[Ads-l] Accretion

Ben Zimmer bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM
Tue Apr 25 15:18:37 UTC 2017


I don't know about "emphathetically," but "empathetic(ally)" is nothing
new. OED dates "empathic" to 1909, with the variant "empathetic"
(analogized on the model of "apathetic" and "sympathetic") showing up in
1912 in the psychological literature.

"Empathetic" may have gained ground because "empathic" is often associated
with the science-fiction use of "empath."

http://www.jessesword.com/sf/view/965

We discussed this back in '08:

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2008-November/085937.html

See further discussion here:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3670


On Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 10:20 AM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> There are several words that seem to accumulate extra syllables on regular
> basis. "Emphathetically" is a new one for me.
>
> "The Orioles, on the other hand, were a model of comportment in the
> aftermath of Machado’s slide -- starting with Machado himself, who
> immediately reached out to Pedroia empathetically, both on the field and
> with a text message."
>
> Olney: Red Sox deserve all the blame for Machado incident
> http://es.pn/2pbAOZE
> via @ESPN App http://es.pn/app
>
>
>

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