"cumberbund"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 2:12 PM, Chris Waigl <chris at lascribe.net> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:58:18 -0800, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> wrote:
> >
> > caught this (spoken) in an episode of Matlock.
> >
> > not in OED, NOAD2, or AHD4 as a variant of "cummerbund".  is in
> > Merriam-Webster Online as a variant (without further comment).  the
> > two spellings are listed as variants (with "cumberbund" first) in Q&A
> > Times.
> >
> > but the Wiktionary just labels "cumberbund" as a misspelling of
> > "cummerbund".  Brians doesn't mention it.
> >
> > plenty of sites treat "cumberbund" as the spelling.
>
> This is a very interesting one - a good example for folk etymology in
> German ((der) Kummer = sorrow, but that's not where it's derived from).
>
> Should definitely go into the ECDB illico presto.

But what makes it an eggcorn and not just a case of anticipatory assimilation?
Do people think they're encumbered by the article of clothing, or that it hails
from Cumberland?


--Ben Zimmer

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