folk-etymological

Example Sentences

• "In fact, it would seem that puerca is the folketymological form; […]"
• "Zafarambol (Zafranbolu, Safranbolu). The name has not been explained properly (Ramsay, HG 324, from Θεοδωρίαν πόλιν is impossible; Wittek, Byz. 10 [1935] 40 note 4: from (εἰ)ς Άδριανούπολιν with folketymological transformation is not convincing); […]"
• "In medical terminology, καταμήνια katamḗnia n.pl. 'menstruation' (derived from μήν mḗn 'month') was taken up by Oribasius latinus (6th c.) as cataminia with Middle Fr. catimini; the i of the latter reflected the folketymological influence of catir 'to hide', which also accounted for the semantic shift of the French idiom en catimini 'in secret'."
• "Their rejection, to a certain extent, of the role of nurturing mothers was symbolized by their searing of their right breasts, a practice justified by folk-etymological derivations of their name from a-privative and mazos, ‘breast’ (although the ostensible purpose of the searing was to facilitate bowmanship, and Amazons are often spoken of as rearing children)."
• "As Georges Van Den Abbeele has noted, the OED offers two etymologies: “the more philologically valid formation of the word from com + munis (that is, with the sense of being bound, obligated, or indebted together) and the more folk-etymological combination of com + unus (or what is together as one)” (xi)."
• "Those who deny the synchronic relevance of backformation would hold that backforming x from y is simply the folk-etymological assumption that x is the derivational source of y."