dilogy, duology

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Wed Nov 29 02:36:04 UTC 2006


Wikipedia speaks:

  "Duology also known as dilogy is a set of two works of art, usually a two-part series relating to literature or film, that develop a single theme over two works. A duology may or may not involve a sequel and/or prequel."

  OED lacks "duology" and includes "dilogy" only in different senses.

  "Duology," at least, gets thousands of raw Googlits.  (Tomorrow's Inglish-speakers will undoubtedly prefer "biology" in the indicated sense.)

  But seriously: OED appears to lack any single word meaning "a two-part literary, dramatic, or cinematic work" to complement "trilogy" and "tetralogy."   I was groping for such a word to describe Herman Wouk's _Winds of War_ and its sequel _War and Remembrance_.  Yeah, there's "two-volume novel," but I said "single word."

  I came up with "duology," but if Wikipedia already endorses it I may wait for a second round of inspiration.

  JL

 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list