Why do some words containing a form of “philia” have it at the beginning and some have it at the end?
I am a Greek native speaker. I did some research and I found some info in Greek that I believe will help as the words you mention are Greek. So
philo-word
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1a. in compound adjectives, identifies one who is characterized by love or a favourable attitude towards what the second compound expresses: philanthropist
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b. characterizes the corresponding attitude or behavior(the example in Greek is liberalism but I can't think of something to explain it better.)
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states that the determined behaviour or in general the tactics or politics of an individual or a group is characterized by a friendly attitude towards the people that expresses the second compound;
e.g. philhellene
Now word-philo
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b 'synthetic in compound names. 1. identifies the one who loves what the first synthetic expresses: a. (often science) for plants that thrive in the environment that implies the first synthetic(e.g. hydrophilic)
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the person characterized by the pathological condition implied by the corresponding noun e.g. haemophilia
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indicates the person who is characterized by a friendly attitude towards the people that expresses the first synthetic; anglophile also hydrophile, bibliophile
highly IMPORTANT you should know that the philo-word declares the healthy love for something and
the word-philo means too much love for something.(MOSTLY NOT IN A GOOD WAY such as paedophilia.)
I will provide some links in Greek (I apologize for that) in case you want something more. I hope I have shed some light.
- philo-word https://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/search.html?lq=%CF%86%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%BF*&dq=
- word-philo https://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/search.html?start=0&lq=*%CF%86%CE%B9%CE%BB%CE%BF&dq=
- more infohttps://www.translatum.gr/forum/index.php?topic=14297.0 Edits: Added more info and examples.