nevralgic

emiliameow

emiliameow

Member
Los Angeles, California
Cuba/USA, Spanish/English
Anyone know what this word means? It's not in any dictionary I've checked, even on-line ones. However, I've seen it used in a few different contexts:

the nevralgic center of this mysterious submission (referring to a photo of a woman's pierced belly button)


We are settled on one of the most enchanting ...., near Amalfi, Ravello and Positano, and very close to important nevralgic points that represent the ideal position to start pleasant excursions to Naples. (an ad for a villa rental in Amalfi, Italy)

There is a nevralgic point with this type of device which is located between the connection of the air-intake hose-pipe and the "receptacle" portion into which the paste or soft mortar to be cast is poured. (a patent for some kind of mechanical device)

I'm stumped!:confused:
 
    • I considered the possibility of a typo for neuralgic but, I've seen it too many times for that to be the case. I'm thinking it may have to do with the center or "navel" (as in belly button) because in every instance it refers to either a joint of some kind, a central location, or in the case of the photo, an actual belly button. Maybe it's a foreign word?
     
    Browsing through the Google hits for nevralgic indicates that it is a common typo for neuralgic, it appears in many non-English sites, it appears in English sites by non-English writers.
    Add to that, it does not appear in any English dictionary that I have checked (including the OED) and it seems highly probable that this is an error.
     
    Dimcl said:
    in a foreign language which, I assume, is Romanian. As for the references in English text, I can't explain it.
    Click to expand...

    Yep, that's Romanian allright.
    On this page
    http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2007/07/10/segments/81741/
    post #12, a gentleman from New York who writes otherwise perfect English uses it ... I've no idea what he means, but he uses it.
    I reckon he'd have to have a pretty weird typing manner to mistype v for u (on a standard Anglo-Saxon keyboard).
     
    I don't think nevralgic is a typ-o. Here is a quote from Charles Taylor's "A Secular Age" (2007). It may shed some light but, alas, it is not the succinct definition that emiliameow and I are looking for:

    "But the important point is that in propounding salvation by faith, Luther was touching on the nevralgic issue of the day, the central concern and fear, which dominated so much lay piety, and drove the whole indulgence racket, the issue of judgement, damanation and salvation."
     
    Hello Obwie, and welcome to WordReference :)
    Obwie said:
    I don't think nevralgic is a typ-o. Here is a quote from Charles Taylor's "A Secular Age" (2007). It may shed some light but, alas, it is not the succinct definition that emiliameow and I are looking for:

    "But the important point is that in propounding salvation by faith, Luther was touching on the nevralgic issue of the day, the central concern and fear, which dominated so much lay piety, and drove the whole indulgence racket, the issue of judgement, damanation and salvation."
    Click to expand...
    That example is definitely a typo.

    I'm saying that based on the interesting discussion we had the other day in neuralgic - figurative sense?
    The above quotation is using neuralgic in exactly that sense.
     
    The etymology of the word nevralgic is: two Greek words: neuron (nerve) and algos (pain) It refers to the place where pain is particularly felt by a nerve. The term is also found in military texts (example: nevalgic impact) with the meaning refering to the relevance and significance of a high impact strike, and/or a particularly effective tactic or strategy. We now see the term nevralgic appearing more often in management texts concerning strategic planning. Like many of you, I have not found the word in ordinary English dictionaries.
     
    Hello, Janknl and welcome to the forums:)

    Did you mean "nevralgic" as distinct from "neuralgic" (see the thread panjandrum posted a link to in post 10)?

    If so, can you give us some examples of its use? I'm not clear what the difference would be between "nevralgic" and "neuralgic".
     
    The word comes to English via the French word "nevralgie" (although its parts are of course Greek), which probably accounts for this error. As with all words using this Greek root, it is spelled neur- or neuro-. Nevralgic is not an English spelling, and is used mistakenly here.
     
    Thank you MatchingMole, There seem to be several French words with this spelling of (presumably) the same root, including nevrotique :) One wonders whether its use/development/survival/resurgence was encouraged by the older words (through Roman) in which U and V were the "same".
     
    From a quick WRF dictionary check, it seems that Italian also (as well as French and the previously-mentioned Romanian) uses "nevro" where English has "neuro".

    If [at least] three other languages have "nevro" for "neuro", that could well account for the number of google hits for "nevralgic".
     
    Hello to all

    I've just signed up to WordReference and come to this thread rather late. Anyway, I disagree with those who think nevralgic is a typo. Like Obwie I've been reading A Secular Age by Charles Taylor and I noticed that he uses the word again on page 329:

    "What makes for the heat at this nevralgic point is that there is a strong sense of deficit in a world where people used to feel a presence . . .".

    Taylor seems to be using the term to mean something like an area of particularly sensitivity. It is certainly in keeping with Taylor's general writing style that he would use a somewhat obscure term.
     
    mje2012 said:
    Hello to all

    I've just signed up to WordReference and come to this thread rather late. Anyway, I disagree with those who think nevralgic is a typo. Like Obwie I've been reading A Secular Age by Charles Taylor and I noticed that he uses the word again on page 329:

    "What makes for the heat at this nevralgic point is that there is a strong sense of deficit in a world where people used to feel a presence . . .".

    Taylor seems to be using the term to mean something like an area of particularly sensitivity. It is certainly in keeping with Taylor's general writing style that he would use a somewhat obscure term.
    Click to expand...
    Hello and welcome :)
    I have some problems with your suggestion.
    First, neuralgic is used with precisely this meaning - see neuralgic - figurative sense? so that it is not necessary to invent a new word or import a foreign word.
    Second, nevralgic is a non-English word (Romanian for example) meaning neuralgic.
    Third, I checked the OED, Merriam-Webster, dictionary.com, and several other dictionaries. None of them includes nevralgic.
     
    Second, nevralgic is a non-English word
    Click to expand...

    I just had a look in the Oxford Hachette, which translates "point névralgique" into English as "key point". Clearly this usage is alien to English, since a word-for-word translation would give you "neuralgic point", which sounds completely inappropriate, so I suggest that some writers have been employing "nevralgic" as an ill-advised neologism in English in the hope that they can maintain the inference of "key" (i.e. critically important) instead of sounding like a treatise on acupuncture.
     
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    DocPenfro said:
    I just had a look in the Oxford Hachette, which translates "point névralgique" into English as "key point". Clearly this usage is alien to English, and a word-for-word translation would give you "neuralgic point", which sounds completely inappropriate, so I suggest that some writers have been employing "nevralgic" as a neologism in English in the hope that they can maintain the inference of "key" (i.e. critically important) instead of sounding like a treatise on acupuncture.
    Click to expand...
    Perhaps, except that neuralgic and neuralgic point have been used since at least 1977. The OED definition:
    2. In extended use: painful, distressing; (esp. in Polit.) particularly sensitive or crucial; capable of causing a sudden, extreme, or far-reaching reaction; (also) characterized by such a reaction.

    I found nine results for nevralgic in Google News - all Romanian.
    There are many general Google results - mostly Romanian/English dictionaries.
    There are quite a number related to a recording artist - and of course an Urban Dictionary entry.

    Having looked around, I remain convinced that the examples in "A Secular Age" are errors.
     
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    The Italian/English dictionary lists various medical terms starting with 'nevr...' and translates them to very similar English words starting with 'neur...' --
    nevralgia -- neuralgia
    nevralgico -- neuralgic
    nevrosi -- neurosus
    nevrotico -- neurotic

    The OP gives us an Italian context
    emiliameow said:
    ...., near Amalfi, Ravello and Positano, and very close to important nevralgic points that represent the ideal position to start pleasant excursions to Naples. (an ad for a villa rental in Amalfi, Italy)
    Click to expand...
    so it really looks Italian spelling of English words.
     
    Same with Russian:

    Nevralgia (transliterated) neuralgia.

    And the rule is the same for all "-eu-" Greek roots.

    - Eucaliptis - Evkalip
    - Eukariot - Evkariot
    - Nerology - nevrologiya
    - Eutanasia - Evtanasia
    - Pleuritis - Plevrit

    Etc.
     
    It could remain that the Romanians are the fount of neologisms... ;) OED, in which all the examples are of the past participle,
    navel. 1. trans. (in pass.). literary and poet. To be situated in the middle of a landscape, esp. in a hollow or depression; to be nestled.

    a1974 C. Day Lewis Madrigal for Lowell House in Compl. Poems (1992) 635 The crimson berry tree navelled upon this court Twinkles a coded message.
    Click to expand...

    Given the original example, I think that this is indeed a neologism, an adjective from a verb from a noun.
     
    PaulQ said:
    It could remain that the Romanians are the fount of neologisms... ;) OED, in which all the examples are of the past participle,

    Given the original example, I think that this is indeed a neologism, an adjective from a verb from a noun.
    Click to expand...
    Sorry, but I don't understand how this relates to the topic term - nevralgic.
     
    nevralgic (as you say, a neologism) = of the navel - nothing to do with neuralgia

    emiliameow said:
    the nevralgic center of this mysterious submission (referring to a photo of a woman's pierced belly button).

    We are settled on one of the most enchanting ...., near Amalfi, Ravello and Positano, and very close to important nevralgic points that represent the ideal position to start pleasant excursions to Naples. (an ad for a villa rental in Amalfi, Italy)
    Click to expand...
     
    NEWRALGICZNY (nevralgic) is often used in texts in Polish language - albeit the word is not native to Polish.
    Example: nevralgic point of military resistance 9from which much depends).
    Nevralgic sector of industrial production (like neodymium magnets, nowadays).
    Nevralgic point of a body - like the heart.



    In short: it is indeed "a key point". And I used this word today, in an email to an institution:
    """Attached is the letter stating the health level of the electrical joints and nevralgic components of the CAP
    underbelly.
    Medically speaking - CAP is in good shape."""

    GJ Dr
     
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