'mo = homo

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Mar 4, 2004, at 10:36 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:

>> 'mo = homo was new to me.  it's an example (relatively rare, but not
>> unattested) of a word clipped down to its unstressed final syllable.
>> anyone have other attestations for 'mo?
>
> HDAS shows this "mo" from 1968 (as a verb also). I heard it around
> 1968 IIRC.
>
> Can an argument be made that the "mo" in ancestral "homo" has secondary
> stress? [I can't picture "mo" < "homasekshul".]

yes it can.  compare "Como" (as in Perry Como) with "yellow".

> A somewhat comparable case which comes to mind immediately: "groid" <
> "Negroid" (in HDAS).

and lots of others ("droid" < "android", "ret" < "cigarette"), but also
including some with truly unstressed final syllables ("rents" <
"parents").

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)