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Fun With Language
Aug. 21st, 2007 03:14 pmI was on a poly forum today and there was a thread about the word "secondary". There are all sorts of debates over that word, what it means, when to use it, can you have more than one, stuff like that. This thread, however, was not a debate but an acknowledgment that some people take issue with that word and its implications and the poster asked if there were any other words that meant roughly the same thing.
For clarification, *I* use the word descriptively to refer to a romantic partner who is somehow not as emotionally intimate as a "primary" or has less daily life entanglement. My definition requires that I also have a definition for "primary", since it relies on its relativity (is that a word?). Primary is, IMO, a marriage-like relationship, which implies a strong emotional connection, future intentions and commitments, and some level of daily entanglement, although that is flexible since it is possible to have the intimacy and intentions with someone you don't live with (think of overseas soldiers and their wives) or keep separate finances, etc.
I don't have very clear boundaries for primaries, secondaries and tertiaries. I just use whatever term *feels* right at the time and I'm OK with that fluidity.
Anyway, this is not a debate on primary vs. secondary vs. non-hierarchical terms. In the course of this thread, I started thinking about language and polyamory and how we've had to create or redefine many words because so much of what we are trying to do has no previous model to refer to. The word "polyamory" was made up by Morning Glory Zell (and Jennifer Wasp and a couple of other people who arrived at the term independently of each other) by smooshing Greek and Latin roots together to approximate what she was trying to say and writing her own definition based on the root meanings. A lot of our words seem to come about this way.
So I started playing with Greek and Latin base words for fun and I've come up with a very silly list. Although I understand a lot of ancient Greek and Latin words, I never took any Latin in school so I have no clue about conjugation or constructing multi-word phrases. For instance, I sometimes call my sweeties "mi corazon" which means "my heart" in Spanish. I know the root word for "heart", but I don't know how to add a possessive to it to create a phrase that I can use as a term of endearment in Latin or Greek. Perhaps someone with a stronger understanding of language can more properly join my frankenstein words? Oh, and I like the way the French conjugation looks better, so I used "amour" instead of "amor" everywhere but I suppose they're interchangeable:
~contamour - united love. 1) cont: to join; unite 2)amour: love
~familamour - family of love (intentional family) or loving family / loving family member. 1) famil: family 2) amour: love
~amal - loving other. 1) am: love; loving 2) al: other (or alam?)
~deutamour - second love. 1) deut: second 2) amour: love
~diamour - second love. 1) di: two 2) amour: love
~diphil - second love. 1) di: two 2) phil: love
~aliamour - other love. 1) ali: other (ali, allo, alter) 2) amour: love
~amouret - love group. (amourette) 1) amour: love 2) et: group
~philet - love group. (philette) 1) phil: love 2) et: group
~acinamour - cluster of love grapes. 1)acin: cluster of grapes 2) amour: love
~convolvocor - entwined hearts. (convolvocar, convolvocard, convolvocord) 1) convolvo: to entwine 2) cor: heart
~forniphil - vault of love. 1) fornix: vault 2) phil: love
~galemour - love weasel. 1)gale: weasel 2) amour: love
~jugomour - yoked together with love. 1) jug: yoked together 2) amour: love
~phalanamour - the close formation of love troops. 1) phalan(x/g): the close formation of troops 2) amour: love
~phylamour - tribe of love. 1) phyl: tribe 2) amour: love
~reticamour - network of love. 1)retic: network 2) amour: love
~coralter - other heart. (cordalter, caralter, cardalter) 1) cor: heart 2) alter: other
~alteramare - other love. 1) alter: other 2) amare: love
Most of these are just silly, but I actually kinda like acinamour and amouret to refer to ones network or group, and aliamour to refer to one's other partner. I like the sentiment of convolvocor but it feels bulky to me to say.
For clarification, *I* use the word descriptively to refer to a romantic partner who is somehow not as emotionally intimate as a "primary" or has less daily life entanglement. My definition requires that I also have a definition for "primary", since it relies on its relativity (is that a word?). Primary is, IMO, a marriage-like relationship, which implies a strong emotional connection, future intentions and commitments, and some level of daily entanglement, although that is flexible since it is possible to have the intimacy and intentions with someone you don't live with (think of overseas soldiers and their wives) or keep separate finances, etc.
I don't have very clear boundaries for primaries, secondaries and tertiaries. I just use whatever term *feels* right at the time and I'm OK with that fluidity.
Anyway, this is not a debate on primary vs. secondary vs. non-hierarchical terms. In the course of this thread, I started thinking about language and polyamory and how we've had to create or redefine many words because so much of what we are trying to do has no previous model to refer to. The word "polyamory" was made up by Morning Glory Zell (and Jennifer Wasp and a couple of other people who arrived at the term independently of each other) by smooshing Greek and Latin roots together to approximate what she was trying to say and writing her own definition based on the root meanings. A lot of our words seem to come about this way.
So I started playing with Greek and Latin base words for fun and I've come up with a very silly list. Although I understand a lot of ancient Greek and Latin words, I never took any Latin in school so I have no clue about conjugation or constructing multi-word phrases. For instance, I sometimes call my sweeties "mi corazon" which means "my heart" in Spanish. I know the root word for "heart", but I don't know how to add a possessive to it to create a phrase that I can use as a term of endearment in Latin or Greek. Perhaps someone with a stronger understanding of language can more properly join my frankenstein words? Oh, and I like the way the French conjugation looks better, so I used "amour" instead of "amor" everywhere but I suppose they're interchangeable:
~contamour - united love. 1) cont: to join; unite 2)amour: love
~familamour - family of love (intentional family) or loving family / loving family member. 1) famil: family 2) amour: love
~amal - loving other. 1) am: love; loving 2) al: other (or alam?)
~deutamour - second love. 1) deut: second 2) amour: love
~diamour - second love. 1) di: two 2) amour: love
~diphil - second love. 1) di: two 2) phil: love
~aliamour - other love. 1) ali: other (ali, allo, alter) 2) amour: love
~amouret - love group. (amourette) 1) amour: love 2) et: group
~philet - love group. (philette) 1) phil: love 2) et: group
~acinamour - cluster of love grapes. 1)acin: cluster of grapes 2) amour: love
~convolvocor - entwined hearts. (convolvocar, convolvocard, convolvocord) 1) convolvo: to entwine 2) cor: heart
~forniphil - vault of love. 1) fornix: vault 2) phil: love
~galemour - love weasel. 1)gale: weasel 2) amour: love
~jugomour - yoked together with love. 1) jug: yoked together 2) amour: love
~phalanamour - the close formation of love troops. 1) phalan(x/g): the close formation of troops 2) amour: love
~phylamour - tribe of love. 1) phyl: tribe 2) amour: love
~reticamour - network of love. 1)retic: network 2) amour: love
~coralter - other heart. (cordalter, caralter, cardalter) 1) cor: heart 2) alter: other
~alteramare - other love. 1) alter: other 2) amare: love
Most of these are just silly, but I actually kinda like acinamour and amouret to refer to ones network or group, and aliamour to refer to one's other partner. I like the sentiment of convolvocor but it feels bulky to me to say.
