Talk:-ism/Archive 1

Looking at the history...
A much fuller version of this article existed in 2009 (though almost entirely unsourced) and was converted into a soft redirect to Wiktionary after a discussion at AfD.

If this article is to continue to exist, I suggest that some of that earlier content should be retrieved - it mentions the book "Today's ISMS" (ISBN 978-0130257147), which seems to add notability to the suffix. Pam D  14:40, 2 May 2013 (UTC)


 * I've added a few books. There could be a valid encyclopedia article here, tracing the use of "-ism" as a suffix and then the independent existence of "ism" or particularly "isms" as in these books. Like "ologies" (that "You got an ology!" Tv advert, anyone else from UK?!).  Pam  D  15:07, 2 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Just found that ology redirects to -logy, a reasonable-looking and sourced article (with a link to that advert!) Pam  D  15:09, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Looking at -ism
"-ism" is not a word that can be defined as in a dictionary, but a topic that requires more thought & exposition than is appropriate in Wiktionary. "-ism" is a convention of word coinage (often spontaneous) to indicate a category or topic or attribution for an idea, phrase, or other object of interest or discussion etc. For example, a colloquialism, is a word or phrase from colloquial or ordinary speech (usually of a geographical area; Gomperism would be an attribution to, or like the thinking of the Labor Union leader Samuel Gompers; 'witticism' indicates (often facetiously) that wit or clever wording is involved; etc. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikidity (talk • contribs) 19:34, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

The first recorded usage of the suffix ism as a separate word in its own right was in 1680.
"the suffix ism as a separate word" is not clear enough.

Might be we mean the word ism to describe the group of other words with ism suffix?

But it should be compatible with others facts:
 * the article should clarify that words suffixed in ism were existing earlier: for instance in French in 1602 alienes du christianisme or syllogisme in 1678 or schisme in 1662 or solecisme et barbarisme in 1668.
 * article should provide information that σαββατισμός (sabbatism) and συγκρητισμός (synchrétism) were used earlier

We give the 1680 date. It should be provided with a source and an example.

Latin and French -ism section(s)
I believe we should provide a Latin and French -ism section, to show what kind of words were used at that time and in those places.

A source to help to do that could be the Cent mots nouveaux ne figurant pas dans les dictionnaires de langue ou d'argot français : modernismes en -isme et en -iste relevés par Carl Wahlund (Hundred new words not registred in the dictionary of French language: -isme and -iste modernisms released by Carl Wahlund] (36 pages)

It states that there were 55 words in ista and 45 in ismus, in old latin.

It states that there were 90 new words in ista and 20 new in ismus, in the middle age.

It states that the word embolisme if from the twelfth century.