onomatopoesy

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὀνοματοποιία (onomatopoiía, “the coining of a word in imitation of a sound”).

Noun

onomatopoesy (countable and uncountable, plural onomatopoesies)

1. The use of onomatopoeia.
   • 1892, Leonard Landois, William Stirling, A Text-book of Human Physiology, page 664:

     Another means is the imitation of sounds by the organ of speech, constituting onomatopoesy , e.g., the hissing of a stream, the roll of thunder, the tumult of a storm, whistling, etc.

   • 1893 July, Professor Sully, “A New Book on Infant Psychology”, in Journal of Education, volume 15, number 288, page 387:

     It is to be remembered, too, in saying that the child imitates such familiar onomatopoesies as “bow-wow” (French “oua-oua.”), “tic-tic” (French “tic-tac”) from the nurse, that the nursery tradition of employing these sounds is probably the result of a respectful attention to the spontaneous namings of earlier generations of babies.

   • 1963, Ernest J. Moyne, Hiawatha and Kalevala:

     Because of this difference the onomatopoesy of the original has been lost and also some of the alliterative quality of Finnish poetry.

   • 1968, Yorick Blumenfeld, Seesaw: Cultural Life in Eastern Europe, page 109:

     Even Hoxha's wife, Nexhmije (whose name is genuine onomatopoesy) , contributes by attacking the parasitic, opportunistic tendencies of Albanian youth.

   • 2004, Frederick Millet Salter, H. V. Weekes, The Art of Writing, page 114:

     A little child is not content to call a cow, a cow; it is a moo-cow, and a dog is a bow-wow; but if onomatopoesy is a child-like quality, then our language itself is the kingdom of children.