To rouse you from your hebetude, let’s take a moment to talk about fear.
When fears are exaggerated or unnatural, they are known as phobias. Phobia (FOH-bee-uh) comes from the Greek phobos, fear, dread, horror, flight. As a combining form it can be joined with other elements to form a word meaning the fear, dread, or extreme dislike of something. The antonym of the combining form -phobia is -philia (FIL-ee-uh), from the Greek philein, to love. Bibliophilia is love of books; bibliophobia is fear or hatred of them.
For whatever you fear, there is, or can be, a phobia. Common phobias include claustrophobia (KLAW-struh-FOH-bee-uh), fear of enclosed space, and agoraphobia (AG-uh-ruh-FOH-bee-uh), fear of open spaces, public places, or crowds. (Agoraphobia combines phobia, fear, with agora, a marketplace or public square in ancient Greece.) You will recall that those fearful of strangers or foreigners, or of anything foreign or strange, suffer from xenophobia (word 19 of Level 9).
Xenophobia has a number of specific forms: Francophobia (FRANG-kuh-) and Gallophobia (GAL-uh-) mean fear of the French; Germanophobia (JUR-muh-nuh-) is fear of the Germans; Japanophobia (juh-PAN-uh-) is fear of the Japanese; Grecophobia (GREK-uh-) is fear of the Greeks; Russophobia (RUH-suh-) is fear of the Russians; and Anglophobia (ANG-gluh-) is fear of the English.
Among the many phobias with easily discernible meanings are bacteriophobia (bak-TEER-ee-uh-FOH-bee-uh, fear of germs); demonophobia (DEE-muh-noh-FOH-bee-uh, fear of demons); pharmacophobia (FAHR-muh-kuh-FOH-bee-uh, fear of medicine or drugs); syphilophobia (SIF-i-luh-FOH-bee- uh, fear of syphilis, or fear that one is infected with it); pyrophobia (PY-ruh-FOH-bee-uh, fear of fire); zoophobia (ZOH-uh-FOH-bee-uh, fear of animals); and neophobia (NEE-uh-FOH-bee-uh, fear of anything new).
More abstruse phobias include aeronausiphobia (AIR-uh-NAW-suh-), fear of airplanes (aviatophobia, AY-vee-AT-uh-, is fear of flying in them); sitiophobia (SIT-ee-uh-), fear or dread of food; ablutophobia (uh-BLOO-tuh-), fear of bathing; sophophobia (SAHFuh-), fear of learning; allodoxaphobia (AL-uh-DAHK-suh-), fear of others’ opinions; thanatophobia (THAN-uh-tuh-), fear of death, from the Greek thanatos, death; ataxiophobia (uh-TAK-see-uh-), fear of disorder; dysmorphophobia (dis-MOR-fuh-), fear of deformity or anything misshapen; and dermatophobia (DUR-muh-tuh-), fear of skin. Don’t say “gimme skin” to a dermatophobe.
There are also plenty of thoroughly outrageous phobias. For example, phobiologists (FOH-bee-AHL-uh-jists—it’s a real word) have identified dustophobia (DUHS-tuh-), also known as rupophobia (ROO-puh-), a dread of dirt; dishabillophobia (DIS-uh-BIL-uh-), fear of disrobing in front of someone (formed from dishabille, word 43 of Level 9); philemaphobia (fi-LEE-muh-), fear of kissing; and Dracula’s hangup, staurophobia (STAW-ruh-), fear of crucifixes.
Then, of course, there’s pantophobia, fear of everything.
I could go on forever with these frightful words (hyperbole!), but I’m afraid my time is up. (Oh, no. That’s chronophobia, fear of time, pronounced KRAHN-uh-.) I shall leave you with the ultimate fear—phobophobia, the fear of those who have nothing to fear but fear itself.
