phonesthemes

[Ben Zimmer]

At 18:23:07 2 Oct 1999 potetjp wrote:

>Does anyone know who coined the term "phonestheme" and/or how it was formed?

It was popularized by Fred Householder in his 1946 article "On the Problem
of Sound and Meaning, an English Phonestheme." (Word 2:83-4).  But it dates
back at least to 1930, in J. R. Firth's _Speech_ (reprinted in _The Tongues
of Men and Speech_, London: Oxford University Press, 1964).  Firth spelled
it "phonæstheme": phon- + æsth(etic) + -eme.

--Ben

Benjamin Zimmer
Dept. of Anthropology
University of Chicago