7 FEBRUARY 2004, Page 26

Neologistic note

From Barry Cawdron

Sir: Tom Livingstone inquires about the meaning of `hemiocentenary' (Letters, 31 January). My New English Dictionmy of March 1932 defines `Itemi' as a Greek prefix meaning half, as in hemisphere; which suggests that a hemiocentenary is a half-century. I wonder whether the word in the article should have been `sesquicentenary', from the Latin term referring to a ratio of 3:2, as The Spectator celebrated its 150th anniversary in 1978.

Bay Cawdron

Bristol

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