Definition of Folk etymology

1. Noun. A popular but erroneous etymology.

Generic synonyms: Etymology

Definition of Folk etymology

1. Noun. A modification of a word resulting from a misunderstanding of its etymology, as with ''island'', ''belfry'', and ''hangnail''. ¹

2. Noun. Such a misunderstanding; a false etymology that incorrectly explains the origin of a word. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Folk Etymology

folk-etymologize
folk-etymologized
folk-etymologizes
folk-etymologizing
folk-rock
folk art
folk ballad
folk culture
folk dance
folk dancer
folk dances
folk dancing
folk devil
folk devils
folk etymologies
folk etymology
folk hero
folk house
folk medicine
folk music
folk poet
folk rock
folk singer
folk singers
folk song
folk songs
folk tale
folk writer
folker
folkers

Literary usage of Folk etymology

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Words and Their Ways in English Speech by James Bradstreet Greenough, George Lyman Kittredge (1901)
"CHAPTER XXIII FOLK-ETYMOLOGY SYSTEMATIC etymology is a high mystery, requiring of its initiates long and painful preparation, and cultivated by its adepts ..."

2. The American Naturalist by American Society of Naturalists, Essex Institute (1905)
"We refer to The Folk and their Word-Lore,' by A. Smythe Palmer (London, 1904), this being a companion work to the same author's folk-Etymology. ..."

3. Language in the Making: A Word Study by Wilhelmina M. Thoma (1922)
"The speakers of language are responsible for these changes in words, and hence this department of language is termed folk etymology, ..."

4. Names and Their Histories: A Handbook of Historical Geography and by Isaac Taylor (1898)
"The name Maranon has also given rise to a folk etymology. It is said that when Pinzón ... The Amazons of Greek fable also owe their name to folk etymology. ..."

5. The History of the English Language by Oliver Farrar Emerson (1894)
"Other examples of folk- etymology are frontispiece < OF. fronti-spice, which has nothing to do with piece; causeway < OF. ..."

6. A Brief History of the English Language by Oliver Farrar Emerson (1896)
"A common form of folk-etymology is that by which a new singular has been made from a noun which, ... Part of a word is often transformed by folk-etymology. ..."

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