"etymological fallacy"

[T. Hakala]

Indeed, Bailey writes, "Attention to word origins, however,
produced what modern linguists call the etymological fallacy, the belief
that the true meaning of words lie in their roots" (143).

No mention of Mill, however.

Taryn Hakala

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This is the story of what a Woman's patience can endure, and what a Man's
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On Tue, 13 Aug 2002, Gordon, Matthew J. wrote:

> I'm pretty sure Dick Bailey discusses this fallacy (and uses this term) in his book on 19th Century English. I don't have it with me here to check whether he cites Mills.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:   Laurence Horn [mailto:laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
> Sent:   Tue 8/13/2002 8:08 PM
> To:     ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Cc:
> Subject:             Re: "etymological fallacy"
>
> At 8:25 PM -0400 8/13/02, Frank Abate wrote:
> >Larry H pointed out ... that Mill first mentioned this, and I'm sure
> >that's right.  Likely I heard it somewhere, liked it, and didn't realize the
> >source.
> >
> >In any case, the validity of the etymological fallacy applies, then and now.
>
> Equally likely, you independently invented the expression, as I did,
> and only later discovered, as I did, that J. S. Mill beat you to the
> punch by 125+ years.  (One advantage, or disadvantage, of teaching
> this stuff is to have students who use their "journals of linguistic
> awareness" to call one's attention to one's having been thus
> punch-beaten.)
>
> larry
>