Phileros: An exercise in Greek words for love

It's common knowledge that language flexes with the times. New meanings are often added to existing words, but occasionally, completely new words pop up and subsequently are added to dictionaries. A relatively new word that has gained wide usage is the portmanteau "bromance", the offspring of "brother" and "romance". As a etymology hobbyist and a wannabe Greek scholar, I thought it would be fun to do some reverse-morphology. And so I present to you the Greek root for the word "bromance". Please welcome the newest member of the Greek lexicon, "phileros".

There is clear semblance between "phileros" and its parents. The first part comes from the Greek word "phileo" which refers to a brotherly love. The second part is "eros" which refers to a romantic love. The marriage of these two words gives us "phileros", a term that uniquely refers to the brotherly romances cited in this article and this article.

It is my plea to The Center for Greek Language that they consider "phileros" as the newest member of koine Greek. If you would like to support my efforts in having "phileros" added, please leave a comment and show all of your friends this note!