Logomachy

logomachy
    n 1: argument about words or the meaning of words
    

Logomachy \Lo*gom"a*chy\, n. [Gr. ?; lo`gos word + ? fight,
   battle, contest: cf. F. logomachie.]
   1. Contention in words merely, or a contention about words; a
      war of words.
      [1913 Webster]

            The discussion concerning the meaning of the word
            "justification" . . . has largely been a mere
            logomachy.                            --L. Abbott.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A game of word making.
      [1913 Webster]
    

LOGOMACHY, n.  A war in which the weapons are words and the wounds
punctures in the swim-bladder of self-esteem -- a kind of contest in
which, the vanquished being unconscious of defeat, the victor is
denied the reward of success.

    'Tis said by divers of the scholar-men
    That poor Salmasius died of Milton's pen.
    Alas! we cannot know if this is true,
    For reading Milton's wit we perish too.
    

71 Moby Thesaurus words for "logomachy":
      Kilkenny cats, altercation, apologetics, apologia, apology,
      argument, argumentation, bicker, bickering, blood feud, brawl,
      broil, casuistry, cat-and-dog life, combat, conflict, contention,
      contentiousness, contest, contestation, controversy,
      cut and thrust, debate, defense, disputation, dispute, donnybrook,
      donnybrook fair, embroilment, enmity, feud, fight, fighting,
      fliting, flyting, fracas, fuss, hassle, hostility, hubbub,
      imbroglio, litigation, open quarrel, paper war, passage of arms,
      polemic, polemics, quarrel, quarreling, quarrelsomeness, rhubarb,
      scrapping, set-to, sharp words, slanging match, snarl, spat,
      squabble, squabbling, strife, struggle, tiff, tussle, vendetta,
      verbal engagement, war, war of words, warfare, words, wrangle,
      wrangling