zetacism, n.

zetacism
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zetacism_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zetacismnoun

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zetacism mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun zetacism. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How is the noun zetacism pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈziːtəsɪz(ə)m/
ZEE-tuh-siz-uhm

#### U.S. English

/ˈzeɪdəˌsɪzəm/
ZAY-duh-siz-uhm

### Where does the noun zetacism come from?

Earliest known use

1860s

The earliest known use of the noun zetacism is in the 1860s.

OED's earliest evidence for zetacism is from 1860, in a text by L. Tafel and R. L. Tafel.

zetacism is a borrowing from German.

Etymons: German Zetacismus.

### Nearby entries

1. zest, n.² 1706
2. zest, v. 1702–
3. zest, int. 1705–22
4. zester, n. 1963–
5. zestful, adj. 1797–
6. zestfully, adv. 1843–
7. zestiness, n. 1912–
8. zesty, adj. 1826–
9. zeta, n.¹?a1425–
10. zeta, n.² 1706–1860
11. zetacism, n.1860–
12. zeta function, n. 1879–
13. zeta-ic, adj. 1840–1927
14. zeta potential, n. 1927–
15. zetetic, adj. & n. 1645–
16. zetetical, adj. & n. 1646–
17. zetetically, adv. 1665–
18. Zetetical Society, n. 1881–
19. zetetics, n. 1843–
20. Zetland, n. 1577–
21. Zetlander, n. 1614–

## Etymology

### Summary

A borrowing from German.
Etymon: German Zetacismus.
< German Zetacismus (A. Schleicher Zur vergleichenden Sprachengeschichte (1848) 33; now Zetazismus) < classical Latin zeta zeta n.1 + ‑cismus (in Rhotacismus rhotacism n. and post-classical Latin iotacismus…
< German Zetacismus (A. Schleicher Zur vergleichenden Sprachengeschichte (1848) 33; now Zetazismus) < classical Latin zeta zeta n.1 + ‑cismus (in Rhotacismus rhotacism n. and post-classical Latin iotacismus iotacism n.).

Compare earlier etacism n., iotacism n., lambdacism n., rhotacism n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1860–
   The changing of another sound into the phoneme /z/ ; frequent use of this phoneme in spoken language. Also: use of the Greek letter ζ or Latin letter z in place of another letter in written language.
   1. 1860

      > On zetacism and the pronunciation of the Greek and Latin Z.

      L. Tafel & R. L. Tafel, Latin Pronunc. & Latin Alphabet 157 (heading)
   2. 1889

      > The tendency to Zetacism among the Ionians may be due to an admixture with the pre-Aryan population.

      I. Taylor, Origin of Aryans v. §1. 260
   3. 1905

      > The reader may well be glad to be spared any German misprints, for the ‘Zetacism’ of the new official spelling of such words as ‘Okzident’ and ‘Zölibat’ is sufficiently trying.

      Dublin Review July 190
   4. 1966

      > Schönfeld's Germanisch -þ- an der mittleren Elbe..deduced from dialectical zetacism and lambdacism of Germc. -þ-, [etc.].

      Year's Work Modern Lang. Studies vol. 28 427
   5. 2014

      > The Italian text's zetacism..bears an uncanny, unhome-ly resemblance to contemporary features of Venetian and Ligurian dialects.

      J. Scappettone, Killing Moonlight: Modernism in Venice iv. 259
   1. plateasm 1656–1834
      The fault of opening the mouth too wide when speaking.
   2. tongue-tying 1762–
   3. paraphonia 1772–1896
      Alteration of the voice as a result of disease; dysphonia.
   4. lullaby-speech 1822–
      attributive and in other combinations, as lullaby-song, lullaby-sound, lullaby-speech, lullaby-strain.
   5. cleft palate 1847–
      Split or divided to a certain depth; bifurcate. cleft palate n. a congenital malformation of the palate, in which a longitudinal gap exists in…
   6. paralalia 1848–
      Defective articulation of speech.
   7. logoneurosis 1857–
      A nervous disorder causing defective memory of words.
   8. zetacism 1860–
      The changing of another sound into the phoneme /z/; frequent use of this phoneme in spoken language. Also: use of the Greek letter ζ or Latin letter z…
   9. alogia 1864–
      Inability, or loss of the ability, to speak, esp. as a result of defective intelligence or cerebral disease; (in later use) spec. reduction in the…
   10. lallation 1864–
       An imperfect pronunciation of r, by which the sound of that letter is confused with that of l; lambdacism.
   11. lambdacism 1864–
       A faulty pronunciation of the letter r, making it sound like l; lallation.
   12. semi-mute 1864–
       Applied to those who, through deafness, speak only imperfectly.
   13. heterophemy 1875–
       The saying or writing of one word or phrase when another is meant.
   14. agrammatism 1877–
       Loss of the ability to use correct grammar; a form of aphasia characterized by this.
   15. bradyphrasia 1877–
       Slowness of speech due to mental defect or disease.
   16. cluttering 1877–
       The action of clutter, v., in various senses.
   17. heterophasia 1877–
       = heterophemy, n. (as a result of mental disease).
   18. logopathy 1877–
       A morbid affection of the speech (New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon).
   19. paragraphia 1877–
       The substitution in written language of one word, syllable, or letter for another, usually as a sign of aphasia; an instance or example of this.
   20. paralexia 1877–
       The substitution of a word, syllable, or letter for another in reading; an instance of this.
   21. paraphasia 1877–
       Disordered speech characterized by unintentional substitution of incorrect words or syllables; an instance of this.
   22. paraphrasia 1877–
       Incoherent or disordered speech; paraphasia.
   23. verbigeration 1877–
       The persistent repetition of a sound, word, or phrase, esp. as a sign of a psychiatric or neurological disorder.
   24. recurring utterance 1878–
       A word, phrase, or syllable whose repetition is the only speech production in certain types of aphasia.
   25. word blindness 1878–
       The inability to understand written or printed words when seen, resulting from localized brain damage; = alexia, n.; (also, gen.) dyslexia.
   26. word deafness 1878–
       The inability to understand the meaning of spoken words, owing to localized brain damage.
   27. scanning 1887–
       Pathology. (Cf. scanning, adj. 2.)
   28. sigmatism 1888–
       a. The marked use or repetition of s; an instance of this; b. defective articulation of sibilants.
   29. idioglossia 1891–
       a. Medicine a form of dyslalia characterized by consistent substitution of speech sounds to such a degree that the affected person seems to speaking…
   30. staccato utterance 1898–
       Pathology. staccato speech, staccato utterance: see scanning, adj. 2.
   31. word salad 1904–
       Speech that is a disorderly, meaningless jumble of words, often containing neologisms, occurring esp. in advanced schizophrenia; (more generally)…
   32. palilalia 1908–
       Disordered speech characterized by involuntary repetition of words, phrases, or sentences.
   33. paragrammatism 1924–
       Incorrect use of grammatical or syntactical elements in certain forms of aphasia and other speech disorders; an instance of this.
   34. idiolalia 1930–
       = idioglossia, n. (a).
   35. dysprosody 1947–
       A speech disorder affecting inflection, stress, and rhythm, sometimes found in aphasic conditions.
   36. Broca's aphasia 1959–
       Applied (chiefly in the possessive case) to anatomical features, etc., discovered by or named after Broca (see quots.). Broca's aphasia, motor…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈziːtəsɪz(ə)m/
ZEE-tuh-siz-uhm

### U.S. English

/ˈzeɪdəˌsɪzəm/
ZAY-duh-siz-uhm

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

Originally published as part of the entry for zeta, n.¹

zetacism, n. was revised in June 2018.

zetacism, n. was last modified in July 2023.