Thursday, May 28, 2009

 

Word of the Day: renonymize

Re-nonymize, or renonymize, V,. To discover, using data from an "anonymized" data set (a data set from which the explicit identifying data has been removed) which specific individuals generated the data. Usage: ". . . companies claim they're releasing an anonymous dataset, only to discover later that it's not so difficult to re-nomynize it." [source]

Technorati Tags: ,


Comments:
Is it "re-non-ymize" or "re-nom-ynize"? I want to assume that the usage example is wrong, but both words seem defensible from an etymological standpoint.
 
Surey if its from anonymize then it should be spelt renonymize, split as re-nonym-ise. From the greek ὄνομα, meaning name.
 
The antonym for anonymous is onymous:

adj. 1. bearing a name; as, articles in magazines are usually onymous. Opposite of anonymous.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.

So surely it should be reonymize rather than renonymize? As the n is part of the an- prefix?
 
Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?