When I Use A Word . . .: Got an ology?

Abstract

There are about 400 different -ologies listed in Chambers Dictionary , from acar- to zym-, from o- to psychoneuroimmun-. The Greek word logos, from legein meaning to say or read, meant a word, either a word used to express a thought or, by extension, the thought itself. An apologos, literally something that comes from speaking, was a tale, and an apologia was a defence, which is what Plato's Apology was: an …