zoilism

Feb. 10th, 2015 07:53 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
zoilism or Zoilism (ZOY-lizm) - (obs.) n., harsh, carping criticism.


From one Zoilos, a 4th century BCE grammarian who wrote such spiteful critiques of Homer's style and language that he gained the epithet Homeromastic, "assaulter of Homer." There being no shortage of critics, the nominative form (which was usually always capitalized) Zoilos gained a plural form, Zoili. Not much used any more, and that's probably just as well.

---L.

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