Etymology Blog

HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA

7/11/2017

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words. I know, it seems cruel. However, it's also wonderfully whimsical, and that's where I come in. The word, first of all, is erroneous: the correct spelling is Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (slightly less monstrous, one p less), but now the former form is more common. It may even be that the word was altered to make it longer and thus more ironic. Now let's break it up! Hippo- and monstro- being obvious prefixes alluding to hippopotamuses and monsters, respectively, were also added to blow the word even more out of proportion. Technically, you don't even need them for the meaning (though they are indeed now part of the word); sesquipedaliophobia says it all. The root of the word is Latin sesquipedalis, which meant "a foot and a half long", a portmanteau of sesqui (one of my favorite Latin words, meaning "1.5") and pedalis ("pertaining to feet"). Phobia we all know as "an irrational fear". It's pretty evil to make people afraid of length fear another eighteen inches and thrice as many letters.

7 Comments

Merrily Larkin

3/15/2020 12:45:02 pm

I understand the derivations indicated above. But, I don't understand why there is no reference to the word, "word," which of course is, "verbum" in Latin.

Can someone explain to me how, "hippopotsesquipedaliaphobia" is thought to be related to, "word?"

Anonymous User

11/23/2022 03:28:02 pm

I don't understand. Why the heck did they make this word so unnecessarily long? I mean --- Hippopoto- really?

Scott Peacock III

1/23/2021 01:28:41 am

Question: What type of bear is best?

scrantonstrangler

2/17/2022 02:12:50 am

the black bear.

ColleenInWis

2/3/2021 07:16:51 pm

According to Merriam-Webster.com, at the entry for "sesquipedalian,"
quote: Horace, the Roman poet known for his satire, was merely being gently ironic when he cautioned young poets against using "sesquipedalia verba"-"words a foot and a half long"-in his book Ars poetica, a collection of maxims about writing. But in the 17th century, English literary critics decided the word sesquipedalian could be very useful for lambasting writers using unnecessarily long words. Robert Southey used it to make two jibes at once when he wrote "the verses of [16th-century English poet] Stephen Hawes are as full of barbarous sesquipedalian Latinisms, as the prose of [the 18th-century periodical] the Rambler." The Latin prefix sesqui- is used in modern English to mean "one and a half times," as in "sesquicentennial" (a 150th anniversary).

“Sesquipedalian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sesquipedalian. Accessed 3 Feb. 2021.

Peter Kubaska

2/20/2021 02:49:35 pm

Is there a word for academic pedants and humorists who mix their Greek with Latin? I was suspicious of Johnson... but the humor seems more Oxfordian Shakespeare and his secretaries!

2/20/2021 02:53:06 pm

P.S. Was that Horace possibly a previous incarnation of Horatio, or of Rumpole?

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

HIPPOPOTOMONSTROSESQUIPPEDALIOPHOBIA

Leave a Reply.

AUTHOR

Archives

TAGS