[Verginius Rufus]

Greek homos means "same." "Homosexual" is a modern invention and, from a purist's standpoint, a barbarism, since it combines a Greek root with a Latin root. Latin homo as in Homo sapiens is completely unrelated.

I don't know when "homophobia" was coined, maybe in the 1980s or 1990s, but it is a loaded term, intended to imply that there is something wrong with people who don't applaud homosexuality.

A better term for opposition to homosexuality might be miseuryproctia combining "mis-" (hate) "eury-" (wide) and "proktos" (anus)...there is an ancient Greek word euryproktia which the dictionary quaintly defines as "lewdness." But obviously "miseuryproctia" would never catch on.

[Publius]

"Homosexual" is a modern invention and, from a purist's standpoint, a barbarism, since it combines a Greek root with a Latin root.

Interesting point. The great German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe heard someone refer to an "automobile," which in his era was simply a steam-powered tractor. It wasn't that Goethe couldn't believe that such a device could exist, he couldn't believe that anyone could be so sloppy as to mix a Greek and Latin root. He assured people that it should be called an "autokinetikon."