Aeolian

From: POPEJ_at_cofc.edu
Date: Sun, 01 Oct 1995 10:43:29 -0500 (EST)


I must register a dissenting voice on the question of whether Aeolian can be considered a 'normal' English word. My rather undistinguished dictionary (Webster's New Collegiate) features the word with a number of meanings and I would guess that many people have heard of (or even seen!) an aeolian harp.

One could even argue that the term Aeolian heresy (or church, or whatever) is a natural modern english coinage to describe "windy" religious beliefs, and that the putative Aeolus said to be its founder is a back-formation from the adjective.

Jonas Pope


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