word for "overly fond of one's children"?

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Fri Jan 20 17:08:03 UTC 2006


And didn't the original question have the implication of sexual interest?

Joel

At 1/20/2006 11:49 AM, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
>Subject:      Re: word for "overly fond of one's children"?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Fri, Jan 20, 2006 at 11:42:26AM -0500, Grant Barrett wrote:
> > Indeed. OED has "philoprogenitiveness" from 1815 (with three cites
> > total; a search of A9 shows that others are possible) and defines it
> > as "Love of offspring; the instinct or faculty of love for one's
> > children, or for children (and animals) in general. Its organ is
> > located by phrenologists just above the middle of the cerebellum."
>
>(The OED draft entry for this now has seven citations, up to
>1995, along with a brand-new sense 'inclination to or liking for the
>production of offspring; fecundity', with cites from 1842-1996. No
>notion of excess in either case, though.)
>
>Jesse Sheidlower
>OED
>
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