocynic
μισαἴλουρία	misailuria	a hatred of cats	misailuric
μισαλήθεια	misaletheia / misalethia	a hatred of truth	misaletheic / misalethic