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Now, jump ahead thousands of years to Homer’s  Iliad traditionally dated to the eighth century BCE where the priest Chryses, harshly dismissed by Agamemnon, goes “in silence along the shore of the loud-roaring ( polufloisboio) sea.” Polu- is a common Greek and English prefix (as in polyglot). But  -floisboio is not so common, and much more remarkable: It strikes the ear like, well, a crashing wave or a lackluster imitation of one. This noun from ancient Greek,  polufloisbos (here, in the nominative case), is onomatopoeic: a word that somehow imitates or suggests the sound it references. We tend to like such words. Think of 

United statesUnited kingdomOtto jespersenCharles darwinRichard pagetOxford friedrich maxDerek bickertonEric hamptonUniversity of connecticutJohann gottfriedIts natureSir richard pagetஒன்றுபட்டது மாநிலங்களில்ஒன்றுபட்டது கிஂக்டம்ஒட்தோ ஜெஸ்பர்சன்சார்லஸ் டார்வின்