# paleonomio



## sotos

Hello all. Does anybody know the meaning and give examples of the use of "paleonomio"?  I found this word in a greek text as παλαιονόμιο(ν), but it seems to be made in medieval latin with greek materials. I wasn't able to find the meaning on any online dictionary. In a spanish text is explained as "old names used with new meanings", but I'm not sure if this is a mainstream meaning. 

Thanks for any answers.


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## Snodv

An interesting puzzle.  Certainly "ancient" is a part of it, from palaio > paleo.  Are you sure it is not paleonomi*a*?  Then it could become English paleonomy (if there is such a word), which should mean the applied study of ancient things or perhaps  prehistory.  Not in my dictionary though.


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## Agró

*Escritura y desconstrucción: lectura (h)errada con Jacques Derrida (1992)*
Escrito por Roberto Ferro

Ahora bien, intervenir en la oposición filosofía/literatura implica rastrear en el significado de los términos como argumento específico para la búsqueda de la grieta en el corrimiento y el desmontaje que ofrece el injerto de los *viejos nombres*, los *paleonomios*, que arrastran la genealogía insistente que constituye el recorte que funda la posibilidad de oposición.
(p. 136)

The author equates *paleonomios *to *old names*.


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## sotos

Thank you for the answers. If I got right those lines from R. Ferro (thanks Agro), paleonomio means simply "old names". The word must be quite old, because it is found in a greek text of mid 19th century, written by a theologist, who related this term to protestantism. In greek sounds more puzzling than in other languages, because can be understood as "old laws" (paleo + nomos), which is not correct.


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## Scholiast

Greetings all


Snodv said:


> Then it could become English paleonomy (if there is such a word), which should mean the applied study of ancient things or perhaps prehistory. Not in my dictionary though.


But note that British English spelling conventions (which are usually followed in Australia, NZ, and India) would spell it pal*ae*on*y*my (compare 'synonym(y)', 'anonymity', 'pseudonym' &c.; and contrast 'Deuteron*o*my', which is the 'second lawgiving'). I have located the word in another book that touches in places on Derrida's theories, Yvonne Sherwood, _The Prostitute and the Prophet: Hosea's Marriage in Literary-Theoretical Perspective _(2004). Clearly Derrida, who (according to Sherwood) borrowed the term from Heidegger, was developing his own taxonomy (which of course is ταξο-νομἰα—laws governing rank, rather than names) of critical terminology.

Σ


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## Circunflejo

Scholiast said:


> But note that British English spelling conventions (which are usually followed in Australia, NZ, and India) would spell it pal*ae*on*y*my (compare 'synonym(y)', 'anonymity', 'pseudonym' &c.; and contrast 'Deuteron*o*my', which is the 'second lawgiving').


A quick search online showed that paleonymy seems to be more used than palaeonymy. Does it mean that Americans make more use of it than British, Aussies, Kiwis and Indians?


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## Snodv

Well, I'm just glad it's a word!


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