Holistic is probably not Wholistic because an author wanted to sound smart
The author of Holism and Evolution, Jan Smuts, used the Greek word "holos" as the root of "holism" instead of "whole" (the book was English, and "whole" was commonplace). In later years, wholistic was coined, but never caught on. While there could be other reasons for the choice than making it sound more scientific, it sure seems to be the case.
This is one of those examples of the English language that annoys me.
3 replies
People often use Greek or Latin roots for new terms if they want them to be used internationally, without biasing usage to one language.
This was probably the case for Smuts, who was a committed internationalist and whose native language was Afrikaans rather than English.
Makes sense. Still annoying 😆
I'd be leery of any risky adjacency to "whore" with a name like that too, though...