A.W.A.D. - Combining Forms

It's a good thing we don't have to go with the literal meaning of words or we'd be exercising in the nude in the gymnasia. The word gymnasium derives from the combining form gymno-, meaning nude or bare. Other words similarly formed are gymoplast (protoplasm without surrounding wall) and gynosophy (a form of philosophy practiced by those refusing to wear clothes).

What are combining forms? You can think of them as the Legos of language. As their name indicates, a combining form is a linguistic atom that occurs only in combination with some other form.

This week we'll see words formed using these combining forms: auto- (self), tricho- (hair), chiro- (hand), algo- (pain), and lepto- (thin). We start with:

Autotomy
(au-TOT-uh-mee) noun

Autotomy is nature's gift to some animals to help them escape when under attack or injured. A lizard being chased will drop its tail and slip away. The detached tail continues to wriggle, distracting the predator, while its former owner flees to safety. The lizard goes home and buys a replacement on eBay. Just kidding! Of course, it can't do that. eBay's policy explicitly prohibits lizards from bidding. They just grow it back.

Other animals who use autotomy are: spider, crab, lobster... and maybe even humans. In 2003, a courageous hiker got his arm trapped under a boulder in a remote Utah canyon. He used his pocket knife to cut his arm off and freed himself. If only humans could grow them back as well.

The word autotomy does double duty. It has another sense: performing surgery upon oneself. It's not as unusual as it sounds. While we see it mostly in science fiction (think Terminator doing his own eye surgery), with the skyrocketing cost of healthcare, perhaps days of autotomy aren't far-off. Look for do-it-yourself surgery kits in your neighborhood pharmacy soon.

We got this word thanks to the Greeks: from auto- (self) and -tomy (cutting). The word "anatomy" is related. Its derivation refers to the dissection med students perform to study the structure of a body.

Trichology
(tri-KOL-uh-jee) noun

Who would you look for when caught in a hairy situation? I don't know about you, but I'd sure want an expert in trichology: the study and treatment of hair and its disorders.

Now, what should we call one who is an expert in trichology: tricho-something? Why pull your hair out for a mere word, let's just call him a headmaster. If you do often get an urge to pull your hair out, here is a word for the affliction: trichotillomania. It comes from a Greek root meaning father or mother of a teen.

Seriously, the Greeks were really the root cause of all this madness: tricho- (hair), -logy (science, study), tillein (to pull out), and -mania (madness).

Chirography
(ky-ROG-ruh-fee) noun

Back in the Jurassic era, when there were no laptops and no text-messaging, people used a little thing called a pen to write on a flat surface known as paper. Chirography is a word from those times. It means handwriting or penmanship, also known as calligraphy.

My daughter says, "Why didn't they just download new fonts to their pens?"

Well, we did once have fountain pens. We can thank the Greeks again for the combining forms chiro- (hand) and -graphy (writing). The word has many cousins:

chiromancy: reading palms to divine the future: palmistry
chiropractic: adjusting the spine (using hands, presumably)
chiropody: an odd name for podiatry (treating foot problems)

chiropter: a species of bats (who got their hands retrofitted as wings at Intelligent Design, Inc.)

Algophobia
(al-guh-FO-bee-uh) noun

Usually having a phobia might brand you as a nut but here is a phobia that indicates you're a regular human being, if you have it. Algophobia is the fear of pain.

Though the word indicates an unusual, morbid fear of pain, producing intense anxiety. There is even an instrument called an algometer to measure pain. Now I know why they called that grueling course "algorithms" in my computer science curriculum.

We got the word from the Greek algo- (pain) and -phobia (fear).

Leptodactylous
(lep-tuh-DAK-tuh-luhs) adjective

If you are still stuck to those tired words to describe your sweetie, here is a new one for you. Leptodactylous means having fine, slender digits. No, not, digits on a bathroom scale or on a bank account. Here digit means a toe or a finger.

It all sounds Greek to me: from lepto- (thin) and -dactylous (fingered or toed).