Re: the opposite of paedomorphosis?

[Nick Pharris <npharris@umich.edu>]

Quoting Denver Fowler <df9465@yahoo.co.uk>:

> Just out of interest, is there any reason why american
> english retains the -ae- in paedomorphosis, but not in
> paleontology [palaeontology in ol' proper english] (or
> any other paedo- prefix words).

Don't know why the <ae> is often retained in that word (though a web 
search for "pedomorphosis" also turns up hits).  You never see 
"paediatrician" here, though it's based on the same Greek root.

Kind of a funny thing; if you're like me, "archaeology" looks a lot 
less weird than "palaeontology" (I'd even say that "archaeology" is my 
preferred spelling, and "archeology" looks a little odd).

Of course, sometimes it's kind of a relief to be able to drop some of 
those "silent" vowels:  do Brits work on ancient environments really 
find themselves studying "palaeooecology"?

Nick Pharris
Department of Linguistics
University of Michigan