Linguistic term needed

[Koontz John E]

On Sun, 11 Apr 2004, R. Rankin wrote:
> Got an example?  I'm not sure I have the proper term, but I'm thinking
> of the Chinese borrowing the word "America" as mei-guo (which has 2
> similar syllables). And mei-guo, perhaps conscious choice, means roughly
> 'beautiful kingdom'.  I suppose it's a kind of "loan-blend", but not the
> typical kind.

It's sort of the inverse of a calque, with elements of a folk etymology.
It's also a sort of cross-linguistic pattern of malapropism.  Instead of
translating the elements by sense, one looks for resemblent native
elements that have their own sense and adapts toward that, though often
ignoring that sense or not requiring it to be relevant to the actual
application of the new form.  Another example might be ecrevisse >
crayfish, where some spurious sense is achieved.  Examples like muchas
gracias > much grass, danke schoen > donkey shane are similar but more
humorously meant.

I remember once hearing that students of Christmas carols were deeply
suspicious of "partridge in a pear tree" because, of course, perdrix is
French for partridge.