Folk etymology

File:Asperges Asparagus officinalis.jpg

An example of folk etymology is the dialectal English word sparrowgrass for asparagus.

Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology,<ref name="Zuckerman20032">Template:Cite book</ref> analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar one through popular usage.<ref>Template:Cite OED1</ref><ref name="Sihler2000">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Trask2000">Template:Cite book</ref> The form or the meaning of an archaic, foreign, or otherwise unfamiliar word is reinterpreted as resembling more familiar words or morphemes.

The term folk etymology is a loan translation from German Volksetymologie, coined by Ernst Förstemann in 1852.<ref name="Forstemann">Template:Cite book</ref> Folk etymology is a productive process in historical linguistics, language change, and social interaction.<ref>See, e.g. Ghil'ad Zuckermann, "'Etymythological Othering' and the Power of 'Lexical Engineering' in Judaism, Islam and Christianity. A Socio-Philo(sopho)logical Perspective", in Explorations in the Sociology of Language and Religion (2006), ed. by Tope Omoniyi & Joshua A. Fishman, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 237–258.</ref> Reanalysis of a word's history or original form can affect its spelling, pronunciation, or meaning. This is frequently seen in relation to loanwords or words that have become archaic or obsolete.

Folk/popular etymology may also refer to a popular false belief about the etymology of a word or phrase that does not lead to a change in the form or meaning. To disambiguate the usage of the term "folk/popular etymology", Ghil'ad Zuckermann proposes a clear-cut distinction between the derivational-only popular etymology (DOPE) and the generative popular etymology (GPE): the DOPE refers to a popular false etymology involving no neologization, and the GPE refers to neologization generated by a popular false etymology.<ref name="Zuckerman20032" />

Examples of words created or changed through folk etymology include the English dialectal form sparrowgrass, originally from Greek Template:Lang ("asparagus") remade by analogy to the more familiar words sparrow and grass.<ref name="Anttila1989">Template:Cite book</ref> When the alteration of an unfamiliar word is limited to a single person, it is known as an eggcorn.

Productive force

The technical term "folk etymology" refers to a change in the form of a word caused by erroneous popular suppositions about its etymology. Until the academic development of comparative linguistics and description of laws underlying sound changes, the derivation of a word was mostly guess-work. Speculation about the original form of words in turn feeds back into the development of the word and thus becomes a part of a new etymology.<ref name="EB1911">{{#if: |

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Believing a word to have a certain origin, people begin to pronounce, spell, or otherwise use the word in a manner appropriate to that perceived origin. This popular etymologizing has had a powerful influence on the forms which words take. Examples in English include crayfish or crawfish, which are not historically related to fish but come from Middle English crevis, cognate with French écrevisse. Likewise chaise lounge, from the original French chaise longue ("long chair"), has come to be associated with the word lounge.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Related phenomena

Other types of language change caused by reanalysis of the structure of a word include rebracketing and back-formation.

In rebracketing, users of the language change, misinterpret, or reinterpret the location of a boundary between words or morphemes. For example, the Old French word Template:Lang Template:Gloss comes from Arabic Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss, with the initial Template:Angbr of Template:Transliteration understood as part of the article.<ref>Template:Cite dictionary</ref> Rebracketing in the opposite direction saw the Middle English Template:Lang and Template:Lang become an apron and an adder.<ref>Template:Cite dictionary</ref>

In back-formation, a new word is created by removing elements from an existing word that are interpreted as affixes. For example, Italian Template:Lang Template:Gloss is derived from the verb Template:Lang Template:Gloss and English edit derives from editor.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some cases of back-formation are based on folk etymology.

Examples in English

In linguistic change caused by folk etymology, the form of a word changes so that it better matches its popular rationalisation. Typically this happens either to unanalysable foreign words or to compounds where the word underlying one part of the compound becomes obsolete.

Loanwords

There are many examples of words borrowed from foreign languages, and subsequently changed by folk etymology.

The spelling of many borrowed words reflects folk etymology. For example, andiron borrowed from Old French was variously spelled Template:Lang or Template:Lang in Middle English, but was altered by association with iron.<ref>Template:Cite OED1</ref> Other Old French loans altered in a similar manner include belfry (from Template:Lang) by association with bell, female (from Template:Lang) by male, and penthouse (from Template:Lang) by house.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The variant spelling of licorice as liquorice comes from the supposition that it has something to do with liquid.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Anglo-Norman Template:Lang (influenced by Template:Lang Template:Gloss) and Late Latin Template:Lang were respelled for similar reasons, though the ultimate origin of all three is Ancient Greek Template:Lang Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss.<ref>Template:Cite OED1</ref>

Reanalysis of loan words can affect their spelling, pronunciation, or meaning. The word cockroach, for example, was borrowed from Spanish Template:Lang but was assimilated to the existing English words cock and roach.<ref>Template:Cite OED1</ref> The phrase forlorn hope originally meant "storming party, body of skirmishers"<ref name="Brown">Template:Cite dictionary</ref> from Dutch Template:Lang "lost troop". But confusion with English hope has given the term an additional meaning of "hopeless venture".<ref>Template:Cite OED1</ref>

Sometimes imaginative stories are created to account for the link between a borrowed word and its popularly assumed sources. The names of the serviceberry, service tree, and related plants, for instance, come from the Latin name Template:Lang. The plants were called Template:Lang in Old English, which eventually became service.<ref>Template:Cite OED1</ref> Fanciful stories suggest that the name comes from the fact that the trees bloom in spring, a time when circuit-riding preachers resume church services or when funeral services are carried out for people who died during the winter.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

A seemingly plausible but no less speculative etymology accounts for the form of Welsh rarebit, a dish made of cheese and toasted bread. The earliest known reference to the dish in 1725 called it Welsh rabbit.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The origin of that name is unknown, but presumably humorous, since the dish contains no rabbit. In 1785 Francis Grose suggested in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue that the dish is "a Welch rare bit",<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> though the word rarebit was not common prior to Grose's dictionary. Both versions of the name are in current use; individuals sometimes express strong opinions concerning which version is correct.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Obsolete forms

When a word or other form becomes obsolete, words or phrases containing the obsolete portion may be reanalyzed and changed.

Some compound words from Old English were reanalyzed in Middle or Modern English when one of the constituent words fell out of use. Examples include bridegroom from Old English Template:Lang Template:Gloss. The word gome Template:Gloss from Old English Template:Lang fell out of use during the sixteenth century and the compound was eventually reanalyzed with the Modern English word groom Template:Gloss.<ref>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> A similar reanalysis caused sandblind, from Old English Template:Lang Template:Gloss with a once-common prefix Template:Lang Template:Gloss, to be respelled as though it is related to sand. The word island derives from Old English Template:Lang. The modern spelling with the letter s is the result of comparison with the synonym isle from Old French and ultimately as a Latinist borrowing of Template:Lang, though the Old French and Old English words are not historically related.<ref>Template:Cite dictionary</ref> In a similar way, the spelling of wormwood was likely affected by comparison with wood.<ref>Template:OEtymD</ref><ref name="Smythe Palmer">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp

The phrase curry favour, meaning to flatter, comes from Middle English Template:Lang Template:Gloss. This was an allusion to a fourteenth-century French morality poem, Roman de Fauvel, about a chestnut-coloured horse who corrupts men through duplicity. The phrase was reanalyzed in early Modern English by comparison to favour as early as 1510.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Words need not completely disappear before their compounds are reanalyzed. The word shamefaced was originally shamefast. The original meaning of fast 'fixed in place' still exists, as in the compounded words steadfast and colorfast, but by itself mainly in frozen expressions such as stuck fast, hold fast, and play fast and loose.Template:Citation needed The songbird wheatear or white-ear is a back-formation from Middle English Template:Lang Template:Gloss, referring to the prominent white rump found in most species.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Although both white and arse are common in Modern English, the folk etymology may be euphemism.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Reanalysis of archaic or obsolete forms can lead to changes in meaning as well. The original meaning of hangnail referred to a corn on the foot.<ref name="MW-hangnail">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> The word comes from Old English Template:Lang + Template:Lang Template:Gloss, but the spelling and pronunciation were affected by folk etymology in the seventeenth century or earlier.<ref>Template:OEtymD</ref> Thereafter, the word came to be used for a tag of skin or torn cuticle near a fingernail or toenail.<ref name="MW-hangnail" />

Other languages

Several words in Medieval Latin were subject to folk etymology. For example, the word Template:Lang meaning 'reward' was borrowed from Old High German Template:Lang Template:Gloss. The lTemplate:Nbsp→Template:Nbspd alteration is due to confusion with Latin Template:Lang Template:Gloss.<ref>Template:Cite OED1</ref><ref name="Smythe Palmer" />Template:Rp Similarly, the word Template:Lang or Template:Lang (related to modern English bachelor) referred to a junior knight. It is attested from the eleventh century, though its ultimate origin is uncertain. By the late Middle Ages its meaning was extended to the holder of a university degree inferior to master or doctor. This was later re-spelled Template:Lang, probably reflecting a false derivation from Template:Lang Template:Gloss, alluding to the possible laurel crown of a poet or conqueror.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Smythe Palmer" />Template:Rp

Likewise in Greek myth, many religious terms are folk-etymologised to suit common vocabulary. In Plato’s dialogue Cratylus, the name of Zeus is folk-etymologised to connect it to Zoe (the word for "life" as a phenomenon; compare the doublet bios referring to a qualified life or lifespan, both of which are cognate to English "quick"), giving it the meaning "cause of life always to all things", because of puns between alternate titles of Zeus (Zen and Dia) with the Greek words for life and "because of"; in reality, his name is a reflex of *Dyēus, an PIE root meaning "bright/shining one". <ref>"Plato's CratylusTemplate:-" by Plato, ed. by David Sedley, Cambridge University Press, 6 November 2003, p. 91</ref>

Diodorus Siculus wrote that Zeus was also called Zen, because the humans believed that he was the cause of life.<ref name="auto3">Template:Cite web</ref> Meanwhile, Lactantius wrote that he was called Zeus and Zen not because he is the giver of life, but because he was the first who lived of the children of Cronus, therefore making the meaning of his name "the one who lived".<ref>Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.11.1.</ref> The name of Orion, likewise, is folk-etymologised as a polite alteration of "Urion", referring to his conception through the gods urinating on his mother's ashes; his name is speculated today to have been borrowed from Akkadian Uru-annak, meaning "Heaven's light".

In the fourteenth or fifteenth century, French scholars began to spell the verb Template:Lang Template:Gloss as Template:Lang on the false belief it was derived from Latin Template:Lang Template:Gloss. In fact it comes from Template:Lang Template:Gloss.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Italian word Template:Lang, meaning 'unicorn' derives from 13th-century lunicorno (lo 'the' + unicorno 'unicorn'). Folk etymology based on lione 'lion' altered the spelling and pronunciation. Dialectal liofante 'elephant' was likewise altered from elefante by association with lione.<ref name="Smythe Palmer" />Template:Rp

The Dutch word for 'hammock' is Template:Lang. It was borrowed from Spanish Template:Lang (ultimately from Arawak Template:Lang) and altered by comparison with Template:Lang and Template:Lang Template:Gloss. German Template:Lang shares this folk etymology.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Islambol, a folk etymology meaning 'Islam abounding', is one of the names of Istanbul used after the Ottoman conquest of 1453.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

An example from Persian is the word Template:Lang Template:Transliteration 'chess', which is derived from the Sanskrit Template:Lang Template:Transliteration ("four-army [game]"; 2nd century BCE), and after losing the u to syncope, became Template:Lang Template:Transliteration in Middle Persian (6th century CE). Today it is sometimes factorized as Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss + Template:Transliteration Template:Gloss, or Template:Gloss.<ref name="BurnellYule1996">Template:Cite book</ref>

Some Indonesian feminists discourage usage of the term wanita ('woman') and replacing it with perempuan, since wanita itself has misogynistic roots. First, in Javanese, wanita is a portmanteau of wani ditata (dare to be controlled), also, wanita is taken from Sanskrit Template:Lang Template:Transliteration (someone desired by men).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In Turkey, the political Democrat Party changed its logo in 2007 to a white horse in front of a red background because many voters folk-etymologized its Turkish name Template:Lang as Template:Lang Template:Gloss.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

See also

• Backronym
• Chinese word for "crisis"
• Eggcorn
• Etymological fallacy
• Expressive loan
• False etymology
• False friend
• Folk linguistics
• Hobson-Jobson
• Hypercorrection
• Hyperforeignism
• Johannes Goropius Becanus
• Nirukta
• Okay
• Phono-semantic matching
• Pseudoscientific language comparison
• Semantic change
• Slang dictionary
• Wiktionary list of back-formations
• Wiktionary list of rebracketings

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Anatoly Liberman (2005). Word Origins ... and How We Know Them: Etymology for Everyone. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.
• Adrian Room (1986). Dictionary of True Etymologies. Routledge & Kegan Paul. Template:ISBN.
• David Wilton (2004). Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends. Oxford University Press. Template:ISBN.