Linguistic term needed

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 12 Apr 2004, Michael Mccafferty wrote:
> Thanks, Pam, for the spelling update. I also searched online--at
> "paranomasia" and found a bunch of sites. But your spelling, with that
> nice -onom- makes the term look more like something used in linguistics
> than something used in Freud's clinic.

If I recall correctly, Greek 'name' is onoma (plural onomata, so a t-stem,
not a feminine in -a or -e).  The o is critical in certain laryngeal
theory examples.  The para prefix is Greek, too, and loses final a
before a vowel, e.g., parody, parousia 'Presence' or, in a more linguistic
vein, proparoyxtone 'stressed before the penultimate'.

Webster says paronomasia < paronomazein 'to call with a slight change of
name', defined as a play on words or, in short, a pun.

Also listed, paronym, paronymous 'formed from a word in another language,
having a form similar to that of a cognate foreign word'.  I suppose
'cognate' here had better be understood as 'resemblant'!