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From Wikipedia:



Should "aviophobia" actually refer to a fear of birds instead of a fear of flying?

"Should" is such a tiresome word when it comes to language. There's no obligation for a word or phrase to have any particular meaning. The question is what aviophobia actually means--that is, what people use it to mean. If people use it to mean "fear of flying", then that's what it means. If people start using it to mean "a very small dog", well, that might be mildly confusing at first, but that'd be what it meant.

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I generally forget to say, so if it's relevant and I don't mention it--I'm from Southern Michigan and speak Inland North American English. Yes, I have the Northern Cities Vowel Shift; no, I don't have the cot-caught merger; and it is called pop.

I'm with alynnidalar - there is no such thing as "should" when it comes to languages.

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Dibotahamdn duthma jallni agaynni ra hgitn lakrhmi.
Amuhawr jalla vowa vta hlakrhi hdm duthmi xaja.
Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro.

Fear of birds is already documented on Wikipedia as ornithophobia, and that word likely will remain supreme. I would've gone with something like "pterophobia" for fear of flying, but perhaps that sounds too ambiguous with "teraphobia", a hypothetical word for fear of monsters?

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Sunàqʷa the Sea Lamprey says:

Wiktionary says that "aviophobia" perhaps comes from Frence "avion" whereas dictionary.com says that "aviophobia" perhaps comes from "aviation".

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aviophobia

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/aviophobia?s=t

Why, what's your reasoning?

Pterophobia sounds to me like a fear of wings ... like, a friend of mine is not exactly afraid of bird except for when they flap near her.

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Glossing Abbreviations: COMP = comparative, C = complementiser, ACS / ICS = accessible / inaccessible, GDV = gerundive, SPEC / NSPC = specific / non-specific
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