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A Gray Phantom
2007-07-21, 07:45 PM
I'm playing in a Scion game where I'm the son of Hades. Subsequently, I have an unrational fear of the underground. I tried to look up what the technical name is, but couldn't find it on the phobia list. (http://phobialist.com/)

Does anyone here know what the name of the phobia is?

Phobias are traditionally named in Greek only. They use a direct etymology, and combine the Greek source word with the word "phobia" meaning fear. (Yeah for etymology class!)

This is rather ironic, considering that I have some sort of special power that keeps me from dying if I'm ever buried in a landslide :smalleek:.

Also, does anyone know if the Wall Street stock exchange is located uderground?

Syka
2007-07-21, 08:08 PM
Well, as I'm in greek....

under- kata (kappa alpha tau alpha) or upo (upsilon pi omicron) plus the genitive of the word....

ground- well, earth is 'gn' (gamma eta) so 'gns' (gamma eta sigma) OR xwra (chi omega rho alpha) which is xwras (chi omega rho alpha sigma).

Katagnsphobia. Upognsphobia. There is probably some sort of contraction rule I'm completely ignoring, but that is the closest I have to underground.

Cheers,
Syka

EmeraldRose
2007-07-21, 08:17 PM
Taphephobia or taphophobia is the fear of being buried alive. Closest one I could find...

bosssmiley
2007-07-21, 08:17 PM
Chthonophobia perhaps? Even if it's not strictly accurate chthonic is often associated with the dark gods and dead things that supposedly dwell under the earth.

Also The Phobia List (http://www.phobialist.com/). Get looking. :smallwink:

A Gray Phantom
2007-07-21, 08:36 PM
Chthonophobia perhaps? Even if it's not strictly accurate chthonic is often associated with the dark gods and dead things that supposedly dwell under the earth.

Also The Phobia List (http://www.phobialist.com/). Get looking. :smallwink:

I made a link to the phobia list in my original post.


Taphephobia or taphophobia is the fear of being buried alive. Closest one I could find...
Thanks, I may end up using this.


Well, as I'm in greek....

under- kata (kappa alpha tau alpha) or upo (upsilon pi omicron) plus the genitive of the word....

ground- well, earth is 'gn' (gamma eta) so 'gns' (gamma eta sigma) OR xwra (chi omega rho alpha) which is xwras (chi omega rho alpha sigma).

Katagnsphobia. Upognsphobia. There is probably some sort of contraction rule I'm completely ignoring, but that is the closest I have to underground.

Cheers,
Syka
Thanks, I'm a total geek for this stuff! Question: Is there a difference between the two examples, or are do they loosely mean the same thing? I bet you've taken Greek school. If it isn't too much trouble, could you please ask one of your peers or elders for the closest match?

Thank you.

Syka
2007-07-21, 08:55 PM
Haha, no, I'm only taking the Ancient Greek class. I'm a classics major. Let me look it up in the uber greek dictionary I have (as opposed to the glossary in the back of my book I had been using). For reference, it's the Intermediate Greek Lexicon I'm using here.

Well, upon examining said dictionary, it appears kata means more 'down' whereas upo is 'under'.

Upobevthios (upsilon pi omicron beta epsilon nu theta iota omicron sigma) means "under the depths".

Upogeios (Upsilon pi omicron gamma epsilon omicron sigma) is "under the earth".

Upovomos (Upsilon pi omicron nu omicron mu omicron sigma) "underground, underground passage, a water pipe".

Upoxthovios (Upsilon pi omicron chi theta omicron nu iota omicron sigma) "under the earth, subterranean".

I'm sure there were more, but that is what I got from about six pages of the dictionary. There were probably a couple others before and after that I missed.

I never realized that spending over 100$ on books would come in handy for such a purpose...But I will ask my teacher if he knows about any phobias of underground or tunnels.

Cheers,
Syka

EDIT: Tomorrow when my brain is functioning more I'll try and find others, and I'll also look in my grammar book and see if that can shed any more light on it.

Lykan
2007-07-21, 08:59 PM
Isn't this basically claustrophobia?

Syka
2007-07-21, 09:00 PM
Not necessarily, though it may be a variant. He is refering to specifically being underground. The person might be just dandy if locked in a 4 by 4 foot room. Now, if that room happened to be underground they might go bat...*ahem*.

Cheers,
Syka

Krade
2007-07-21, 09:06 PM
Searching on Google for .edu sites containing the phrase "fear of being underground" turns up nothing. Leading me to believe that there is no official word for the phobia.

Lykan
2007-07-21, 09:10 PM
Yet the words Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia, Paraskavedekatriaphobia, and Triskaidekaphobia exist. :smalltongue:

Krade
2007-07-21, 09:11 PM
Kinda strains the mind, don't it?

Lykan
2007-07-21, 09:14 PM
Not really. Coulrophobia does, though.

*looks at a clown*

...*hides*

Nevermind.

EmeraldRose
2007-07-21, 09:17 PM
Isn't this basically claustrophobia?

This is specifically a fear of enclosed or confined spaces. It could be underground or anything that is enclosed, not necessarily underground. There's also cleithrophobia- fear of being locked in an enclosed space.

That's a really cool list BTW...there are some pretty specific phobias...who knew fear of chopsticks rated a phobia?

A Gray Phantom
2007-07-21, 09:18 PM
Not necessarily, though it may be a variant. He is refering to specifically being underground. The person might be just dandy if locked in a 4 by 4 foot room. Now, if that room happened to be underground they might go bat...*ahem*.

Cheers,
Syka
True. I tried to explain this to my mother. She also thought it should be called claustrophobia. Like Syka said, this is fear of the underground, not of small, enclosed spaces. The victim would feel fine and dandy if he was locked in a closet, but would have a panic attack in an underground parking garage.


Upogeios (Upsilon pi omicron gamma epsilon omicron sigma) is "under the earth".
This seems to be the closest "catch all" that I'm looking for. It could reference in a basement, in a tunnel, or in a cave.

Upogeiosophobia?


Upoxthovios (Upsilon pi omicron chi theta omicron nu iota omicron sigma) "under the earth, subterranean".
I'm sorry to say, though I LOVE this subject, I only took a crash course in high school :smallredface:. The latter word above seems to be more specific, but I'm not sure how much of a difference it would be...

Upoxthoviosophobia?

Flakey
2007-07-21, 09:33 PM
I think theres no classification because it is usually classed as a subset of claustrophobia.

I have a friend that one of the bravest (Or perhaps more acurately reckless) person I know. You can quite easily put him in a totally dark cabinet, closett, or any manmade very confined space with no trouble what so ever. Yet needs to be drunk to be able to step past the daylight boundary of a natural cave mouth, no matter what the size of the entrance is. Yet he is still termed by doctors as claustrophobic.

Syka
2007-07-21, 09:35 PM
I'd go with the first, if only because you then don't have to make the "chi" sound...which sounds like you're hacking something up. :smallwink: Other than that, there is probably a nuance of meaning that I don't know.

Yah...*sigh* I knew there was a reason other than cursing people out in ancient languages behind why I'm a Classics major. A friend and I actually had a detailed discussion about the grammatical structure of saying "go eff yourself" in ancient Greek (and yes, we know That Word). :) Yes, we're nerds.

Cheers,
Syka

A Gray Phantom
2007-07-21, 09:45 PM
I'd go with the first, if only because you then don't have to make the "chi" sound...which sounds like you're hacking something up. :smallwink: Other than that, there is probably a nuance of meaning that I don't know.

Yah...*sigh* I knew there was a reason other than cursing people out in ancient languages behind why I'm a Classics major. A friend and I actually had a detailed discussion about the grammatical structure of saying "go eff yourself" in ancient Greek (and yes, we know That Word). :) Yes, we're nerds.

Cheers,
Syka
I think I'm in love :redface:.

As for the word choice, I too was thinking the former word was a right fit. I wasn't sure how to pronounce the latter :smalleek:.

Syka
2007-07-21, 10:04 PM
I think it would be pronounced something like "oo-poe-kisth-own-ee-os" Or, at least, that is how I pronounced it.

Bad, no! No more crushes on Syka! :smallwink:

*nods* I can see it being a subset of claustrophobia. But is it just of caves, or anything underground? I think Grey Phantom is going for generalized underground as opposed to specific claustrophobia. *shrugs* I'm sure no one will yell at him for making it up.

Cheers,
Syka

TruenuffTrey
2007-07-22, 11:03 AM
I'm pretty sure the exact logistics wouldn't matter, but I don't think it would be claustrophobia. Do what I do, wing it! :)

Hands down, I think the weirdest phobia is Xanthophobia-the fear of the color or word yellow.

Castaras
2007-07-22, 03:29 PM
Hmm, and from that link, I have found out that I probably have very mild Trypanophobia.

Woohoo.

A Gray Phantom
2007-07-22, 03:38 PM
Hmm, and from that link, I have found out that I probably have very mild Trypanophobia.

Woohoo.
You can only have a phobia if it is a persistent problem in your life.

You can have a fear of spiders, but if you live an area that never has spiders, then you don't have a phobia.

If you don't ever need to get injections, you might not have a phobia. 'Course, if you needed to get a shot to save your life, and you refused, you might be a redneck - I mean have a phobia.

Syka
2007-07-22, 03:42 PM
I definitely have entomophobia or insectophobia or whatever you want to call it. It's only gotten worse the last couple years. :smalleek:

And I live in Florida. *shakes head*

Cheers,
Syka

Castaras
2007-07-22, 03:49 PM
You can only have a phobia if it is a persistent problem in your life.

You can have a fear of spiders, but if you live an area that never has spiders, then you don't have a phobia.

If you don't ever need to get injections, you might not have a phobia. 'Course, if you needed to get a shot to save your life, and you refused, you might be a redneck - I mean have a phobia.

Injection in year 2 was when I first fainted.

I fainted again when someone stuck a propeller pencil lead into his arm in front of me.

Someone was talking about having had the TB jab and I fainted.

I was scared stiff of when I'd have to have the TB jab, and jumped for joy when we got the news that we didn't need it.

I think I have it mildly. I still don't know whether I'd say yes to a life-saving jab. :smalleek:

Ichigo Kurosaki
2016-05-19, 01:38 PM
You can only have a phobia if it is a persistent problem in your life.

You can have a fear of spiders, but if you live an area that never has spiders, then you don't have a phobia.

If you don't ever need to get injections, you might not have a phobia. 'Course, if you needed to get a shot to save your life, and you refused, you might be a redneck - I mean have a phobia.

not quite true to my knowledge, for Phobia means "fear of'

DataNinja
2016-05-19, 04:41 PM
This thread is nine years old. Please check the dates on threads before you revive them, we don't want any zombie problems on our hands. :smallbiggrin: