This article is about derivational-only popular etymology. For generative popular etymology, 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] Many recent examples are "backronyms" (acronyms made up to explain a term), such as posh for "port outward, starboard homeward".
^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.
^Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2003). Language Contact and Lexical Enrichment in Israeli Hebrew. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1403917232.
^"nouns – Etymology of "snob"". English Language & Usage Stack Exchange. Retrieved 2013-08-26.
^"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.
A falseetymology (fake etymology or pseudo-etymology) is a false theory about the origin or derivation of a specific word or phrase. When a false etymology...
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...
meaning False cognate – Words that look or sound alike, but are not related Falseetymology – Popular, but false belief about word origins Folk etymology –...
intended to be exhaustive. This is a list of common contemporary falseetymologies for English words. Crap: The word "crap" did not originate as a back-formation...
refer to the younger Italian male immigrants arriving in America. One falseetymology or backronym of wop is that it is an acronym for "without passport"...
translation Etymological fallacy False cognate Falseetymology Folk etymology Linguistic interference (language transfer) List of Chinese–Japanese false friends...
False cognates are pairs of words that seem to be cognates because of similar sounds and meaning, but have different etymologies; they can be within the...
reply as the show ran out of time. Spoonerisms are used sometimes in falseetymologies. For example, according to linguist Ghil'ad Zuckermann, some wrongly...
either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of falseetymology or folk etymology. The word is a portmanteau of back and acronym. A normal acronym...
examples List of common falseetymologies of English words The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology A Dictionary of English Etymology This disambiguation...
Jaromír, Jaromir, Jaroměr is a Slavic male given name. Jaromír is a West Slavic given name composed of two stems jaro and mír. The meaning is not definite:...
sāam báan (三板), literally "three planks", but this is likely to be a falseetymology. A possible Austronesian origin of the word has been suggested, as...
but falseetymology is that it refers to men who stood outside courthouses with a straw in their shoe to signal their willingness to be a false witness...
the term evolved to become aloyau or faux-filet. An often quoted falseetymology suggests that sirloin comes from the knighting by an English king (various...
"blockhead". An ancient falseetymology derives κοάλεμος from κοέω (koeō) "perceive" and ἡλεός (ēleos) "distraught, crazed". This etymology is not established...
broadened to include any Roman Catholic. A colloquial but possibly falseetymology also attributes the origin of the anti-Irish slur to the prevalence...
late period the Greeks made [Pan] the incarnation of All (giving a falseetymology to his name, which is really connected with the pastures), that is...
wrench's jaws to that of a monkey's face, and that the many convoluted folk etymologies that later developed were baseless. Before the Bahco/Johansson/Crescent...
descends from the construction "then anes" ("the one [purpose]"). A falseetymology claiming it to mean "number used once" is incorrect. In Britain the...
the 18th and 19th centuries. This etymology is considered false by modern Celtic linguists, who follow the etymology proposed by Johann Kaspar Zeuss in...
modified in the 15th century because of a falseetymology caused by an incorrect association with the etymologically unrelated Old French loanword isle, which...
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