I’m trying to construct a word that means fear of the different. something -phobia. The obvious thing that comes to mind in heterophobia, but since this would automatically make people think of heterosexuality it won’t work so well. Is there another word I could use. I can’t find a preexisting word for the concept. The closest thing I can find is xenophobia but that’s really the fear of foreigners. I need need something more universal, just that which is different in general.
αλλοφοβια or αλλοτριαφοβια
Yeah, I thought of that one. Fear of the other. But I looked it up to see if it had been used before and it had but it wasn’t clear how it was being used, so I wasn’t sure if it would work or if it meant something else. Is it an actual word in English? Could it be used for the general fear people have of anything that is different from what they see as the norm, the cultural norm, or possibly even extend to the fear of being themselves different from the cultural norm?
Perhaps I need a word that means unusual, uncommon, or abnormal.
Dark as the Rain wrote
Yeah, I thought of that one. Fear of the other. But I looked it up to see if it had been used before and it had but it wasn’t clear how it was being used, so I wasn’t sure if it would work or if it meant something else.
Hi,
In any language, meaning is determined by usage. If you use it that way, that is what it means.
Is it an actual word in English?
It is now.
^It’s for an essay concerning the evolution and etymology of language. It’s hardly gonna reflect well if I use a word in a way that isn’t etymologically sound.
σε συνηκα. It is etymologically sound. It means the opposite of homophobia, but without the sexual connotation. For that matter, you could go with ἀνομοφοβἰα.
^I wasn’t saying it was necessarily a bad choice. I was just pointing out the importance of it being a good choice. I might use allophobia.
Anomophobia is interesting. Is in from an + homos not homos? But the disappearance of the h takes away the obvious connection. Is this where the word anomaly comes from?
Yes, that’s the etymology. You bring up an interesting point about the h sound. I wonder if the Ancient Greeks, at least before the h sound was lost altogether, pronounced the rough breathing in the middle of a word. I do not know the answer to that. ερρωσο.
I would interpret it as a + nomos (law, custom, norm).
But of course, if it’s a word you’ve coined, you get to determine what the etymology is…you just have to be aware that when others are confronted with a novel word, they may not see the same thing in it that you do.