paleologism

plural paleologisms · alternative palaeologism · alternative palæologism

1. A word or phrase that was coined in the distant past, often now obscured or offensive, or if recently used: possibly having a definition or implication different from that of any earlier usage.

   The word trust is in no way a neologism. On the contrary, it is a kind of paleologism, a primitive signifier, "a word from a barbarian time."

   2006, Philippe Roger as, translated by Sharon Bowman, The American Enemy: The History of French Anti-Americanism, →ISBN, page 252

   2 more examples

   Another is the paleologism of pars pro toto in which a part of an organ or function can symbolize the whole organ or concept; eg, the stomach may be the locus of difficulty with a patient with a history of frustrated dependency needs because of its association with the process of being fed and loved by the mother.

   1964, Charles William Wahl, New Dimensions in Psychosomatic Medicine, page 41

   Levinas seems to be offering new words or newly burnished words for old, those apparent semantic neologisms are more like pre-semantic paleologisms.

   1995, John Llewelyn, Emmanuel Levinas: The Genealogy of Ethics, →ISBN, page 163

2. An obsolete term.