emirati

[Mark Mandel]

Yes, I had reanalyzed it on the model of "khanate" and "episcopate".

So... are there any other loan words that have undergone such, as it were,
vacuous reanalysis (as in "vacuous rule application" in generative grammar,
i.e., the rule applies but does not change the form)?

m a m

On Sat, Mar 8, 2008 at 11:15 PM, Herb Stahlke <hfwstahlke at gmail.com> wrote:

> Ben,
>
> I have no doubt that you are right that the term is native Arabic, not a
> loanword.  However, the OED at least leaves open the possibility that the
> English word "emirate" would have been reanalyzed by English speakers on
> the
> analogy of "professorate" and "episcopate."  It is this, I think that led
> both Mark and me to see "Emirati" as an odd form, he initially as a typo
> for
> "emeriti" and I as an English derived noun with an Arabic suffix turning
> up
> as the name citizens of an Arabic-speaking nation call themselves.   We
> were
> both on the wrong track, but I'm still inclined to think it's been
> reanalyzed in English.
>
> Herb
>
>

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