Uncommon Names for Common, and Not-so-Common, Manias

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines mania as "excitement manifested by mental and physical hyperactivity, disorganization of behavior, and elevation of mood." The word mania derives from the Greek verb mainomai (= to be furious, to be in a state of frenzy). The semantic family of mainomai boasts such distinguished members as menis, the obsessive rage of Achilles that caused all the brouhaha in the last year of the siege of Troy, and Maenads, the stark raving mad followers of god Dionysus.

Mania is both a noun and a suffix. As a suffix, -mania is attached to words that may denote either medical conditions (e.g. pyromania, trichotillomania, kleptomania) or (mostly) harmless enthusiasm with a subject (e.g. Beatlemania, Pottermania, Sudokumania). The first part of words denoting manias is usually derived from either Greek or Latin roots.

Here is a sampler of some common (and some not so common) manias:

ablutomania: obsession with cleanliness and bathing (from the supine form ablutum of the Latin verb abluere = to wash off, to cleanse, to purify)

apimania: obsession with bees (from the Latin apis or apes = bee)

arithmomania: obsession with counting everything in one's surroundings; think Sesame Street's Count von Count (aka The Count); (from the Greek arithmos = number)

bibliomania: obsessive impulse to hoard books (from the Greek biblion = scroll, book)

capnomania (aka fumimania): smoking addiction (from the Greek kapnos (Latin fumus) = smoke)

dipsomania: compulsive, insatiable craving for alcohol (from the Greek dipsa = thirst)

flagellomania: obsession with whipping or being whipped (from the Latin flagellum = whip, lash)

florimania: obsession with flowers (from the Latin flos, floris = flower, blossom)

gamomania: obsession with making extravagant proposals of marriage (from the Greek gamein = to marry)

graphomania (aka scribomania): obsessive impulse to write (from the Greek graphein (Latin scribere) = to write)

ichthyomania: obsession with fish (from the Greek ichthys = fish)

kleptomania (aka klopemania): irresistible urge to steal (and hoard) things, mostly of little value (from the Greek kleptein = to steal)

logomania: compulsive, excessive, and incoherent speech (from the Greek logos = word, language, talking)

megalomania: delusions of grandeur (from the Greek root megalo- = large)

mythomania: pathological lying (from the Greek mythos = story, tale, fable, myth)

onychotillomania: compulsive picking at one's fingernails (from the Greek onyx, onychos = fingernail and tillein = to pull out, to pluck, to tear)

plutomania: obsession with money and the acquisition of wealth; delusion that one is rich (from the Greek ploutos = wealth)

pyromania: obsessive impulse to start fires, to set things on fire (from the Greek pyr = fire)

trichotillomania: compulsive pulling out of one's body hair (from the Greek thrix, trichos = hair and tillein = to tear out, to pluck)

Source:
Merriam-Webster Online: http://www.m-w.com