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Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2002 07:00:00 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: logomachy: M-W's Word of the Day
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The Word of the Day for February 6 is:

logomachy   \loh-GAH-muh-kee\   (noun)
    *1 : a dispute over or about words
     2 : a controversy marked by verbiage

Example sentence:
     "Quarreling about whether 'mathematics' and 'arithmetic'
mean the same thing is nothing but a ridiculous logomachy,"
Sheila declared stoutly.

Did you know?
     It doesn't take much to start people arguing about words,
but there's no quarrel about the origin of "logomachy." It comes
from the Greek roots "logos," meaning "word" or "speech," and
"machesthai," meaning "to fight," and it entered English in the
mid-1500s. If you're a word enthusiast, you probably know that
"logos" is the root of many an English word ("monologue,"
"neologism," "logic," and most words ending in "-logy," for
example), but what about other derivatives of "machesthai"?
Actually, this is a tough one even for word whizzes. Only a few
very rare English words come from "machesthai." Here are two of
them: "heresimach" ("an active opponent of heresy and heretics")
and "naumachia" ("an ancient Roman spectacle representing a
naval battle").

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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