[Lexicog] rules when it comes to latin word roots

[John Roberts]

Peter Kirk wrote:

> Maybe not these words, but the very first word at your site indicates
> that such things are considered: the all-Greek "andropause" is preferred
> to the miscegenation "viropause".

I still disagree. The entry actually says

ANDROPAUSE (OR VIROPAUSE), n. The end of virility. [blend of virility and
menopause]
Context and Source: "andropause or viropause, the end of virility,"
(Newsweek 9/16/96)

In the original context, i.e. in the Newsweek article, both "andropause"
(end of manhood) and "viropause" (end of virility) are presented as equally
possible ways to express the concept. I would see that "andropause" might be
preferred to "viropause" because it is somewhat easier to associate the
meaning of 'man' with "andro-" than the meaning of 'virile' with "viro-".
This is because there is a well known word like "android" in English which
makes this association possible but there is no equivalent for "viro-". It
has nothing to do with the fact that "andro-" has a Greek origin and "viro-"
has a Latin origin. In fact, most speakers of English won't know this.

There are also plenty of examples of miscegenation, as you call it, in
English. E.g.

hyper- [Gk. hyper 'over'] + active [L. activus ] = hyperactive

anti- [Gk. anti 'against'] + coagulant [L. coagulare ] = anticoagulant

inter- [L. inter 'between'] + atomic [Gk. atomos ] = interatomic

semi- [L. semi- 'half'] + colon [Gk. kolon ] = semi-colon



John




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