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{{short description|Popularly held but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word}}
{{Short description|Popular, but false belief about word origins}}
{{About|false theories of word origins|word change through popular usage|folk etymology}}
{{Confuse|Folk etymology}}
A '''false etymology''' ('''fake etymology''' or '''pseudo-etymology''') is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a [[folk etymology]] (or popular etymology).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rundblad |first1=Gabriella |last2=Kronenfeld |first2=David B. |date=2003-01-01 |title=The inevitability of folk etymology: a case of collective reality and invisible hands |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378216602000590 |journal=Journal of Pragmatics |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=119–138 |doi=10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00059-0 |issn=0378-2166}}</ref> Nevertheless, folk/popular etymology may also refer to the process by which a word or phrase is changed because of a popular false etymology. 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">{{cite book |last=Zuckermann |first=Ghil'ad |url=http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781403917232 |title=Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2003 |isbn=978-1403917232 |author-link=Ghil'ad Zuckermann}}</ref>
A '''false etymology''' ('''popular etymology''', '''etymythology''',<ref name="Zuckerman2003">{{cite book |last=[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann|Zuckermann]] |first=Ghil'ad |year=2003 |url=http://www.palgrave.com/br/book/9781403917232 |title=Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |isbn=978-1403917232}}</ref> '''pseudo-etymology''', or '''par(a)etymology'''), sometimes called '''folk etymology''' – although the last term is also [[folk etymology|a technical term in linguistics]] – is a popularly held but false belief about the origin or derivation of a specific word.


Such [[etymology|etymologies]] often have the feel of [[urban legend]]s, and can be much more colorful and fanciful than the typical etymologies found in dictionaries, often involving stories of unusual practices in particular subcultures (e.g. Oxford students from non-noble families being supposedly forced to write ''sine nobilitate'' by their name, soon abbreviated to ''s.nob.'', hence the word ''[[Wikt:snob|snob]]'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/22147/etymology-of-snob |title=nouns – Etymology of "snob" – English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |publisher=English.stackexchange.com |date= |accessdate=2013-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-snob |title=What is the origin of the word 'snob'? – Oxford Dictionaries Online |publisher=Oxforddictionaries.com |date=2013-08-21 |accessdate=2013-08-26}}</ref> Many recent examples are "backronyms" ([[acronym]]s made up to explain a term), as in ''snob'', and ''posh'' for "port outward, starboard homeward"; many other sourced examples are listed in the article on [[backronym]]s.
Such [[etymology|etymologies]] often have the feel of [[urban legend]]s and can be more colorful and fanciful than the typical etymologies found in dictionaries, often involving stories of unusual practices in particular subcultures (e.g. Oxford students from non-noble families being supposedly forced to write ''sine nobilitate'' by their name, soon abbreviated to ''s.nob.'', hence the word ''[[Wikt:snob|snob]]'').<ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/22147/etymology-of-snob |title=nouns – Etymology of "snob" |publisher=English Language & Usage Stack Exchange |access-date=2013-08-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-snob |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230013936/http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-snob |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 30, 2011 |title=What is the origin of the word 'snob'? |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries Online |date=2013-08-21 |access-date=2013-08-26}}</ref>


==Source and influence of false etymologies==
==Source and influence==
Erroneous etymologies can exist for many reasons. Some are reasonable interpretations of the evidence that happen to be false. For a given word there may often have been many serious attempts by scholars to propose etymologies based on the best information available at the time, and these can be later modified or rejected as linguistic scholarship advances. The results of [[medieval etymology]], for example, were plausible given the insights available at the time, but have often been rejected by modern linguists. The etymologies of [[Humanism|humanist]] scholars in the early modern period began to produce more reliable results, but many of their hypotheses have also been superseded.
Erroneous etymologies can exist for many reasons. Some are reasonable interpretations of the evidence that happen to be false. For a given word there may often have been many serious attempts by scholars to propose etymologies based on the best information available at the time, and these can be later modified or rejected as linguistic scholarship advances. The results of [[medieval etymology]], for example, were plausible given the insights available at the time, but have often been rejected by modern linguists. The etymologies of [[Humanism|humanist]] scholars in the early modern period began to produce more reliable results, but many of their hypotheses have also been superseded.


Other false etymologies are the result of specious and untrustworthy claims made by individuals, such as the unfounded claims made by [[Daniel Cassidy]] that hundreds of common English words such as ''[[wikt:baloney|baloney]]'', ''[[wikt:grumble|grumble]]'', and ''[[wikt:bunkum|bunkum]]'' derive from the [[Irish language]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Zwicky |first=Arnold |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005098.html |title=Language Log: Gullibility in high places |publisher=Itre.cis.upenn.edu |date=2007-11-09 |accessdate=2015-07-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Liberman |first=Mark |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003326.html |title=Language Log: The bunkum of "The Bunkum of Bunkum"? |publisher=Itre.cis.upenn.edu |date=2006-07-06 |accessdate=2015-07-12}}</ref>
Other false etymologies are the result of specious and untrustworthy claims made by individuals, such as the unfounded claims made by [[Daniel Cassidy]] that hundreds of common English words such as ''[[wikt:baloney|baloney]]'', ''[[wikt:grumble|grumble]]'', and ''[[wikt:bunkum|bunkum]]'' derive from the [[Irish language]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Zwicky |first=Arnold |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005098.html |title=Language Log: Gullibility in high places |publisher=Itre.cis.upenn.edu |date=2007-11-09 |access-date=2015-07-12}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Liberman |first=Mark |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003326.html |title=Language Log: The bunkum of 'The Bunkum of Bunkum'? |publisher=Itre.cis.upenn.edu |date=2006-07-06 |access-date=2015-07-12}}</ref>


⚫
In the United States, some of these scandalous legends have had to do with [[racism]] and [[slavery]]; common words such as ''picnic'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/picnic.htm |title=Picnic Pique |website=Snopes.com |access-date=5 March 2018|date=21 January 2017|last= Mikkelson|first =David}}</ref> ''buck'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/buck.htm |title=Etymology on the phrase 'passing the buck' |website=Snopes.com |date=22 December 2013 |access-date=2015-07-12}}</ref> and ''crowbar''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/crowbar.asp |title=Etymology of Crowbar |website=Snopes.com |date=14 December 2008 |access-date=2015-07-12}}</ref> have been alleged to stem from derogatory terms or racist practices.
==Association with urban legends==
Some etymologies are part of [[urban legend]]s, and seem to respond to a general taste for the surprising, counter-intuitive and even scandalous. One common example has to do with the phrase ''[[rule of thumb]]'', meaning "a rough guideline". An urban legend has it that the phrase refers to an old English law under which a man could legally beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb.<ref name=thumb>{{cite web|url=http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-rul1.htm |title=World Wide Words: Rule of thumb |publisher=Quinion.com |date=1999-11-13 |accessdate=2015-07-12}}</ref>{{efn|Centuries ago, under common law a man might chastise his wife in moderation, as he might a servant or child. In 1782 Judge [[Sir Francis Buller, 1st Baronet|Sir Francis Buller]] appears to have codified this as a thin stick: chastisement compared to bludgeoning.<ref name=thumb />}}

⚫
In the [[United States]], some of these scandalous legends have had to do with [[racism]] and [[slavery]]; common words such as ''picnic'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/picnic.htm |title=Picnic Pique |publisher=Snopes.com |accessdate=5 March 2018|date=21 January 2017|last= Mikkelson|first =David}}</ref> ''buck'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/buck.htm |title=Etymology on the phrase 'passing the buck' |publisher=Snopes.com |accessdate=2015-07-12}}</ref> and ''crowbar''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/crowbar.asp |title=Etymology of Crowbar |publisher=Snopes.com |date= |accessdate=2015-07-12}}</ref> have been alleged to stem from derogatory terms or racist practices. The "discovery" of these alleged etymologies is often believed by those who circulate them to draw attention to racist attitudes embedded in ordinary discourse. On one occasion, the use of the word ''[[Controversies about the word "niggardly"|niggardly]]'' led to the resignation of a US public official because it sounded similar to the unrelated word ''[[nigger]]''.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mniggard.html |title=Is "niggardly" a racist word? |publisher=The Straight Dope |date=2000-01-03 |accessdate=2015-07-12}}</ref>

==Derivational-Only Popular Etymology (DOPE) versus Generative Popular Etymology (GPE)==

[[Ghil'ad Zuckermann]] proposes a clear-cut distinction between '''Derivational-Only Popular Etymology (DOPE)''' and '''Generative Popular Etymology (GPE)''':<ref name="Zuckerman2003"/>

* "DOPE consists of etymological reanalysis of a pre-existent lexical item [...] The DOPE producer is applying his/her '''Apollonian Tendency''', the wish to describe and create order, especially with unfamiliar information or new experience [...], the craving for meaningfulness."<ref name="Zuckerman2003"/> DOPE is "merely passive", "mistaken derivation, where there is a rationalization ''ex postfacto''."<ref name="Zuckerman2003"/>
* GPE, on the other hand, involves the introduction of a new sense (meaning) or a new lexical item – see, for example, [[Phono-semantic matching]].


==See also==
==See also==
Line 29: Line 19:
*[[Bongo-Bongo (linguistics)]]
*[[Bongo-Bongo (linguistics)]]
*[[Chinese word for "crisis"]]
*[[Chinese word for "crisis"]]
*[[Daniel Cassidy]]
*[[Eggcorn]]
*[[Eggcorn]]
*[[Etymological fallacy]]
*[[Etymological fallacy]]
*[[False cognate]]
*[[False cognate]]
*[[False friend]]
*[[False friend]]
*[[Folk etymology]]
*[[Just-so story]]
*[[Linguistic interference]]
*[[Johannes Goropius Becanus]]
*[[List of proposed etymologies of OK]]
*[[Medieval etymology]]
*[[OK]]
*[[Phonestheme]]
*[[Phonestheme]]
*[[Phono-semantic matching]]
*[[Phono-semantic matching]]
*[[Pseudoscientific language comparison]]
*[[Pseudoscientific language comparison]]
*[[Semantic change]]
*[[Semantic change]]
*[[Slang dictionary]]
{{div col end}}
{{div col end}}


==External links==
==Notes==
⚫
{{notelist}}
⚫
* Richard Lederer, [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0203/lederer022003.asp ''Spook Etymology on the Internet'']
⚫
* [http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fallacy.html Popular Fallacies – the Nonsense Nine]


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}


==Notes==
==External links==
⚫
* Richard Lederer, [http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0203/lederer022003.asp ''Spook Etymology on the Internet'']
⚫
{{notelist}}
⚫
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080807180001/http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fallacy.html Popular Fallacies – the Nonsense Nine]


[[Category:Etymology]]
[[Category:Etymology]]
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[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]
[[Category:Urban legends]]
⚫
[[Category:Pseudo-scholarship]]
[[Category:Misconceptions]]
[[Category:Misconceptions]]
[[Category:Pseudolinguistics]]
[[Category:Pseudolinguistics]]
⚫
[[Category:Semantic relations]]


[[es:Etimología popular]]
[[it:Paretimologia#Paretimologia in senso lato]]
[[it:Paretimologia#Paretimologia in senso lato]]
[[pt:Etimologia popular]]
[[pt:Etimologia popular]]

Revision as of 05:23, 31 July 2024

This article is about false theories of word origins. For word change through popular usage, see folk etymology.

A false etymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology becomes a popular belief in a cultural/linguistic community, it is a folk etymology (or popular etymology).[1] Nevertheless, folk/popular etymology may also refer to the process by which a word or phrase is changed because of a popular false etymology. 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.[2]

Such etymologies often have the feel of urban legends and can be more colorful and fanciful than the typical etymologies found in dictionaries, often involving stories of unusual practices in particular subcultures (e.g. Oxford students from non-noble families being supposedly forced to write sine nobilitate by their name, soon abbreviated to s.nob., hence the word snob).[3][4]

Source and influence

Erroneous etymologies can exist for many reasons. Some are reasonable interpretations of the evidence that happen to be false. For a given word there may often have been many serious attempts by scholars to propose etymologies based on the best information available at the time, and these can be later modified or rejected as linguistic scholarship advances. The results of medieval etymology, for example, were plausible given the insights available at the time, but have often been rejected by modern linguists. The etymologies of humanist scholars in the early modern period began to produce more reliable results, but many of their hypotheses have also been superseded.

Other false etymologies are the result of specious and untrustworthy claims made by individuals, such as the unfounded claims made by Daniel Cassidy that hundreds of common English words such as baloney, grumble, and bunkum derive from the Irish language.[5][6]

In the United States, some of these scandalous legends have had to do with racism and slavery; common words such as picnic,[7] buck,[8] and crowbar[9] have been alleged to stem from derogatory terms or racist practices.

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ Rundblad, Gabriella; Kronenfeld, David B. (2003-01-01). "The inevitability of folk etymology: a case of collective reality and invisible hands". Journal of Pragmatics. 35 (1): 119–138. doi:10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00059-0. ISSN 0378-2166.
  2. ^ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1403917232.
  3. ^ "nouns – Etymology of "snob"". English Language & Usage Stack Exchange. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
  4. ^ "What is the origin of the word 'snob'?". Oxford Dictionaries Online. 2013-08-21. Archived from the original on December 30, 2011. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
  5. ^ Zwicky, Arnold (2007-11-09). "Language Log: Gullibility in high places". Itre.cis.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
  6. ^ Liberman, Mark (2006-07-06). "Language Log: The bunkum of 'The Bunkum of Bunkum'?". Itre.cis.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
  7. ^ Mikkelson, David (21 January 2017). "Picnic Pique". Snopes.com. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Etymology on the phrase 'passing the buck'". Snopes.com. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
  9. ^ "Etymology of Crowbar". Snopes.com. 14 December 2008. Retrieved 2015-07-12.
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