6.06.2006

hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

The frighteningly-smart Mad Minerva (great blog) told me about this word: hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (the fear of the number 666). I thought it was a joke, but I don't think it is. Wikipedia has an entry, but my edition of Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language doesn't have it.

I know that "hexa" means six, but what do "kosioi" and "konta" mean? I'm not a Latin scholar (or any other one, for that matter), so if anyone out there knows how this word is broken down, feel free to explain.

3 comments:

Jon Konrath said...

kosioi = 600
konta = 60

Anonymous said...

Thanks--I was too flustered to try to figure that out.

Mad Minerva said...

Sorry to have caused you "flustration"! ;-)