Editor's Corner

Hello folks!

I was looking at some notes and emails (and pieces of paper that I’ve scattered around) for topics to discuss. I found one that said, “reward vs. award.” I started looking into that message, but I got a little sidetracked by a different email with the word polyandry. From my little bit of Greek (and the Editor’s Corner article I sent out about werewolves) I deduced that it meant “having more than one man.” But it got more complicated when I started looking up the terms. Here are the basics (without the Greek alphabet):

• poly = more than one (many)
• gámos = marriage
• ándras = man
• gynaíka = woman

The following definitions are from the Online Etymology Dictionary:

polygamy (n.)

"marriage with more than one spouse," 1590s, from Late Latin polygamia, from Late Greek polygamia "polygamy," from polygamos "often married," from polys "many" + gamos "marriage". The word is not etymologically restricted to marriage of one man and multiple women, but is often used as if it were. [KC – So it’s not just me. In the U.S., we definitely use it to mean one man, many women.]

polyandry (n.)

"state of having more husbands than one at the same time," 1767, nativized form of polyandria, from Greek but taken in senses not found in Greek: "having many husbands," or, in botany, "having many stamens." The Greek word meant "populousness." [KC – Even more interesting! The Greek word didn’t mean women with many husbands, it just meant populous. That’s not surprising. In history, there is talk of harems and multiple wives, but not multiple husbands. Yay, botany!]

polygyny (n.)

1780, "condition of having many wives, marriage or cohabitation of one man with more than one woman at the same time," from Greek polygynēs "having many wives," from polys "many" + gynē "woman, wife"

See what happens when I get sidetracked? I find it so interesting that we can see a bit of history in the definitions of these words, how they’ve been used, and when they came about.

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/