False_etymology

A false etymology is an assumed or postulated etymology that is incorrect from the perspective of modern scholarly work in historical linguistics.

Erroneous etymologies can exist for many reasons. Some are simply outdated. 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 mostly 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scholars in the early modern period began to produce more reliable results, but many of their hypotheses have been superseded. Even today, knowledge in the field advances so rapidly that many of the etymologies in contemporary dictionaries are outdated.

Incorrect etymologies have sometimes been created for purposes of propaganda. The opponents of the medieval Dominicans joked that Dominicani was derived from domini canes ("God\'s dogs"). A more malicious example was the derivation of Slav from slave, which was used by the Nazis as a pseudo-linguistic justification for some of their atrocities against Slavs.^{[citation needed]} The association of the two words did not originate with the Nazis, however. Although there is some dispute on the matter, most authorities (e.g., the OED, Duden, Merriam-Webster) derive slave from Slav, an etymology that reflects the predominance of Slavic victims in the medieval slave-trade. The use of Wealh in Old English to mean both "Welshman" and "serf" is similar.Webster\'s Dictionary online.

People sometimes create etymologies to make a political point. The feminist who "etymologised" history as his story and proposed herstory as an antidote was not serious about the linguistics of the matter,^{[citation needed]} but she was entirely serious about the gender-political point (male domination of history). The term womanipulate for manipulate as man-ipulate (actually Latin manipulare, "to handle", from manus, "hand") was created in the same way.

Some etymologies are part of urban legends, many of which allege a scandalous origin for a common and innocent word. One common example has to do with the phrase rule of thumb, meaning a rough measurement. 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 (though no such law ever existed).World Wide Words etymology of "rule of thumb" Interestingly, the phrase "rule of thumb" is known in Finland (which is a Metric country) as "nyrkkisääntö" (rule of fist); the width of an adult male\'s fist is roughly ten centimeters.

In the United States, many of these scandalous legends have had to do with racism and slavery. Common words such as picnic,Urban Legends reference pages on supposed etymology of picnic buck,Urban Legends reference pages on supposed etymology of buck and crowbarUrban Legends reference pages on supposed origin of crowbar 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 niggardly led to the resignation of a U.S. public official because it sounded similar to the word nigger, despite the two words being unrelated etymologically.Article on the etymology of the word niggardly

Another false etymology claims that the term cracker dates back to slavery in the antebellum South. This is based on tales of overseers using bullwhips to discipline African slaves, with the sound of the whip described as "cracking". However, there is no evidence of this usage prior to the 20th-century, suggesting this is a neologism created through cultural assumptions. The term actually has much older origins in the British Isles, based on a term for braggarts.Etymology of the word crackerArticle on false etymology of the word cracker

Folk etymology

Main article: Folk etymology

"Folk etymology" or "popular etymology" is an established term for a false etymology which grows up anonymously in popular lore. A modern folk etymology may be thought of as a linguistic urban legend, but folk etymologies can be very old and even establish themselves as accepted fact among scholars.

Folk etymology becomes interesting when it feeds back into the development of the word and thus becomes a part of the true etymology. Because a population wrongly believes a word to have a certain origin, they begin to pronounce or use the word in a manner appropriate to that perceived origin, in a kind of misplaced pedantry. Thus a new standard form of the word appears which has been influenced by the misconception. In such cases it is often said that the form of the word has been "altered by folk etymology". (Less commonly, but found in the etymological sections of the OED, one might read that the word was altered by pseudo-etymology, or false etymology.) However, the term "folk etymology" refers strictly to the misconception which triggered the change, not to the process of change itself, which is best thought of as an example of linguistic analogy. Most examples can be classified as acronyms, anecdotes, or auditory.

Influence on spelling

Over the course of time, many words have been altered in order to better reflect false Latin or Greek etymologies. Island (previously iland) and ptarmigan (previously tarmigan) are two such words. See English spelling reform—successes in spelling complication. For more examples see Folk etymology.

Examples

Acronyms

• F.U.C.K. (for fuck). There is an urban legend which states that the term "fuck" originated as an acronym, standing for "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". According to this etymology, adulterers in medieval England would be charged with the crime of unlawful carnal knowledge. After a while the charge was shortened on the charge sheet to "F.U.C.K.", and so the term came to mean the act of adultery. There are a number of variations on this theme—the same acronym, it is claimed, was posted on stocks where adulterers were publicly humiliated. Another variation suggests that F.U.C.K stands for "Fornication Under Consent of the King", a phrase supposedly posted on the doors of those persons permitted to reproduce at a time of medieval population control or to indicate that a brothel had paid its tax and was licensed to operate. These etymologies can be shown to be false for a number of reasons, not least historical inaccuracy: the "population control" theory neglects the fact that at the time in question, fornication referred only to the sin of sex outside marriage, and would not have been used to refer to acts between married partners. Moreover, the practice of adopting acronyms and the like into everyday language (such as yuppie, nimbyism, scuba, radar and sonar) was not common practice until the 20th century. "Fuck" in fact entered Middle English from another Germanic source, most likely Scandinavian.
• "G.O.L.F (For golf) This false etymology states that Golf originated as an acronym for "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden."Urban Legends Reference Pages: Golf: Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden?
• Many medical students falsely believe that the word coma originates from Cessation Of Motor Activity. Although this describes—fairly accurately—the condition of coma, this is not the true derivation, and should be regarded as a mnemonic rather than an etymology.
• "Pom" or "Pommy", an Australian English, New Zealand English and South African English term for a person of British descent or origin. The exact origins of the term remain obscure (see here for further information.). A legend persists that the term arises from the acronym P.O.M.E., for "Prisoner of Mother England" (or P.O.H.M, "Prisoners Of His/Her Majesty") although there is no evidence to support this fact.
• S.H.I.T. According to legend, the word "shit" is derived from the practice of Chicago stock yards, which shipped bales of manure down river on barges. Since manure begins to break down and stink when wet, the bales were tagged S.H.I.T., meaning "Ship High in Transit", to keep them high up on the barge where they would not get wet. In fact, the word "shit" is of old Germanic derivation, and the same root is found in modern German "scheisse".
• The word news has been claimed to be an acronym of the four cardinal directions: (North, East, West, and South). However, old spellings of the word varied widely (e.g., newesse, newis, nevis, neus, newys, niewes, newis, nues, etc.). Additionally, an identical term exists in French, "les nouvelles" which translates as the plural of "the new". The word "news" is simply a plural form of new.
• T.I.P. for "tip" (in the sense of a gratuity for a waiter), alleged to stand for "to insure promptness". In fact, it is originally from thieves\' cant.
• The cacophemism "wog", for a foreigner or coloured person, is sometimes believed to be an acronym for "wily Oriental gentleman". It is more likely to be a shortening of "golliwog".
• The ethnic slur wop for Italian emigrants is not an acronym of With Out Papers, but derives from guappo (dude or thug).
• There is no evidence that posh was ever an acronym for wealthy British passengers getting "Port Out, Starboard Home" cabins on ocean liners to India, in order to get ocean breeze.

Eponyms

Some words which are commonly thought to be eponyms, but are not:

• The word crap, after Earl (or Thomas) Crapper. The flush toilet was indeed popularised to a large extent and improved — though not invented — by an Englishman named Thomas Crapper, but the coincidence of his surname is only that — a coincidence. The slang term crap meaning faeces or defecate was in common use long before his time and can be traced back to Old English crappe meaning residue from rendered fat, and can even be traced as far back as Middle Latin to crappa.
• The word nasty, after Thomas Nast and his biting, vitriolic cartoons. The word predates Nast by several centuries and may be related to the Dutch word nestig, or "dirty".About.com article on etymology of "nasty"

Others

• "Fuck you/V sign" This folk etymology centers on archers who had their middle fingers removed in medieval times to keep them from properly aiming their arrows. English longbow archers caught by the enemy at Agincourt supposedly would have had their bow fingers amputated, since at that time the longbow was a devastating weapon and gave a great tactical advantage to the English. The unaffected archers could taunt the enemy by raising their index and middle fingers to show they were still intact and that the archers could still effectively "pluck yew". However, this story is untrue. (See the origins of the V sign for further discussion.)
• Lanzarote. A popular story claims that the conqueror Jean de Bethencourt was so impressed with the peaceful nature of the island\'s inhabitants that he broke his lance in half. The name supposedly derives from lanza rota (broken lance). This story is unlikely, the island is probably named after the 13th century trader Lancelotto Malocello.
• "Hiccough", a spelling still occasionally encountered for hiccup, originates in an assumption that the second syllable was originally cough. The word is in fact onomatopoeic in origin.
• "Welsh Rarebit" has been claimed to be the original spelling of the savoury dish \'Welsh rabbit\'. Both forms now have currency, though the form with rabbit is in fact the original. Furthermore, the word \'Welsh\' in this context was used by the English as a slur, meaning foreign, as with French letter, and does not indicate that the dish originated in Wales.Oxford English Dictionary
• "scissors": the spelling reflects a belief that the word comes from Latin scindere (to tear); in fact the word is derived from Old French cisors (current French ciseaux), which comes from Latin caedere (to cut)
• "sincere" is often believed to come from sine cera, without wax. In fact it is almost certainly from the Latin roots sim-/sin- (as in "simplicity", "single") and cre- (as in cresco, grow), with the implication "of a single growth"
• "innocent": often wrongly believed to have the original meaning of "not knowing", as if it came from Latin noscere (to know); in fact it comes from nocere (to harm), so the primary sense is "harmless"
• "marmalade": there is an apocryphal story that Mary Queen of Scots ate it when she had a headache, and that the name is derived from her maids\' whisper of "Marie est malade" (Mary is ill). In fact it is derived from Portuguese marmelo, a quince, and then expanded from quince jam to orange mermalada (Spanish), all kinds of jam (in German) and to citrus or ginger jam (in English).
• "sirloin": an equally apocryphal story features an English king (usually identified as Charles II) conferring knighthood on a beef roast, saying "Rise, Sir Loin!" Alas, the name merely means the top of the loin (from French sur, on or above).
• "average": a term used for damage sustained at sea (the arithmetical meaning came later). Popularly believed to be derived from a tax on goods (Law French "avers", goods, plus the -age ending). In fact it is derived, via French avarie, from Arabic awar, meaning marine damage.
• "adamant": often believed to come from Latin adamare, meaning to love to excess. In fact derived from Greek αδαμας, meaning indomitable. There was a further confusion about whether the substance referred to is diamond or lodestone.
• "pumpernickel" is said to have been given the name by a French man (sometimes Napoleon) referring to his horse, Nicole—"Il était bon pour Nicole" ("It\'s good enough for Nicole"), or "C\'est une pomme pour Nicole" ("it\'s an apple for Nicole"). Some dictionaries claim a derivation from the German vernacular Pumpen (fart) and "Nick" (demon or devil) though others disagree.http://www.snopes2.com/language/stories/pumper.htm
• "Sword" did not come from "God\'s word" (\'sword) as a minced oath (in the same way that \'sblood is "God\'s blood"). This confusion could come from the fact that God\'s word in the bible is said to be "sharper than any two-edged sword", and would hence relate to the Christian origins of many English words.

See also

• Backronym
• Back-formation
• Chinese Translation of Crisis
• Johannes Goropius Becanus
• Okay
• Pseudoscientific language comparison
• Slang dictionary

Further reading

• Word Myths: Debunking Linguistic Urban Legends (by David Wilton, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0195172841)

References

External links

• Common errors in popular Etymology (wordorigins.org)
• "Spook etymology on the Internet" by Richard Lederer

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