"Drouth"

[Charles Doyle]

Perhaps loan words and falsely-etymologized expressions constitute special categories. Does the pronunciation of "chaise-longue" as "chaise-lounge" (usually called, simply, a "folk etymology") result from a misspelling of the word in the mind's eye (with the "n" and the "u" transposed)?

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 15:51:25 -0400
>From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>

>At 3:19 PM -0500 11/7/07, Charles Doyle wrote:

>>I believe Larry is speaking historically: Until the 16th century, "autor" or "autour" was the normal spelling, presumably representing the standard English pronunciation. Sometime in the 15th century, Frenchmen started spelling the word "authour," which would (probably) represent the same pronunciation as "autour." However, when the French (mis?-)spelling "authour" made its way to England, Englishmen began pronouncing the word with an unhistorical [T] or theta.
>
>exactly

>
>>Similarly with the proper name "Anthony" . . .
>

>with the added fillip (as oppose to Phillip) that it was evidently assumed that the name derived from the Greek "anthos" 'flower', as in "anthology"--but not as in "Ant(h)ony".
>
>Larry

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