Citations:folk etymology

A modification of a word resulting from a misunderstanding

• However, it [etymology] would not have developed into such an interesting discipline without the linguistic phenomenon of folk etymology. A foreign word that was hard to pronounce would be changed into something that sounded more familiar. [1]
• By Folk-etymology is meant the influence exercised upon words, both as to their form and meaning, by the popular use and misuse of them. [2]
• Where the remodelling of a word involves the replacement of one or more of its syllables by another word with which it is associated semantically this is normally referred to not as contamination but as folk etymology. [3]
• Nevertheless, folk etymologies should not leave us shamefaced, for even the term shamefaced is a folk etymology, coming from Middle English shamefast. 'bound by shame'. [4]