[Ads-l] Antedating of "Folk-Etymology"

[Laurence Horn]

Curious that the OED entry (“the popular perversion [!] of the form of words in order to render it apparently significant”) doesn’t mention that “folk-etymology” (with the telltale hyphen) in these early cites is a calque from the much earlier (1850s) German _Volksetymologie_.

LH 

> On Jan 15, 2024, at 8:14 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Not going as far back but a whole volume on folk etymology:
> https://books.google.com/books?id=YX5BAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22folk+etymology%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRy5Wc2-CDAxWHEVkFHSZiAvwQuwV6BAgNEAc#v=onepage&q=%22folk%20etymology%22&f=false
> Folk-etymology. A Dictionary of Verbal Corruption of Words Perverted in
> Form or Meaning, by False Derivation or Mistaken Analogy
> By Rev. A. Smythe Palmer
> London: George Bell & Sons, 1882
> 
> On Mon, Jan 15, 2024, 16:54 Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      Antedating of "Folk-Etymology"
>> 
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> folk-etymology (OED 1883)
>> 
>> 1874 _Saturday Review_ 21 Nov. 675/1 (ProQuest)  According to a similr
>> kind=
>> of "folk-etymology" many names of places have been wrongly referred to
>> ali=
>> en sources.
>> 
>> Fred Shapiro
>> 
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
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