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Definition of Folk etymology
1. Noun. A popular but erroneous 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
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. ..."
Other Resources:
