Digest Number 315

[frogsisland.freeserve.co.uk]

homeopathy
I am not a Greek scholar but read an article by Mike Dean, who, I believe
may be! At least he knows German! In it he says that the original Greek for
similar is homoios , which Hahnemann translated into German as homoeo
because homoiopathie would not work in German. The French did at one point
use homoiopathie and we could have in English. Apparently we did in other
words from the Greek stem. If we wished to say 'same' rather than 'similar'
it would be homopathy ( homo meaning same as in homosexual - we don't write
or say homeosexual). In short as the pronunciation of homoeopathy and
homeopathy are the same and neither is actually homoiopathy which would be
closer to the Greek, it is a matter of which we prefer. He reckons the
over-use of dipthongs was a Victorianism.
As I say this is secondhand information but if anyone wants to challenge it
I shall try to get Mike to join the group and defend his view!

Theresa