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

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Ultraphiloprogenitiveness."

  JL

Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jesse Sheidlower
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

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org




---------------------------------

 What are the most popular cars?  Find out at Yahoo! Autos

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org