Which is the more etymologically accurate form, "cyberocracy" or "cybercracy"?

Question

In bibliographical sources, the term "cyberocracy" is the one used mostly but it makes more sense to me the term "cybercracy". So I would like to know which of the two is more accurate etymologically.

Answer 1

My impression is that neither cyberocracy nor cybercracy is really well-formed in the context of classical languages, so you can just pick whichever one you feel sounds best or that you think is better formed according to English analogy.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the modern English prefix cyber- was formed by detaching the first two syllables of cybernetic(s), from Ancient Greek κυβερνητικός (kubernetikos) which comes from the verb κυβερνάω (kubernao) (this is related to the English verb govern). So I don't think there is really any "etymologically" correct way to use cyber- as a prefix any more than there is an etymologically correct way to use -holic as a suffix.

If we set aside etymology and just look at modern English analogy, there seem to be two competing tendencies: cyber- is used as a prefix in a lot of words, and cybero- is not; but -cracy is preceded by -o- in a lot of words, and is not directly preceded by r in any well-established word. (Urban Dictionary does record two innovative formations that end in -rcracy: hypercracy and twittercracy.)

I think I prefer the sound of cyberocracy a bit because its stress pattern seems more natural to me: the first syllable of "cyber" is stressed, as in many other words, and the third-to-last syllable of "ocracy" is stressed, as in many other words. With cybercracy, we have to put a single stress either on the first syllable, which is earlier than words ending in -cracy are usually stressed, or on the second syllable, which would cause "cyber" to have an unusual stress pattern compared to other words starting with this prefix.

Other alternative formations are possible. If you search Google for "cybernetocracy", you can find a few hits, and "cybernocracy" is common enough, or at least established well enough to have made it into the Oxford Dictionaries.

The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that "cybernocracy" was coined in 1965, giving the following quote:

1965 B. D. Thomas in Sci. & Society (Xerox Corp.) 29 Extension of this idea leads me to suggest the coinage of a new word, cybernocracy, meaning government by computer.

The paper "Cyberocracy, Cyberspace, and Cyberology: Political Effects of the Information Revolution", by David Ronfeldt (1991), which the Wikipedia article "Cyberocracy" links to, provides some interesting context for a more recent occurrence of the coinage and use of the term "cyberocracy". Ronfeldt defines "cyberocracy" as "rule by way of information" on page 2, where he says in a footnote:

⁴ Technically, the Greek root is kybernan, meaning to steer or govern. A related root, kybernetes, means pilot or helmsman. Norbert Weiner coined his famed term "cybernetics" from these roots. Thus it might be proper for me to propopse the term "cybernocracy" (which I did in a 1979 draft). But "cyber-" has become the favored form in recent years, as in the term "cyberspace" discussed later.

Interestingly, the Ronfeldt paper appears to use "o" in "cyberocracy", but not in the related terms "cybercrat" and "cybercratic". I think this supports my idea that some people may prefer "cyberocracy" over "cybercracy" for reasons related to stress.

Answer 2

Etymology doesn't prescribe rules, it observes patterns. So the question you might be getting at is, "which nonce word would adhere to a recognizable pattern?"

Both -ocracy and -cracy are defined in the OED, though there are few examples of words in English that use the -cracy suffix without the connective -o-.

The OED describes -o- this way:

Etymology: < post-classical Latin -o-, a connecting vowel occurring in compounds formed by analogy with Greek compounds (and classical Latin compounds borrowed from them) in which the first element ended in -ο ; this was originally the nominal stem of the first element (as in δημοκρατία democracy n.) and was later added to other first elements by analogy

In other words, the -ocracy suffix originated in forms where the -o- arrived from the stem or prefix, as in demo- -cracy, "government by people." But the suffix drifted in its application to new words, and now -ocracy is the more commonly applied option in coining new words or nonce usages. The -o- became associated with the -cracy and it stuck.

• Kleptocracy

• Meritocracy

• Technocracy (yes it's a word)

The answer seems to me to be that cyberocracy would follow the most natural pattern of word formation. But again, if you are going to employ a nonce usage, you needn't confine yourself with too many rules apart from what you think will best communicate your meaning.