Homonymy

An extension of the linguistic concept of homonyms to include correspondences of orthographic, graphic, signal, or phonetic composition, in any combination, and applying to sets of words, sets of signs or combinations thereof, providing that there is a difference in denotation or connotation between such homonymous forms. Circumstances of homonymy in any given instance may also be termed polysemic where the words of the homonymous set are related etymologically to a root from which two or more meanings have extended. Thus polysemy (multiple meaning), which is seen in single terms of some linguistic evolution, may be veiled if unrecognized at the verbal root level, since words may develop from the root in a divergent way and their relationship as etymological variants. One also detects a concealed homonymy since they correspond in root but differ in sense or meaning.