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Belonophobia
- Thread starter fudo
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Belonophobia (related to belone, the Latin and Greek word for needle) isn't in the Oxford English Dictionary, but if enough people use it it could be in the next one, maybe. Has it been used in print somewhere? If so, you can submit it at http://www.oed.com/readers/research.htm .
Hoplophobia (related to Hoplite, a Greek armored soldier), the fear of arms and armor, is in use among "gun people" in speaking of "non-gun people," and I recall first seeing it used by Jeff Cooper. It is also not in the current OED.
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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
Hoplophobia (related to Hoplite, a Greek armored soldier), the fear of arms and armor, is in use among "gun people" in speaking of "non-gun people," and I recall first seeing it used by Jeff Cooper. It is also not in the current OED.
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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
Both of you are correct, just one minor detail:
the root of Hoplophobia is "oplo" which means "weapon" (from which "oplitis"-armed soldier is derived)
the initial "h" is not needed, it was added in the english word so that the "o" is pronounced "short" like "optimist" and not "long" like "old"
"belona" (actually "velona" as B is pronounced as a "v") means "needle"
Costas
(not really intellectual, just ...greek!)
the root of Hoplophobia is "oplo" which means "weapon" (from which "oplitis"-armed soldier is derived)
the initial "h" is not needed, it was added in the english word so that the "o" is pronounced "short" like "optimist" and not "long" like "old"
"belona" (actually "velona" as B is pronounced as a "v") means "needle"
Costas
(not really intellectual, just ...greek!)
I have read that the term "hoplite" came from "hoplon" the name of the characteristic shield of the classical Greek soldier or hoplite, circular, dished, with a loop for your arm just below your elbow at the center and a grip for your fist at the right edge. I use as sources Peter Connolly's "Greece and Rome at War" and John Warry's "Warfare in the Classic Age"
BTW, I personally prefer "hoplophobe".
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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
[This message has been edited by FullerH (edited 29 December 1999).]
BTW, I personally prefer "hoplophobe".
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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
[This message has been edited by FullerH (edited 29 December 1999).]
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It's all Greek to me....
Brandon
Brandon
dogboye
Gold Member
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- 7,164
The only problem I see with starting to use belonophobia on a regular basis is the perversion of it by the media into an unreasonable fear of baloney (belogna).
After all, that's what I thought this thread was going to be about before I opened it...
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"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
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"Absolute safety is for those who don't have the balls to live in the real world."
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My understanding has previously echoed Fuller's shield explanation, and if there deeper root meanings, then I'm happy to learn about them. That's why I love these forums.
Rockspyder, it's not the baloney, or more correctly, bologna, that I'm worried about, it's the pastrami. Pepcid, anyone? And while we're at it, what the hell is "head cheese" anyways?
Sorry for the digression. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...
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Don LeHue
The pen is mightier than the sword...outside of arm's reach. Modify radius accordingly for rifle.
Rockspyder, it's not the baloney, or more correctly, bologna, that I'm worried about, it's the pastrami. Pepcid, anyone? And while we're at it, what the hell is "head cheese" anyways?
Sorry for the digression. I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...
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Don LeHue
The pen is mightier than the sword...outside of arm's reach. Modify radius accordingly for rifle.
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Don, You really don't want to know what "head cheese" is... trust me.
It's like the old adage, "there are two things that you don't want to watch being made: Sausages and Laws- you'll lose your taste for them both."
Way off topic- sorry...
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Runs With Scissors
AKTI# A000107
It's like the old adage, "there are two things that you don't want to watch being made: Sausages and Laws- you'll lose your taste for them both."
Way off topic- sorry...
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Runs With Scissors
AKTI# A000107
By the way, the word for "shield" is "aspis" or "aspida"
"Hoplon" only means "weapon", not shield. Anyway, this is not meant to correct someone for his mistake. I find it very interesting (and flattering in a way) that you people know so much about Ancient Greece.
"Hoplon" only means "weapon", not shield. Anyway, this is not meant to correct someone for his mistake. I find it very interesting (and flattering in a way) that you people know so much about Ancient Greece.
Ebbtide
Gold Member
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Oh yeah?! The only needle I'm ascairt of is the one the Dr. has in his hand...he's coming this way....I feel warm all over, it's getting dark....THUMP....What it's over? That wasn't bad! I aint scairt o' no needles...
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Can it core a apple?
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Can it core a apple?
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Hmm... Interesting.
Howie
Howie
Costas, I am very sorry not to get backany sooner, but I have been rummaging around in my history books seeking a reference for "aspis". It rings a bell with me as some form of an ancient shield, other than the hoplon. As the that shield, I can only tellyou that the books available to me state that the circular shield, dished, with a central arm band and a right side grip and about 1 meter in diameter was referred to as a hoplon in the Classical Era, the period of the Persian Wars, of Leonidas and the 300 Spartans (one of the greatest stories in Western culture), of Themistocles, of Pericles, of Demosthenes, and of many, many more. But that was 2500 years ago. In English, we have difficulty with 400 year old Shakespeare and major problems reading 600 year old Chaucer. Chaucer's Middle English might as well be a different language. Let alone trying to read 1100 year old Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon! What I am trying to say is that, in 2500 years, Greek, as a living language, may well have changed. It would be very interesting to me, as well as to my Socio-linguist wife, to see how the usage of shield names has changed over the years. Do you have the resources to make such a search? If you wish to take this offf-line, our email is GFuller@vts.edu and you may email either her, Georgia, or me, Hugh, there. I am fascinated by this. It is like watching a film of history running!
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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
I apologize to those of you if you who find this tedious, but, then, I find some of the other topics tedious. I usually skip them rather than complain. I did, however, suggest to Costas that we take this off-line for just this reason as I am aware that it is getting rather technical and involved. But nobody is making you read it. I, on the other hand, am fascinated.
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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
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Walk in the Light,
Hugh Fuller
Hello Hugh!
Let's continue this on-line just for the sake of those who might be interested.
I have researched a little bit, but I have to remind you that I'm an Engineer, not a philologist!
Without being absolutely certain yet (I'm still waiting for all the people I asked to respond), it seems that the misunderstanding comes from the fact that "hoplitis" carried not only a spear (as the "psilos" soldier that was of a lower status and only carried a spear) but also had a helmet ("perikefalaia"), some body armor ("thorax"), a shield ("aspis") and leg guards ("periknimides"). All these could be descrived as "hopla" (plural), meaning "arms", or "a set of offensive and defensive apparatus", but there is no indication that any type of shield was ever called anything other than "aspis".
"Hoplo" literally means "weapon", not describing a particular weapon but used the same way as the word "weapon" in english, meaning something that can be used to cause injury to someone else.
If something else comes up, I will add another message, as I am still waiting for some further research on the matter.
Let's continue this on-line just for the sake of those who might be interested.
I have researched a little bit, but I have to remind you that I'm an Engineer, not a philologist!
Without being absolutely certain yet (I'm still waiting for all the people I asked to respond), it seems that the misunderstanding comes from the fact that "hoplitis" carried not only a spear (as the "psilos" soldier that was of a lower status and only carried a spear) but also had a helmet ("perikefalaia"), some body armor ("thorax"), a shield ("aspis") and leg guards ("periknimides"). All these could be descrived as "hopla" (plural), meaning "arms", or "a set of offensive and defensive apparatus", but there is no indication that any type of shield was ever called anything other than "aspis".
"Hoplo" literally means "weapon", not describing a particular weapon but used the same way as the word "weapon" in english, meaning something that can be used to cause injury to someone else.
If something else comes up, I will add another message, as I am still waiting for some further research on the matter.
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FullerH and Costas, please continue this discussion publicly. I'm sure more than a few people here are interested.
As far as the term "belonophobia" is concerned, I could not find it in any dictionary. I did, however, find "belonephobia" in the On-line Medical Dictionary (e instead of o). The definition is "A morbid fear of needles, pins and other sharp objects."
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Cerulean
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain? - Blake
As far as the term "belonophobia" is concerned, I could not find it in any dictionary. I did, however, find "belonephobia" in the On-line Medical Dictionary (e instead of o). The definition is "A morbid fear of needles, pins and other sharp objects."
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Cerulean
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain? - Blake
- Joined
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- 1,964
Hmm... This got me thinking that there must be a phobia out there that has to do specifically with knives, not just pointy objects in general. I did some research, but unfortunately didn't find a phobia name just for knife related stuff.
I did find more names related to belonephobia though. Aichmophobia is another name for belonephobia, while enetophobia is a fear of pins specifically.
There seems to be common phobia where people fear that they might harm someone with a knife. This phobia doesn't appear to have a name, but I've come across frequent references to it.
Here's one quote:
"I was cutting fruit for my kids' breakfast and I had this mental image of me hurting my family with the knife! I was terrified! I must be going insane if I could even think of something like that!"
And another example:
"Marta always had a deep fear that she would harm one of her twin toddler boys. For a long time she would force such thoughts out of her mind, but when her husband received a new knife set for Christmas, she started to panic. Soon, she would continually imagine herself stabbing her children with one of the knives. She loved her boys very much, and prayed that God would take away the thoughts. She didn't tell anyone what was going on inside her mind because she was sure that the Department of Social Services would find out and take the twins away if anyone knew. It got to the point where she couldn't even be in the same room with a butter knife or the obsessive thoughts would become unbearable."
Interesting stuff. And by the way, I hope that no one reading the Costas and FullerH posts has hellenologophobia - a fear of Greek terms or complex scientific terminology!
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Cerulean
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain? - Blake
I did find more names related to belonephobia though. Aichmophobia is another name for belonephobia, while enetophobia is a fear of pins specifically.
There seems to be common phobia where people fear that they might harm someone with a knife. This phobia doesn't appear to have a name, but I've come across frequent references to it.
Here's one quote:
"I was cutting fruit for my kids' breakfast and I had this mental image of me hurting my family with the knife! I was terrified! I must be going insane if I could even think of something like that!"
And another example:
"Marta always had a deep fear that she would harm one of her twin toddler boys. For a long time she would force such thoughts out of her mind, but when her husband received a new knife set for Christmas, she started to panic. Soon, she would continually imagine herself stabbing her children with one of the knives. She loved her boys very much, and prayed that God would take away the thoughts. She didn't tell anyone what was going on inside her mind because she was sure that the Department of Social Services would find out and take the twins away if anyone knew. It got to the point where she couldn't even be in the same room with a butter knife or the obsessive thoughts would become unbearable."
Interesting stuff. And by the way, I hope that no one reading the Costas and FullerH posts has hellenologophobia - a fear of Greek terms or complex scientific terminology!
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Cerulean
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain? - Blake