dilogy, duology

[Wilson Gray]

I've never come across either of these words before and I'm going to
have to look up "diology" to see how it's derived. My guess is that
that the "di-" is from Greek "dis," corresponding to Latin "bis" and
likewise meaning "twice." But "duology" is clearly, IMO, a
pswaydo-learned bit of pretentiousness. (That may be a bit harsh, but,
WTF?) In general, words in English derived from Greek are derived from
Attic and not Homeric. ("Hubris," instead of "hybris," is one of very
few exceptions.) Therefore, the form should be "dyology," not
"duology." Unless the coiner is combining *Latin* "duo" with Greek
"-ology." In that case, I can only shake my head in sorrow and once
again lament the  death of the classical education. I'd rather see
"twainology" or even "twoology." At least, neither of those would be
pretentious.

-Wilson

On 11/28/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      dilogy, duology
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Sam Clemens

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