I can't find this one in any book, but empaths should be a word for two people whose minds travel the same emotive path.

Empathizer does not cut it.

Is "empath" out or in? Should be in if it's out.

Greetings here from Orion, empathic and refulgent in my many spheres,
OrB~

I'm chancing my arm here, OrB, and tswum may well tear it off at the shoulder when he brings in the big guns (OED, etc.).

I'd say that if you used the word "Empath", most people who know what empathy is would understand what you mean. It would be a backformation from empathy in much the same way that "psychopath" must have been from psychopathy.

By the way, with the sobriquet "OrB", does going to bed at night constitute a form of deOrBiting?

Dear Orion: The coinage you suggest has problem that "path" often means disease. I tried to find or coin a word to fit what you suggest, a person talented in understanding and sharing the feelings of others, but could not find or devise one.

Dear wwh,

So much the loss for psychology, its own path ridden with briars and brambles.

I've known so many paths and orbits that have offered nothing short of bliss.

Again, so much the loss for psychology.

Back into orbit,
OrB

Dear Cap,

Always delicately: "By the way, with the sobriquet "OrB", does going to bed at night constitute a form of deOrBiting?"

Gracefulness in deOrBiting is all,
OrB

Nother problem with empath is it's used in certain genres of fiction to mean a person who is incredibly sensitive to the feelings of other people, to the point of appearing to read their minds. Councellor Troi on StarTrek: TNG was an empath.

Faldage: You're too damned modest. That sounds exactly like what Orion wanted.
"I believe she's got it!

sounds exactly like what Orion wanted.

Sounded to me like she was after a word describing two more or less normal people who thought alike naturally. I think of the word simpatico, but that's an adjective. Don't know the noun form; simpatichistos?

I still plump for empaths. Deanna Troy and other sci-fi usage aside, it should be easy enough for locutors to understand the meaning of the noun from the adjective.

Dear Faldage:

No! Not simpatico! That's not deep enough here. I am talking about empathy to the 9th degree that is, if not mind reading, soul reading.

Thanks for the Star Trek reference, by the way. There's an empath for you!

Simpatico is too insipipatico here! I'm not looking for sympathy here--but deepest degree of empathy--right there in the center of the soul's gut!

Who said I was a woman? Ha!

Back to night lights and flights,
OrB

D'ear Lady Orion's Belt: Don't tell me you are wearing the Belt for a girdle!

Dear wwh,

Whoa! Even were I to dress like a woman--say, in a balletic interpretation of "Twelfth Night," stars a-plenty there! I'd refrain from wearing anything ressembling a girdle. Girls in girdles are...girl-dull!

Tightening up my belt a notch or two before leaping toward the celestial spheres,
OrB

Lady Orion's Belt

Hey dr. bill, I think she's saying she's a man.

Welcome OrionsBelt!
Took a look at your Profile for a gender-hint and got "Parker" ... [great gusty sigh - e]
You and the Rhubarb Commando might/could form an empathetic collusion to really keep us on our toes!

sounds exactly like what Orion wanted.

Faldage, you're a telepath! Or do both folks have to be telepathic to communicate mentally?

Welcome, OrionsBelt~! Our local astronomy expert says Betelgeuse is now the most prominent it's been in ages. Could that have something to do with you showing up?

Dear wow,

Took a look at YOUR profile and read you're serving as "high priestess." What's this? What's your role here on AWAD as high priestess? There's an Ann Parker somewhere back there in my heritage, by the way.

And where is this tsuwm with his meteoric display of facts to show the range of words? My hope's glittering here that empath shines on one of his lists as a viable word, for the world needs that one in the firmament.

Hoping to put that one 'neath my belt,
OrB

Dear W'On,

Betelgeuse is my right shoulder, and there's a lady sitting there if you know my history. And there she'll sit till the coming of the white dwarf. She's my brightest star and I carry her everywhere with me as we travel across the sky, she with her high, hot winds...

Feeling her heat now and her windy breath,
OrB

I carry her everywhere with me as we travel across the sky, she with her high, hot winds...

WellWhat a surprise

Dear Orion: Do you mind having Beetle Juice on your right shoulder?

in fact, empath (a back-formation) was first used in sf sometime in the 1940s to distinguish from telepath; the latter reads thoughts, the former reads emotions.
-joe (not sci-fi) bsftplk

p.s. - empathy = G. einfühlung

She's my brightest star

Let's see, OrionsBelt~...would that be one of the most-noted and beautiful of all the stars, Rigel (RY-jel)?

Betelgeuse

This from the column of our local astronomer, Fred Schaaf, today in The Press of Atlantic City; the end of linguistic note:

Betelgeuse was our featured subject last week and I promised to talk about its danger to us and its name.
First, the danger. This pulsating vast red giant may be the closest star likely to undergo a supernova collapse and explosion. If it ever does, it probably would shine much brighter than a full moon in our skies for months. And it is possible that hard radiation from the Betelgeuse supernova could pose a significant (although probably not critical) danger to earth.
Fortunately, although it is possible we could see Betelgeuse go supernova tonight, it is much more likely to happen in a few million years.
It's possible that by the time Betelgeuse blows it will have moved much farther away from us. So we can relax and enjoy Betelgeuse, not fear it.
But how to pronounce its name is still in question. Most astronomers today say "BET-el-joos," not "beetle juice." But 700 years ago the star's name may have been said "BET-ul-jow-ZAY." And 1,000 years ago? Maybe something like "YUD-ul-jow-zah"!

[the italics and bold print are mine] How accurate are the pronunciation assertions? Since there are no citations, perhaps he should stick to the astronomy and leave the linguistics to a master...like tsuwm!
Any OED etymolgy on Betelguese?...please.

Any OED etymolgy on Betelguese?

This'n's good. From AHD, not OED but AHD is the better choice for etymolgies anyway:

http://www.bartleby.com/61/47/B0214700.html

Thanks, Faldage. I couldn't get the link to open yesterday.
That's a good comprehensive history of the star's name.

Thanks, tsuwm.

Empathically, thanks!
OrB

Telepaths...reading minds; empaths...reading emotions. What about those who read bodies? Kinepaths? Anatopaths? Or those who read difficult poetry? Sylviaplaths?

Dear Orion: Careful with anatopath. Anato- is rootword for "duck" Would that make your coinage meaning somebody with a feeling for ducks?

Or perhaps a feeling for when to duck, Dr. Bill?

Dear wwh,

I have a lot of feeling for ducks, so there's at least one anatopath here! Especially good feelings for loons! Just about anything that rhymes with moon! I fly around it all the time--moony, loony, I!

So, maybe kinepaths for those who read bodies, corporeal and celestial alike!

Jumping over the moon now,
OrB~

Dear WO'n,

Actually, Betelgeuse is the lady on my right shoulder. Rigel's the left. Betel is Alpha and Rigel is Beta. Betel's the boiling, windy lady who whispers in my ear...

Starry-eyed and Betel-breathed,
OrB~

Sear Orion: Again, be careful with betel. People will think that's where you get your energy, and it will stain your teeth.

Betelgeuse was our featured subject last week and I promised to talk about its danger to
us

Ah, so you come to us with a dangerous beauty! Well, that's the most enticing kind, OrionsBelt~, isn't it?

Betelgeuse is/was/willan be Ford Prefect's hometown. And, if I remember correctly the place of origin of the pangalactic gargleblaster.