Talk:reify

Etymology

Is there any evidence that this word was constructed in Latin? Best evidence places the creation of this word in the 19th century. DCDuring TALK 21:06, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

The first part is from Latin, the rest is an English suffix. The word was constructed in English. --Vahagn Petrosyan 19:25, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

"any evidence"? —DIV (49.180.194.255 13:43, 26 June 2022 (UTC))

FWIW, I had been guessing that it came from "real" + "-ify". —DIV (49.180.194.255 13:46, 26 June 2022 (UTC))

Pronunciation

This section list two audio segments both labelled US. Is this correct? 145.221.52.104 06:26, 29 March 2017 (UTC)

Yes, I think so. I'm no expert, but they seem to correspond to /ˈɹiː.ə.faɪ/ and /ˈɹeɪ.ə.faɪ/. —DIV (49.180.194.255 13:45, 26 June 2022 (UTC))

Another sense?

Is there another sense being used in the two appearances at http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/83078/ (cf. https://doi.org/10.1093/hwj/dbv018 ) or has the word been misused there? Or am I just missing something?

—DIV (1.145.19.122 13:51, 13 April 2023 (UTC))

FWIW, having forgotten my comments (above) from last year, and looking at the word in a different context, this time I thought it might be vaguely analogous to deify, and composed from something like rei + -fy. —DIV (1.145.19.122 13:56, 13 April 2023 (UTC))

In the first usage, I felt that conceptualise might have been the intended meaning.

Per the current WT entry, I have just noticed that conceptualize is listed as a "synonym", but I feel that this is contrary to the current definition: "to regard something abstract as if it were a concrete material thing." Conceptualising should be to progress from specifics to an overarching concept or concepts, which is more aligned with moving from concrete to abstract, rather than vice versa.

So... is there a sense missing from the current definition, or should conceptualize be removed from the list of "synonyms", or — despite my misgivings — is everything already entirely correct & consistent?

—DIV (1.145.19.122 14:16, 13 April 2023 (UTC))

I have now checked definitions in WT and also OED, and I cannot see justification for conceptualise as a synonym of reify, so I've moved conceptualize from Synonyms to See also. —DIV (1.145.45.168 03:09, 19 April 2023 (UTC))