Hapax legomenon

[cfz3]

I forwarded today's Good Word, prolegomenon (10 May (my 48th wedding anniversary)) to a friend who is a professional writer. She sent me back this "word": hapex legomenon. When I googled each part of this word pair separately, it always came up as the word pair together. Although this "word" has limited use, it got me to wondering if there any other such words and if there is a name for them.

Any suggestions?

Chick Freund cfz3@hotmail.com

[Dr. Goodword]

This phrase means "A term of which only one instance of use is recorded" in Greek, from from hapax "once" and the passive participle of legein "to say". It is a technical term for linguists who study old manuscripts. I don't see anything unusual about it.

[misterdoe]

Some years ago there was actually a Google "game" similar to this, finding terms or phrases that return exactly one result in Google searches.

[George Kovac]

So I guess hapax legomenon is a nonce word.

[David Myer]

But in answer to Chick Freund's original question, "Are there other words that appear only with another particular word beside them?" there are many, I would guess. I imagine that helter appears only with skelter, nilly only appears with willy, and hurdy and gurdy only with each other. I haven't checked, but there must be lots. As for a name for them, what about a solopal legomenon?

[call_copse]

I knew I had heard this one before - it was a winning question on University Challenge.

http://metro.co.uk/2015/04/14/this-guy- ... r-5149259/

[George Kovac]

David,

To add to your list of words which only appear in connection with another specific word, I submit "boggle."

Has anything other than a "mind" ever been boggled? Perhaps "the imagination" gets boggled from time to time, but that's a rarer usage--and, in that context, "imagination" is just standing in as a synonym for "mind" in a lame attempt at variety.

For efficiency sake, why don't we just use "boggle" as an intransitive verb?

[call_copse]

Boggle - fair enough, apart from the noun usage - i.e. the popular word game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggle

[David Myer]

I wonder if you ate lots of baked beans, and then anchovies and ice cream, whether your insides might boggle?

[Dr. Goodword]

http://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword/word/boggle