Diachronic

[Dr. Goodword]

• diachronic •

Pronunciation: dai-ê-krah-nik • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: Historical, related to changes occurring over time.

Notes: This word is probably used more frequently in linguistics, the science of language, than elsewhere. Its antonym is synchronic "the study of a subject in a current state, without regard for its history". Synchronic linguistics is the study of languages as they stand today. The adverb is, as expected, diachronically, and the noun, diachrony.

In Play: I am familiar with uses of today's word in linguistics. 'Diachronic linguistics' is the study of the changes in language, like the Word History of each Good Word. Etymology is the diachronic study of words. However, historical linguistics is not the only subject that may be described as "diachronic": "I prefer historical novels that are structured according to theme rather than those that are diachronic."

Word History: Today's Good Word was created around the mid-19th century out of Greek pieces: dia "through" + chronos "time" + ic-, an English adjective suffix corresponding to the Greek adjectival suffix -ik. Dia is presumed to be a combination of duo "two" + -a, an unknown suffix. It may be related to dis "twice". It occurs in a multitude of English borrowings from Greek, diametric, diatribe, diagram, to mention only a few. Chronos is another mysterious Greek word that occurs in many English borrowings: chronic, chronology, and synchronic, comprising syn "with" + chronos + -ic. There are no known sources of either of these two Greek words. (Now we must thank George Kovac, who suggested synchronically today's very Good Word.)

[Slava]

Nice rare word that throws me every time I see it. I keep wanting it to be something that implies a double time frame or some such 2-ness.

Diameter does not throw me. Probably because I don't think of the parts, as it's a word we're taught in math classes.

[George Kovac]

Slava,

I have encountered "diachronic" only once in print, in a 2017 Economist review of Bettany Hughes' masterful "Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities."

Here is my attempt to use "diachronic" in the manner you seek:

I would apply the word to the movie "Oppenheimer," which brilliantly tells an intricate narrative sprawling across three decades, but not in a linear story line. I found that technique aesthetically rewarding, and successful in making the importance of this complicated history accessible to viewers. Other viewers may prefer that Christopher Nolan, the screenwriter and director, had used a more conventional linear narrative, but I don't think that approach would have been as emotionally satisfying or done justice to the material--or to use another Good Word you recently commented on--that movie would have been pedestrian. When we look back on the significant events of our own lives and how we have changed and adapted over the years, we don't usually think of that history in a linear fashion. More often, we reconstruct our personal histories by linking together important incidents and feelings in a more psychological or emotional diachronology.

I have not seen the Barbie movie, so I cannot comment on that film's diachronic approach.

[Dr. Goodword]

Diachronic is used mostly in linguistics. 'Diachronic linguistics' "historical linguistics" is the opposite of 'synchronic linguistics' "contemporary linguistics", the study of languages as they stand today.

I, too, was deeply impressed by "Oppenheimer", though I thought the interstices of diachronic and synchronic episodes was a little confusing. I found it hard to identify and keep up with the various characters, all of whom I am familiar with in real life.

This is clearly a motion picture I will have to watch several more times just to make sure nothing went over my aged head.

I highly recommend it to all reading this comment. It was a story of a bad episode in American history treated in more detail than I had ever seen in documentaries or commercial movies.