On Phobias, Philias and other Etymologies

by Tom Kando

Like most people, I have some phobias, as well as a number of philias: This means that there are things which I like, and things which I dislike. Duh.

Etymologically, the words we use for people’s (pathological) likes and dislikes (or fears), usually contain the postfixes “-phobia” and “-philia,” or the prefix “mis-.”

These are derived from Greek:
Phobos: Fear
Philia: (Brotherly) Love
Misos: Hatred

For example: Philadelphia: The City of Brotherly Love:
Philos = Friend
Adelphos = Brother


Philosopher: A Friend of Wisdom:
Sophos = Wise
Sophia = Wisdom

My own phobias include a mild form of Acrophobia: The fear of height.
Acros = High, or High Point

On the other hand, as a lover of music, I can call myself a Phonophile.
Phonos = Sound.

Those who hate music suffer from Phonophobia, or they can be called Misophones. (Actually, these words refer to all sounds; but this is close enough)

When we peruse the newspapers and we read about current events, here are some of the dislikes and fears we hear about a lot, these days:

Xenophobia: Hatred of Foreigners, Immigrants, etc.
(Xenos = Foreign or Foreigner)

Homophobia: Hatred of Homosexuals
(Homos = The same)

Islamophobia: Hatred of Islam

Misogyny: Hatred of Women
(Gyna = Woman)

How come we never hear about the opposite - Hatred of men? Since men are responsible for much more evil in the world than women are, the term “androphobia”(andros = man) should appear far more often, should it not?

Misanthrope = Hatred of People. This one, at least, doesn’t discriminate against either gender. (Anthropos = Man, or Human)

In recent months, I have come across another strong form of hatred, one for which I couldn’t find a label, so I created my own: Hillaryphobia: Hatred of Hillary Clinton. This can also be called MisoHillaria. I personally feel the opposite, namely Hillaryphilia: I like Hillary.

Furthermore, it seems to me that many of the people who are afflicted by Hillaryphobia actually suffer from a deeper condition, namely Misophilia: This means that they love Hatred.

Here, too, I feel the opposite. I am a Misophobe: I hate hatred.

I also tend to be a Xenophile: I like foreigners. Of course, I am a Xeno myself, so that also makes me an Autophile - I love myself.

Because I am old and I don’t always sleep well, I sometimes get mad when excessive noise in the neighborhood disturbs my sleep. I then get attacks of two kinds of hatred: Canophobia and Pedophobia: The former is hatred of (barking) dogs (canis = dog. For once this root is Latin, not Greek). The second condition means hatred of children (pais, paidos - child). (Not to be confused with the terrible disease of pedophilia!)

But I’m just kidding about my canophobia and pedophobia: I have had dogs most of my life, and I love my children, my grandchildren and most other kids - just not when they disturb my sleep.

For a look at hundreds of other phobias, see phobia list. Here are a few more interesting etymologies: 

The Dutch word for movie theater: Bioscope:
Scopein = to See
Bio(s) = Life

Television: Tele = Far Visio = Sight (here again, they chose the Latin root rather than Greek)

Telephone: Literally: Far Sound.

Mesopotamia: Middle of the River(s)
Meso = Middle
Potamos = River
This is now basically Iraq. But Iraq is not in the middle of the river, it is BETWEEN two rivers, so the Greeks didn’t quite get it right...

Hippopotamus: River Horse
Hippos: horse
The Dutch, by the way, call this animal a “Nile Horse” (Nijlpaard). Either way, I don’t see how anyone could take a hippopotamus for a horse. I once saw someone try to ride a hippo, and it wasn’t pretty!

Acropolis: High City:  Polis = City

And my favorite, because I made it up (and I have a mild but chronic case of this disease): Ypologistophobia: Fear of Computers.
Hypologiston = cyberspace
You can check out the article I wrote about this a while back at Ypologistophobia
© Tom Kando 2016
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