Thursday, September 29, 2022

A list from a 110-year-old medical dictionary with almost a hundred phobias


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Google Books I ran across a 1912 edition of Stedman’s Medical Dictionary. Page 687 has a definition for phobia:

 

“Any unreasonable or insane dread or fear. The word is employed as a suffix to many terms expressing the object which inspires the fear.”

 

It also has a list of almost a hundred phobias:

 

Air: aerophobia

Animals: zoophobia

Bacteria: bacteriophobia, microbiophobia

Bees: apiphobia, melissophobia

Being Alone: autophobia, monhophobia*

Being Buried Alive: taphephobia, taphophobia

Being Dirty: automysophobia

Being Egotistical: autophobia

Being Stared At: scopophobia

Blood: hematophobia, hemaphobia

Blushing: ereuthophobia

Body Odors: bromidrosiphobia

Cancer: carcinomatophobia

Cats: ailurophobia, gatophobia

Children: pediophobia

Cold: psychrophobia

Colors: chromatophobia

Crowds: ochlophobia

Dampness: hygrophobia

Daylight: phengophobia

Death: necrophobia, thanatophobia

Deformity: dysmorphophobia

Devil: demonophobia

Dirt: mysophobia, rhypophobia

Disease: nosophobia, pathophobia

Disorder: ataxiophobia

Dogs: cynophobia

Dolls: pediophobia

Draft: aerophobia, anemophobia

Drugs: pharmacophobia

Electricity: electrophobia

Elevated Places: acrophobia

Empty Rooms: cenophobia

Enclosed Space: claustrophobia, clethrophobia

Everything: panphobia*, panophobia, pantophobia

Fire: pyrophobia

Food: sitophobia

Gaiety: cherophobia

Glass: crystallophobia, hyalophobia*

God: theophobia

Heat: thermophobia

Heights: acrophobia

House: domatophobia

Human Beings: anthropophobia

Infection: molysophobia*, mysophobia

Itch: acariphobia*, scabiophobia

Lice: pediculophobia

Light: phengophobia, photophobia

Lightning: astrapophobia, keraunophobia

Love (in its physical expression): erotophobia

Making False Statements: mythophobia

Marriage: gamophobia

Men (males): androphobia

Moisture: hygrophobia

Monstrosities: teratophobia

Nakedness: gymnophobia

Names: onomatophobia

Noise or Loud Talking: phonophobia

Novelty: neophobia

Odors: osmophobia

Open Spaces: agoraphobia, cenophobia, kenophobia

Pain: algophobia, odynephobia

Parasites: parasitophobia, phthiriophobia

Places: topophobia

Poisoning: toxicophobia, iophobia

Pregnancy: maieusiophobia

Precipices: cremnophobia

Rabies: lyssophobia

Railways: siderodromophobia

Rivers: potamophobia

Sea: Thalassophobia

Self: autophobia

Sexual Intercourse: coitophobia, cypriphobia

Sexual Love: erotophobia

Sharp Objects: belonephobia, aichmophobia

Solitude: eremophobia

Speaking: lalophobia

Spirits: demonophobia

Standing Upright: stasophobia*

Stealing: cleptophobia

Stillness: eremophobia

Sun: heliophobia

Surgical Operations: ergasiophobia

Tabes Dorsalis: ataxophobia

Thirteen at Table: triakidekaphobia*

Thunder: ceraunophobia, keraunophobia, tonitrophobia

Touching or Being Touched: aichmophobia, haphephobia

Tuberculosis: phthisiophobia, tuberculophobia

Uncovering the Body: gymnophobia

Vehicles: amaxophobia

Vomiting: emetophobia

Wind: anemophobia

Walking: basophobia

Water: hydrophobia

Women: gynephobia

Work: ergasiophobia

Worms: helminthophobia

 

Seven of those phobias, indicated via an *, are not in a more comprehensive The Phobia List web page from 1995. Note that glossophobia isn’t on the list, Speaking: lalophobia is instead.

 

I colored in an image of a boy reading a big book found at Openclipart.    

 


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