Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Meizanology: towards a definition

Heck, the word keeps popping up on this blog – and even on some others. It might be time for a formal definition, just in case the folk from the Oxford dictionary or Webster’s happen by. So here goes:-

Meizanology /ˌmeɪzəˈnɒlədʒi; NAmE -ˈnɑːlə-/ singular noun: the study of the meaning and cultural significance of mountains.

DERIVATIVES: meizanological (adjective), meizanologist (noun), a harmless drudge who studies the meaning and cultural significance of mountains.

ORIGIN: early 21st century, from Japanese meizan (名山), a mountain of note, and back formation -ology from the Greek suffix -λογια (-logia), speaking, from λεγειν (legein), "to speak".


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