Saturday, 3 October 2026

The word polyamory joins Greek and Latin roots, which linguistics calls a barbarism

Old engraving of a creature with a lion's body, a bearded human head and a tail ending in a tuft of spines.

Polyamory ought not to exist: it is simply unnatural and even revolting.

Poly is a Greek prefix, from the word πολύς, while amor is a Latin root.

So kindly choose: either polyphilia, with Greek morphemes only, or multiamory, with Latin ones only.

And such an ugly mingling, a hybridisation of roots from different stocks, is known in linguistics as a barbarism.

Report a translation error