False etymology
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A false etymology is an assumed or postulated etymology which is incorrect from the perspective of modern scholarly work in historical linguistics.
Erroneous etymologies can exist for many reasons. Some are simply outdated. There have been many serious attempts by scholars to propose an etymology based on the best information available at the time, and these can be later modified or rejected as linguistic scholarship advances. Medieval etymology, for example, was plausible given the insights available at the time, but it has 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scholars in the early modern period began to produce more reliable results, but many of their hypotheses have been superseded. Even today, knowledge in the field advances so rapidly that many of the etymologies in contemporary dictionaries are outdated.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 Dominicanes 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.
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, 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; the width of adult male thumb is roughly one inch. 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. [1] Interestingly enough, the phrase "rule of thumb" is known in Finland (which is a Metric country) as "nyrkkisääntö" (rule of fist); the width of adult male fist is roughly ten centimeters). Certain feminists have interpreted this to mean that a man had been legally allowed to beat his wife with his fists but not with a weapon.
In the United States, many of these scandalous legends have had to do with racism and slavery. Common words such as picnic [2], buck [3], and crowbar [4] 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 US public official because it sounded similar to the word nigger.
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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.) It should be noted, however, that strictly the term “folk etymology” refers 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.
Examples
- 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 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 are false for a number of reasons: 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, the practice of adopting acronyms into everyday language (such as yuppie, nimbyism, radar and sonar) was not common practice until the 20th century, and "fuck" derives unambiguously from Old English.
- "Fuck you/The finger" 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 had their bow fingers amputated, since at that time the longbow was a devastating weapon and would have given a great advantage to the English. The unaffected archers could taunt the enemy by raising their middle fingers to show they were still intact and the archers could still effectively "pluck yew." This is, however, an untrue story.
(See the origins of the V sign for the real story.)
- "Pommy", an Australian slang term for a person of British descent or origin. The true origins of the term remain obscure, but a common legend states 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"). This term was supposedly used on documentation accompanying English convicts transported to Australia.
- Gringo. A recurring fake etymology for the derivation of gringo states that it originated during the Mexican-American War of 1846-48. It has been claimed that Gringo comes from "green go" and used in reference to the American soldiers and the color of their uniforms. This is an example of an invented explanation, because gringo was used in Spanish long before the war and during the Mexican-American War, the US Army did not use green uniforms, but blue ones. Another legend maintains that one of two songs – either "Green Grow the Lilacs" or "Green Grow the Rushes, O" – was popular at the time, and that Mexicans heard the invading US troops singing "Green grow..." and contracted this into gringo.
- Canada. There is a story that it was actually the Spanish who first discovered Canada, but in winter. Upon fixing a telescope on the frozen land, and being asked what he saw, one explorer, not wanting to make landfall, replied 'Acá nada' (loosely: "There's nothing here").
- S.H.I.T. (for shit). A legend claims that the origin of the term "shit" traces back to the farming industry. Dried manure was transported via ship. Often times it would be shipped in the lowest holds of the ship, as the remote sections were ideal for concealing the smell. However, as wooden boats were prone to minor leakage, the manure would become damp and begin expelling methane. On occasion, this methane buildup was exploded when deck hands went into the holds with lit lanterns. Once it was determined what caused the accidents, all manure packages going on ships were required to be labelled "Ship High In Transit", later abbreviated to S.H.I.T.
- G.O.L.F. (for golf). Sometimes thought to be an acronym for "Gentlemen Only; Ladies Forbidden". However, the word golf is over 500 years old. In the oldest Scottish writings, the word was spelled in various ways (e.g. gouff, goiff, goffe, goff, gowff, and golph). The acronym cannot be formed with any of those spellings, and, furthermore, the development of the acronym in the English language is a 20th century phenomenon, perhaps a backronym.
- The word news is often thought 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.).
- P.O.S.H. (for posh). Thought to stand for "Port Out, Starboard Home." On a ship sailing from Britain to India, cabins on the port (left) side receive less sun than those on the starboard (right) side, and on the return trip the opposite is true.
- "Welsh Rarebit." This is supposedly the original spelling of the British cheese-on-toast snack, pronounced and normally spelled 'Welsh rabbit." Presumably, the original spelling indicated that the snack was 'rare' in the sense of undercooked or only eaten on occasion.
- deduced reckoning (for dead reckoning)
Eponyms
Here are some words which are commonly thought to be eponyms, but are not:
- Crap – Earl Crapper (The flush toilet was indeed popularised to a large extent and improved, but not invented, by an Englishman named Thomas Crapper, though the coincidence of his surname is, sadly for some, only that - a coincidence. The slang term 'crap' for faeces, or to defecate, was in common use long before his time).
- the word nasty – Thomas Nast [5]