Multilingual etymology

[pauamma]

My mind balks at compound words using roots from different languages. I got mostly used to "automobile" or "television" by dint of prolonged exposure, but I still find them slightly awkward. I find coinages like "dyscalculia" jarring, for all that the referrent exists and the word thus fills a glaring need. Is it just me, or do others experience this?

Comments

[conuly]

These are the dangers of a classical education. Most people without one neither notice nor care.

[pauamma]

In the US and other Western countries, maybe. But I submit it would bother, confuse, and or puzzle any Greek speaker learning English or other languages with that wrinkle, classical education or not.

[conuly]

I don't see why. The greek bit stays the same, and the latin bit is meaningless in Greek.

[pauamma]

The meaninglessness is a problem, IIRC, because both are meaningful in Greek, eg αυτοκινητό(stress?) and τηλεόραση. (I can't swear to it, as it's been over 35 years since I last spoke with Greek speakers, but I believe this came up at some point.)