folk etymology

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word folk etymology. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word folk etymology, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say folk etymology in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word folk etymology you have here. The definition of the word folk etymology will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition offolk etymology, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

English from the 1880s (Abram Smythe Palmer, 1882), a calque of German Volksetymologie (1820s, in 1821 as Volks-Etymologie in J. A. Schmeller's Die Mundarten Bayerns grammatisch dargestellt).

Noun

folk etymology (countable and uncountable, plural folk etymologies)

  1. A misunderstanding of the etymology of a word based on an inexpert analysis; an etymology that incorrectly explains the origin of a word based on the inadequate judgement of a common speaker of the language instead of etymological expertise.
    Synonyms: fake etymology, false etymology, pseudoetymology, paraetymology, paretymology
    Many English folk etymologies involve backronyms.
    • 1926, James A.H. Murray, A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, volume X, part I, page 248, column 1:
      It is not improbable that, in some locality where tram-roads were a novelty, their name may have been associated in folk-etymology or by pre-scientific etymologers with that of the engineer.
    • 1986, Robert Richardson, Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind, Berkeley: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 237:
      He even sharked up a false or "folk" etymology in which saunter is made to derive from sainte terre, making the saunterer a crusader.
    • 2006, Shaligram Shukla, Jeff Connor-Linton, “Language change”, in Ralph Fasold, Jeff Connor-Linton, editors, An Introduction to Language and Linguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 296:
      Thus hamburger (whose true etymology is 'city of Hamburg' + er 'someone from') has been reanalyzed as ham + burger 'burger made with ham.' [...] Subsequently, on the analogy of this folk etymology, new forms such as cheeseburger, chiliburger, and plain burger have been created.
  2. A modification of a word or its spelling resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with island, belfry, and hangnail.
    • 1882, Abram Smythe Palmer, Folk-etymology: A Dictionary of Verbal Corruptions, London: George Bell, →OCLC, page 654:
      SURCEASE owes its form and meaning to a remarkable folk-etymology, as has been pointed out by Prof. Skeat:—"It is obvious, from the usual spelling, that this word is popularly supposed to be allied with cease, with which it has no etymological connexion."
    Synonym: popular etymology

Related terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

See also