I enjoy learning new words, especially if they sound interesting, feel satisfying to say, and/or have a fun or interesting meaning (remember my "wisdom of wombats" a couple of weeks ago?). Well, here's a great word from my friend Helene that I'd never heard before. It satisfies all three conditions for me to like it and, as a bonus, instantly reminded me of another friend, Veronika. She is absolutely a nemophilist – someone who loves the solitude and beauty of woods and forests.
The word nemophilist comes from the mid-19th century, having been spotted first in the magazine The Atlantic Monthly. You might recognize Greek-ness in the word…and you'd be right. It comes from ancient Greek's word for a wooded pasture or glade, nemos, combined with the suffixes, -philos, loving or dear, and -ist, one who is. That is, nemos+philos+ist = nemophilist.
Are you a nemophilist? Know anyone who is?
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