Talk:abiogenesis

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Etymology Greek a privvative. + life + origin, birth

Etymology[edit]

There's a fairly long explanation on wikipedia about the origin of the term, and the confusion between two contradictory senses of biogenesis. --Barytonesis (talk) 17:53, 28 June 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, @Mnemosientje, regarding this edit: are you sure abiogenesis wasn't in the first place derived from a- +‎ biogenesis, and then secondarily from Greek? I think that's what the original etymology attempted to indicate. — SGconlaw (talk) 05:23, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Possibly I misread the earlier etymology, but it seemed to me when I made the edit that the etymology section suggested two etymologies at the same time: a direct formation from Greek roots (as after my edit) or an English formation with a- postdating the formation of biogenesis and based on that term. Since the two were apparently coined more or less simultaneously, I simplified the etymology to match that of the biogenesis entry. Truthfully, I can't really tell if abiogenesis was coined as a derivative of biogenesis or vice versa (bit of a chicken-and-the-egg problem), and it's true that - whatever the etymology - one may well interpret it as a- + biogenesis, so now I'm not as sure of the edit as I was when I made it. I did a partial revert of my edits that may fit more closely with how you view the etymology. — Mnemosientje (t · c) 16:55, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
@Sgconlaw: [forgot to tag] — Mnemosientje (t · c) 16:56, 4 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]
OK, thanks! — SGconlaw (talk) 03:09, 5 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Abiogenesis ≠ Spontaneous Generation[edit]

Spontaneous Generation was the belief that upon death a vital life force left the body and reincarnated as mold, maggots, and mice. Abiogenesis is regarding the origin on life on Earth some ~4 billion years ago. They are not synonyms nor is one part of the definition of the other.

For further clarification:

I'm moving Spontaneous Generation down to the "See Also" section where it belongs (as Abiogenesis is on the Spontaneous Generation page), instead of part of the definition of Abiogenesis. -- Yoda of Borg (talk) 11:04, 1 April 2019 (UTC)[reply]

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