Folk etymology as a folk interpretation of words. Folk etymology and etymological errors

Unlike the vast majority of others, etymology has one very significant drawback: too many people consider themselves competent in this area. The etymology of words often fascinates people who have a rather vague understanding of linguistics. And the less prepared this or that amateur is linguistically, the more categorically he usually expresses his judgments about the most complex etymological problems.

If, for example, you have difficulty distinguishing a ruff from a pike, then, you have to think, you will never risk putting forward any new hypothesis concerning problems of ichthyology *. Without possessing the appropriate knowledge, no one will dare to express their opinions on the most complex issues of nuclear physics, mathematics, and chemistry.

* (Ichthyology is a branch of zoology that studies fish.)

In fact, everyone expresses their opinions about the origin of words. In this regard, etymology can only be compared with meteorology or... football, where there are probably no fewer “experts” in predicting the weather or the result of a match than there are amateur etymologists.

About folk etymology. Usually people begin their “etymological studies” already in early childhood. Such childish formations as buzzer (alarm clock), planer (plane), shovel (spatula), hammer (hammer), mazelin (vaseline) and others, caused by the natural desire to somehow comprehend every incomprehensible word, are typical not only of childhood. Take such examples of reinterpretation of words in folk dialects as spinjak (jacket), semi-clinic (clinic), semi-garden (front garden) etc. In all these cases, incomprehensible elephants of foreign origin were “corrected” and “adjusted” to some well-known Russian words and roots: the word jacket → spinzhak was associated with the back, polyclinic → semi-clinic is “half a clinic,” and front garden → semi-garden - “half garden.”

The ancient Romans called such etymological comparisons “bull” or “cow” etymology. Since “etymologies” of this kind often arose among the people, these false interpretations were later called “folk etymology” (as opposed to scientific etymology). The very term folk etymology not entirely successful. Firstly, it shows a somewhat disdainful attitude towards the people, who for many centuries were cut off from the development of science. Secondly (and this is the most important thing), a significant part of the “folk etymology” did not arise in the folk environment at all.

For example, back in the 18th century, academician and philologist V.K. Trediakovsky wrote that the name of the ancient inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula, Iberians, is a distorted word upers, since they are geographically located on all sides stubborn seas. Britannia, according to Trediakovsky, this is a distorted Fraternization(from the word Brother), Scythians are hermitages(from wander), Turks - from brisk(cf. nimble“fast, agile”), etc. Consequently, here we are faced with “folk etymology” at the highest (academic!) level. And the people have nothing to do with it. It’s just that at the time of Trediakovsky, etymology had not yet been formed as a science, and this provided wide scope for all kinds of unbridled fantasies.

Instead of the term folk etymology some scientists prefer to use the expression false etymology or naive etymology. But these terms are even less successful. Firstly, scientific etymology may be false. And secondly, not every folk etymology must necessarily be naive. For example, at least one of the two etymologies of the word bride that we have considered is definitely false. But both of them, undoubtedly, belong to the category of scientific etymology and do not contain anything naive in themselves. “Folk etymology” is always false, but not every false etymology is “folk” at the same time. This is why one of these terms cannot be replaced by another.

De-etymologization and folk etymology. The essence of folk etymology can only be understood if we remember what was discussed in the previous chapter.

Words in their development gradually lose their ancient etymological connections, or, in other words, become de-etymologized. Thus, they become etymologically incomprehensible. Scientific etymology establishes the true origin of the word being analyzed, relying on those methods of comparative historical research with which we are now familiar. In other words, scientists restore the most ancient stages available to them in the history of the word, simultaneously drawing on material from related languages.

In contrast, folk etymology does not reconstruct lost etymological connections, but tries to explain the origin of the word based on the current state of the language for the author of the etymology. As a rule, such “etymologies” do not contain any scientific argumentation. They rely only on a coincidence or even a very distant similarity in the sound of words.

The discrepancy between scientific and folk etymology clearly appears in the case of the origin of the Russian word otter*. Scientists have restored its ancient form * udra[udra], found a large number of matches in related languages and explained the original meaning of the word otter, associated with the meaning “watery, aquatic”.

* (As you remember, our acquaintance with the science of etymology began with a story about this word.)

Folk etymological interpretation of the origin of the word otter(from tear out) fundamentally contradicts the facts of the history of language; it is in no way connected with ideas about the kinship of languages and related correspondences. This explanation relies only on the consonance of words otter And tear out, supported by a witty, but completely fantastic argument of a semantic nature. In addition, a comparative historical analysis of the word otter shows that its appearance dates back to the era when prefixed formations like you-tear have not yet been productive in Indo-European languages.

Etymology and archaeology. In many places, and especially in the steppe zone of our homeland, ancient mounds of impressive size rise. There is such a mound near the village, but no one knows who built it and when. And a legend arises around such a mound.

They say that in ancient times - a hundred, or maybe two hundred years ago - a lady’s beloved dog died. From morning to night the lady shed bitter tears, mourning her inconsolable grief. And in that village there were soldiers standing there at that time. They felt sorry for the lady who was dying for her dog. They dug a grave near the village, buried that dog according to Christian custom, and began to carry earth in their hats to the place where the grave was. They carried it for a long time - until a huge mound grew in that place...

This legend has its own continuation, albeit taken from real life. One day, archaeological scientists arrived at the mound and began conducting archaeological excavations. And under this mound they discovered not a dog at all, but a rich burial of a Scythian leader, buried here not a hundred or even two hundred, but two and a half thousand years ago...

We see the same picture in the history of many words. Folk etymology is the same legend, trying to explain the incomprehensible facts of the distant past with close and understandable phenomena of our modern language. And etymological scientists, as a result of a kind of “archaeological excavation,” establish that the origins of a word we do not understand go far into the depths of centuries, and in many cases, in the place of the etymological “dog,” they discover traces of such deep antiquity, from which even legends and legends.

Folk and children's etymology."You've had enough secrets speak! Secretary which!"

"We go to walk, - We truants!"

These and other examples given below, taken from K.I. Chukovsky’s book “From Two to Five,” are indicative in many respects. First of all, in children's comparisons the main features of folk etymology are most clearly depicted. Secondly, the fallacy of children's etymology does not raise any doubts and the disclosure of the error, as a rule, does not require detailed and complex explanations. Finally, it is easier here than in other cases to distinguish different types of folk etymology.

In examples with words secretary And truant etymological connection with secret And walk was installed, in general, correctly. Only in the first case this connection is not direct and it can only be revealed on the material of the French (and ultimately Latin) language from which these words were borrowed: secret[secret`] means “mystery, secret” and “secret, secret”, a secretaire[secretary] - “desk, bureau (with secret compartments)” and “scribe, secretary.” Thus, the error in this case was that the words secret And secretary (secretary), indeed, interconnected by a long chain of intermediate etymological links, they were placed in a direct etymological connection, which these words do not have.

A different picture is observed in the case of words walk And truant. The main mistake here is of a semantic nature. Relationship between words walk, truant, stroll and stroll no one doubts it. But the words truant and truant have a special meaning: they do not refer to those who walk or truant, but only to people who, for unjustified reasons, do not show up for work or school. Moreover truants just quite rare walking. If a absentee sleeps during working hours, sits at the cinema or reads a detective novel, this does not stop him from being truant(this word, as we see, has undergone partial de-etymologization).

Etymological errors of a different order are observed in cases quitter- "a man who makes boats" or specialist- “a person who likes to sleep” *. This also includes the examples discussed above with the words altar- “resident of Altai” and dealer- "an uncle who looks after young ladies." In all these cases, the words between which an etymological connection is assumed, in fact, in terms of their origin, have nothing in common with each other.

* (These examples are also taken from the book by K.I. Chukovsky.)

"Special" - a person who likes to sleep

No matter how convincing the word formation looks:

the last case clearly does not belong to this series. The word spets is an abbreviation for specialist. And the last word - ultimately - goes back to Latin specialis[in medieval pronunciation: spetsialis] “special, special”, in turn associated with Latin words species[spe`kies] "type, variety" and specio[spekio] “I see, I look.” Thus, sleep And specialist etymologically they are completely unrelated to each other.

* (Compare: And the Swede, and the reaper, and the player on the pipe (about a jack of all trades).)

Folk etymology and distortion of words. In all the examples from children's etymology just considered, one or another explanation of the origin of the word did not, however, lead to its distortion. But not in all cases the word lends itself to folk etymological interpretation in the form in which it exists in the language. And since you still want to explain an incomprehensible word, distortions such as kopatka or mazelin, which are not typical only of children's language, were often introduced into it.

Examples with the words spinjak, semi-clinic, semi-kindergarten belong to the same type. But even these dialectal and vernacular (non-literary) forms do not exhaust all examples of this kind. Moreover, folk etymological changes in words can be observed even in the literary language, and such cases are not at all rare.

The Old Russian word svdtel was formed from the verb vdti “to know” and it meant a person who knows something. Nowadays we say not the witness, but the witness, and we associate this word not with the verb to know, but with see, perceiving it in the meaning of “eyewitness” (one who saw something).

The Latin verb vagari [vagari] "to wander" had a suffixed derivative vagabundus [vagabundus] "wandering", which in Italian gave vaga-bondo [vagabbndo], and in Spanish - vagabundo [vagabundo] "vagrant". The rare suffix -bundo in Spanish was "corrected" to -mundo, and the word vagamundo began to be perceived as a compound word, derived from vagar [vagar] "to wander" and mundo [mundo] "peace, light." So, as a result of folk etymological changes, the Spanish word vagamundo acquired the meaning “wandering around the world.”

When considering the etymology of various words, scientists constantly have to keep in mind the possibilities of this kind of folk etymological rethinking, which often greatly complicates the study, because they replace real ancient etymological connections with secondary, contrived connections.

"I am Ra myself!" Nowhere, perhaps, has folk etymology become as widespread as in the interpretation of proper names. For example, a university student begins to study Latin. In one of his first lessons he learns that the word ira[i`ra] means "anger" in Latin. And immediately tries to connect this word with a Russian name Ira, Irina, “explaining” the latter with the meaning of the Latin word. In fact, the name Irina was borrowed from the Greek language, where the word eiren[eire`ne, in modern Greek pronunciation: iri`ni] means “peace”. This word was used by the ancient Greeks as a proper name (Eirene - Irina - the name of the goddess of peace).

Curious "etymology" of the name of the ancient Spartan king Menelaus was proposed by one of the Russian authors in the 19th century. Since King Menelaus always quarreled with everyone, he was often told me(=me) don't bark"Do not yell at me" (?!). This is where the name supposedly came from.

Menelaus - "don't scold me"

At every step, such “etymologies” are encountered when explaining geographical names. Many toponyms are distinguished by their exceptional antiquity. Some of them have long lost etymological connections in the language, others never had these connections, since they were borrowed from other languages. But the desire to somehow explain these incomprehensible names often led to the appearance of the most ridiculous “etymologies” and even entire legends, often “supported” by references to actual historical events.

Where did the name of the city come from? Kolomna? They say that Father Sergius once blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy not far from this city. After the blessing, Father Sergius headed to Kolomna, but for some reason the residents of the city drove him away and even threatened him with stakes. “I treat them kindly, but they stake me (me),” Sergius later complained. From this stake me and the city was given a name Kolomna.

Another equally fantastic example of this type is the “etymology” of the name of the river and city Samara(modern city of Kuibyshev).

According to legend, a small river ran from east to west, and from the north, the mighty river Ra (the ancient name of the Volga River) rushed its waves across it. “Move aside!” the big river shouts to the small river, “make way for me: after all, I am Ra!”

"And I herself - Ra“, - the river answers calmly and continues its run to the west.

Two streams collided with each other - and the majestic river Ra gave way to its small rival: it, too, was forced to turn its flow to the west. From words Ra herself and the river was named Samara, and at the site of the collision formed the Volga-Ra Samara bow (bend).

In a similar way, folk etymology tried to explain, for example, the names of rivers Yakhroma And Vorskla. The first name was allegedly obtained from the exclamation of the wife of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, who, while crossing this river, twisted her leg and exclaimed: "I'm lame!" The legend associates the second name with the name of Peter I. Looking through a telescope, the king dropped the lens into the water. Attempts to find "glass" ( Sklo) were not successful. Since then, the river began to be called Warehouse thief("glass thief").

Of course, all these legends have nothing to do with the actual origin of the corresponding toponyms. But they are important in another way. The examples considered show how closely folk etymology is connected with oral folk art - folklore. Many tales and legends arose in a similar way - as a result of an attempt at etymological understanding of incomprehensible words and names.

We have already encountered this kind of phenomena in the example of the origin of the name of the ancient Greek “foam-born” goddess Aphrodite and Athens Tritogeny. Similar examples can be found in the oral folk art of any country. The research of etymologists, aimed at studying the features of folk etymology, allows us to shed new light on the most complex problems associated with the ancient origins of oral folk art.

Anger and fire. In all the examples considered so far, the difference between folk and scientific etymology has always appeared with sufficient clarity. Unfortunately, however, there are many such cases when it is not at all possible to draw a more or less clear line between these two seemingly different types of etymological explanations.

Some of the etymologies proposed by the Roman grammarian Varro have long been classified as folk. More careful research has shown, however, that these explanations of Varro are confirmed by scientific analysis.

In the reasoning of one of M. Gorky’s heroes, Matvey Kozhemyakin, one encounters the idea that the word anger is related in origin to the word fire. As an example confirming this etymology, Matvey Kozhemyakin refers to the verb ognetsya, in which he considers the prefix o- as part of the root fire (fire). The folk etymological nature of this explanation is completely indisputable.

But relatively recently, the Soviet etymologist V.V. Martynov put forward the same idea as a scientific hypothesis. One of the author's main arguments is also the word fire - only in its more ancient form. V.V. Martynov presented interesting arguments in favor of his point of view, and, despite its controversy, this etymology must now be taken into account; as with a scientific hypothesis.

The example with the word anger shows how arbitrary the boundaries between folk and scientific etymology can be. In some cases, an etymology that has long been considered folk may eventually receive universal scientific recognition. And, conversely, an etymology that appears as scientific may in fact turn out to be an unrevealed folk etymology.

"Goodbye meat!" How difficult it can sometimes be to resolve the question of whether a particular etymology belongs to the folk etymology can be judged by the example of the origin of the word carnival. This word came into the Russian language (through French mediation) from the Italian language.

Initially, carnival was an Italian spring holiday similar to Russian Maslenitsa. This holiday was accompanied by various street processions, masquerades, mass dances, and funny theatrical games. Since this holiday took place before the beginning of Lent, during which the Christian religion forbade eating meat, the origin of the Italian carnevale[carnevale] "carnival" has long been associated with words carne[ka`rne] "meat" and vale[va`le] "farewell" *.

* (Wed. from Pushkin in “Eugene Onegin”: “At the end of the letter put vale...” The word vale has the same meaning in Latin and Italian.)

At first glance, we have a typical folk etymology. This explanation is very similar to, for example, the etymology Montevideo- from montem video"I see a mountain" or Menelaus- from "Don't bark me." A number of highly respected scientists have announced the etymology came vale"goodbye meat!" erroneous folk etymology. Instead, another explanation of the origin of this word was proposed.

For a long time - even at festivals dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Greek god Dionysus - a prominent place during the solemn procession was given to a cart in the shape of a ship or boat. Latin words carrus navalis[ka'rrus nava'lis] literally means: "ship (or sea) cart." The ancient tradition survived in Italy until the 18th century, when noble Italian women still went to the carnival in similar “sea carts” *. Therefore, according to this explanation, the Italian word carnevale derived from carrus navalis(or, more precisely, from a later form of these words: carro navale).

* (And now this kind of “carts” can be found at carnivals in Latin American countries.)

However, no matter how tempting the latter interpretation may seem, it cannot be accepted as indisputable. Firstly, numerous monuments of Latin writing do not give us a single example with a combination of words carrus navalis. The Italians, too, as far as we know, never called their carnival “sea floats” with the words carro navale. All these are just assumptions of scientists.

Secondly, the connection of the words carnival or carnival with the meaning “meat” is found not only in Italian. Greek apokreos[apokreos] “Maslenitsa, carnival” has a completely clear etymology: aro-- a prefix meaning removal, separation or termination, and kreos(or kreas) "meat". Word meat-eater"Maslenitsa" is well known in various Slavic languages, and its etymology is again related to "meat".

True, the matter here was apparently not without cripples. But if we accept the etymology of the Italian carnevale, raising this word to carrus navalis, then you have to recognize the Greek apokreos and Slavic meat-eater tracings from a reinterpreted Latin (or Italian) word. And this already looks extremely implausible. In short, the question of whether etymology carnevale"goodbye meat!" popular or not, still cannot be considered finally decided.

Thus, folk etymology is not just a set of ridiculous and naive explanations of the origin of various words, but a complex phenomenon that often puts a researcher involved in the history of words in a difficult position. The influence of folk etymology has left numerous traces in the language. Moreover, these traces in a number of cases turned out to be so imperceptibly “disguised” that scientists are not always able to distinguish folk etymology from the true one. All this creates certain difficulties in the work of etymologists, forcing language researchers to attract more and more new material, allowing them to penetrate into the most intimate secrets of ancient word creation.

E The tymology of words often fascinates people who have a rather vague understanding of linguistics. And the less prepared this or that amateur is linguistically, the more categorically he usually expresses his judgments about the most complex etymological problems.

If, for example, you have difficulty distinguishing a ruff from a pike, then, you have to think, you will never risk putting forward any new hypothesis concerning the problems of ichthyology. Without possessing the appropriate knowledge, no one will dare to express their opinions on the most complex issues of nuclear physics, mathematics, and chemistry. In fact, everyone expresses their opinions about the origin of words.

About folk etymology. Usually people begin their etymological “studies” already in early childhood. Such childish formations as buzzer (alarm clock), planer (plane), kopatka (shovel), kopotok (hammer), mazelin (vaseline) and others, caused by the natural desire to somehow comprehend every incomprehensible word, are typical not only of childhood. Take such examples of reinterpretation of words in folk dialects as spinzhak (jacket), semi-clinic (polyclinic), semi-garden (front garden) and so on. In all these cases, incomprehensible words of foreign origin were “corrected” and “adjusted” to some well-known Russian words and roots: word jacket → spinzhak was connected to the back, polyclinic → semi-clinic- it’s ‘half clinic’, a front garden → semi-garden- ‘half kindergarten’.

For example, back in the 18th century, academician and philologist V.K. Trediakovsky wrote that the name of the ancient inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula Iberians- this is a distorted word upers, since they are geographically located on all sides stubborn seas. Britannia, according to Trediakovsky, this is a distorted Fraternization(from the word Brother), Scythians- This hermitages(from wander), Turks- from brisk(compare nimble‘fast, agile’), etc. Consequently, here we are faced with “folk etymology” at the highest (academic!) level. And the people have nothing to do with it. It’s just that at the time of Trediakovsky, etymology had not yet been formed as a science, and this provided wide scope for all kinds of unbridled fantasies.

Thus, folk etymology- this is not necessarily “etymology that arose among the people,” but an etymology that is based not on scientific principles of analysis, but on random comparisons caused by simple consonance of words. Sometimes such a comparison can hit the mark. Compare, for example, the words of Luke in the play by A.M. Gorky “At the Bottom”: “They crushed a lot, that’s why it’s soft.” Words soft And crumpled, indeed, of common origin, but an essentially correct comparison does not yet transform it into a scientific etymology.

Instead of the term folk etymology some scientists prefer to use the expression false etomo logic or naive etymology. But these terms are even less successful. Firstly, scientific etymology may be false. For example, at least one of the two etymologies of the word we considered bride is definitely false. But both of them, undoubtedly, belong to the category of scientific etymology and do not contain anything naive in themselves. Secondly, a naive etymology need not be false (take the example of soft And crumpled). In addition, naivety is a quality that can sometimes also distinguish scientific etymology. Of course, “folk etymology” is usually false, but not every false etymology is “folk” at the same time. This is why one of these terms cannot be replaced by another.

De-etymologization and folk etymology. The essence of folk etymology can only be understood if we remember what was discussed in the previous chapters.

Words in their development gradually lose ancient etymological connections, or, in other words, become de-etymologized. Thus, they become etymologically incomprehensible. Scientific etymology establishes the true origin of the word being analyzed, relying on those methods of comparative historical research with which we are now familiar. Typically, scientists restore the most ancient stages available to them in the history of words, simultaneously drawing on material from related languages.

In contrast, folk etymology does not reconstruct lost etymological connections, but tries to explain the origin of the word based on the current state of the language for the author of the etymology. As a rule, such “etymologies” do not contain any scientific argumentation. They rely only on random coincidence or even on very distant similarities in the sound of words.

The discrepancy between scientific and folk etymology clearly appears in the case of the origin of the Russian word otter(as you remember, our acquaintance with the science of etymology began with a story about this word). Scientists have restored its ancient form *ūdrā[ý:dra:], found a large number of matches in related languages and explained the original meaning of the word otter, associated with the meaning ‘watery, watery’.

Folk etymological interpretation of the origin of the word otter(from tear out) fundamentally contradicts the facts of the history of language; it is in no way connected with ideas about the kinship of languages and related correspondences. This explanation relies only on the consonance of words otter And tear out, supported by a witty, but absolutely fantastic argument of a semantic nature. In addition, a comparative historical analysis of the word otter shows that its appearance dates back to the era when prefixed formations like you-tear have not yet been productive in Indo-European languages.

Etymology and archaeology. In many places, and especially in the steppe zone of our Motherland, ancient mounds of impressive size rise. There is such a mound near the village, but no one knows who built it and when. And a legend arises around such a mound.

They say that in ancient times - a hundred, or maybe two hundred years ago - a lady’s beloved dog died. From morning to night the lady shed bitter tears.

And in that village there were soldiers standing there at that time. They felt sorry for the lady, they dug a grave near the village, buried the dog according to Christian custom, and began to carry earth in their hats to the place where the grave was. They carried it for a long time - until a huge mound grew in that place...

This legend has its own continuation, however, taken from real life. One day, archaeological scientists arrived at the mound and began conducting archaeological excavations. And what they discovered under the mound was not a dog at all, but the rich burial of a Scythian leader, buried here not a hundred or even two hundred, but two and a half thousand years ago...

We see the same picture in the history of many words. Folk etymology is the same legend, trying to explain the incomprehensible facts of the distant past with close and understandable phenomena of our modern language. And etymological scientists, as a result of a kind of “archaeological excavation,” establish that the origins of a word we do not understand go far into the depths of centuries and in many cases, in the place of the etymological “dog,” they find traces of such deep antiquity, from which not even legends and tales have survived.

Folk and children's etymology.“Stop telling you secrets! What a secretary!”, “We go for a walk - we are truants!”

These and other examples below, taken from the book by K.I. Chukovsky’s “From Two to Five” are indicative in many respects. First of all, in children's comparisons the main features of folk etymology emerge most clearly, although, of course, children's etymology cannot be completely identified with folk etymology. Secondly, the fallacy of children's etymologies does not raise any doubts, and revealing the error, as a rule, does not require detailed and complex explanations. Finally, it is easier here than in other cases to distinguish different types of folk etymology.

In examples with words secretary And truant etymological connection with secret And walk was installed generally correctly. Only in the first case is this connection not direct, and it can only be determined based on the material ultimately of the Latin language, from which these words were borrowed through Western languages.

Compare, for example, French. secret[secret] ‘mystery, secret’ and ‘secret, hidden’, secretaire[secretary] ‘desk, bureau (with secret compartments)’ and ‘scribe, secretary’. Thus, the error in this case was that the words secret And secretary (secretary), actually connected to each other by a long chain of intermediate etymological links, were placed in a direct etymological connection, which these words do not have.

A different picture is observed in the case of words walk And truant. The main mistake here is of a semantic nature. Relationship between words walk, truant, truant And walk around no one doubts it. According to the words truant And absenteeism have a special semantic connotation: they do not apply to those who walk or stroll, but only to people who, for unjustified reasons, do not show up for work or school.

If a truant sleeps, sits at the cinema or reads a detective novel during working hours, he does not cease to be a truant (this word, as we see, has undergone partial de-etymologization).

Etymological errors of a different order are observed in cases quitter- ‘a man who makes boats’ or specialist- ‘a person who likes to sleep’. In all these cases, the words between which an etymological connection is assumed, in fact, in terms of their origin, have nothing in common with each other. No matter how convincing the word formation looks:

write - scribe

lie - liar

sleep - special

The last case clearly does not belong to this series. Word specialist is an abbreviation for specialist. And the last word ultimately goes back to Latin specialis[in medieval pronunciation: spetsialis] ‘special, special’ in turn associated with Latin words species[spekie:s] ‘type, variety’ and specie[spekio:] ‘I see, I look’. So the words sleep And specialist etymologically they are not related to each other.

Folk etymology and distortion of words. In all the examples from children's etymology just considered, one or another explanation of the origin of the word did not, however, lead to its distortion. But not in all cases the word lends itself to folk etymological interpretation in the form in which it exists in the language. And since you still want to explain an incomprehensible word, distortions like digger or mazelin, which are not typical only of children's language.

Examples with words spinzhak, semi-clinic, popusadik belong to the same type. But these and similar illiterate dialectal and vernacular forms do not exhaust all examples of this kind. Moreover, folk etymological changes in words can be observed even in the literary language, and such cases are not at all rare.

Old Russian word witness was formed from the verb lead‘to know’ and it meant a person who knows something. Currently, we do not say “informant”, but witness and connect this word not with the verb know, and with a verb see, perceiving it in the meaning of ‘eyewitness’ (one who saw something). Old connection with the verb know have still been preserved, for example, Belarusian summary and Serbian report'witness'.

In Russian diplomatic documents of the late 17th and early 18th centuries you can find the word seclusion, which was the result of a folk etymological reinterpretation of the word of Latin origin audience(influenced seclusion, solitude). In the Belarusian language the word was noted sekutsyya. etymologically much more expressive than Latinism execution.

Latin verb vagari[vagá:ri:] ‘to wander’ had a suffixal derivative vagabundus[vaga:býndus] ‘stray’, which in Italian gave vagabondo [vagabondo], and in Spanish - vagabundo[vagabundo] ‘tramp’. Rare suffix - bundo in Spanish was "corrected" to - mundo, and the word vagamundo began to be perceived as complex, formed from vagar[vagar] ‘to wander’ and mundo[mundo] ‘peace, light’. So, as a result of folk etymological changes, the Spanish word vagamundo acquired the meaning ‘wandering around the world’.

But folk etymology has an impact not only on people’s ideas about the origin of the word. Erroneous etymologization is also closely related to practice, in particular to the practice of spelling. Typical school errors are well known, caused by the fact that a word that is orthographically questionable is compared with another word that is not etymologically related to it. But foreign words that are generally devoid of etymological support within the native language usually turn out to be especially difficult. That is why when writing such words they often rely on other “similar” words of foreign origin. This is how errors arise, which are to a certain extent akin to folk etymological distortions of words: “incident” and “precedent” instead of the correct one: incident, precedent(under the influence of words like challenger), “compromise”, “establish” instead of compromise, ascertain(the influence of words like regulate, Konstantin).

“I am Ra myself!” Nowhere, perhaps, has folk etymology become as widespread as in the interpretation of proper names. For example, a university student begins to study Latin. In one of his first lessons he learns that the word ira[ú:ra] means 'anger' in Latin. And immediately tries to connect this word with a Russian name Ira, Irina, “explaining” the latter with the meaning of the Latin word. In fact, the name Irina was borrowed from the Greek language, where the word eirēnē[eirene:] means ‘peace’ (in modern Greek pronunciation: [irúni]). This word was used as a proper name by the ancient Greeks: Eirene- This Irina, goddess of peace.

At every step, such “etymologies” are encountered when explaining geographical names. Many toponyms are distinguished by their exceptional antiquity. Some of them have long lost etymological connections in the language, others never had these connections, since they were borrowed from other languages. But the desire to somehow explain these incomprehensible names often led to the emergence of the most ridiculous “etymologies” and even entire legends, often “supported” by references to actual historical events.

Where did the name of the city come from? Kolomna? They say that Father Sergius once blessed Prince Dmitry Donskoy not far from this city. After the blessing, Father Sergius headed into the city, but for some reason the residents drove him away and even threatened him with stakes. “I treat them kindly, but they stake me (me),” Sergius later complained. From this stake me and the city was given a name Kolomna.

Another equally fantastic example of this type is the “etymology” of the name of the river and city Samara.

According to legend, a small river ran from east to west, and from the north a mighty river rushed its waves across it. Ra(ancient name of the Volga River).

“Move aside! - the big river shouts to the small river, - make way for me - after all, I am Ra!

“And I myself am Ra,” the river answers calmly and continues its run to the west.

In a similar way, folk etymology tried to explain, for example, the names of rivers Yakhroma And Vorskla. The first name was allegedly obtained from the exclamation of the wife of Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, who, while crossing this river, twisted her leg and exclaimed: “I am lame!” The legend associates the second name with the name of Peter I. Looking through a telescope, the king dropped the lens into the water. Attempts to find "glass" (sklo) were not successful. Since then, the river began to be called Warehouse thief(‘glass thief’).

We have already encountered this kind of phenomena in the example of the origin of the name of the ancient Greek “foam-born” goddess Aphrodite and Athena Tritogeia. Similar examples can be found in the oral folk art of any country. The research of etymologists, aimed at studying the features of folk etymology, allows us to shed new light on the most complex problems associated with the ancient origins of oral folk art.

Anger and fire. In all the examples considered so far, the difference between folk and scientific etymology has always appeared with sufficient clarity. Unfortunately, however, there are many such cases when it is not at all possible to draw a more or less clear line between these two seemingly different types of etymological explanations.

Some of the etymologies proposed by the Roman grammarian Varro have long been classified as folk. More careful research has shown, however, that these explanations of Varro are supported by scientific analysis.

In the reasoning of one of M. Gorky's heroes - Matvey Kozhemyakin - one encounters the idea that the word anger associated in origin with the word fire. As an example confirming this etymology, Matvey Kozhemyakin refers to the verb be on fire in which he prefixed O- considered as part of the root in a word fire (fire). The folk etymological-logical nature of this explanation is completely indisputable.

But relatively recently, the famous Russian etymologist V.V. Martynov put forward the same idea as a scientific hypothesis. One of the author’s main arguments is also the word be on fire- only in its more ancient form. V.V. Martynov presented interesting arguments in favor of his point of view, and, despite its controversy, this etymology must now be taken into account as a scientific hypothesis. Example with the word anger shows how arbitrary the boundaries between folk and scientific etymology can be. In some cases, an etymology that has long been considered folk may eventually receive universal scientific recognition. And, conversely, etymology that appears as scientific may be on the same level as folk etymology.

Thus, folk etymology is not just a set of ridiculous and naive explanations of the origin of various words, but a complex phenomenon that often puts a researcher involved in the history of words in a difficult position. The influence of folk etymology has left numerous traces in the language. Moreover, these traces in some cases turned out to be so imperceptibly “disguised” that scientists are not always able to distinguish folk etymology from the true one. All this creates certain difficulties in the work of etymologists, forcing language researchers to attract more and more new material, allowing them to penetrate into the most intimate secrets of ancient word creation.

Chapter twenty-five

ETYMOLOGICAL MYTHS

R In the final chapter of our book we will not talk about those legends and myths (without quotes!) that arise on the basis of folk etymological interpretations of the origin of the word (compare the myths and legends about Aphrodite, Athena, the Samara River, etc.). We will not be interested in “mythical” (already in quotation marks), that is, fictitious etymologies like otter from tear out or audience from retire. The authors of these “etymologies” did not publish their explanations in etymological dictionaries, limiting themselves to the fact that they themselves “reached” the supposed true meaning of the word. And if, for example, a bear is depicted on the coats of arms of the cities of Berlin and Bern (in German Väg [ber]), then here too the folk etymology that has penetrated into the field of heraldry also remains limited to this narrow area.

It’s a different matter when writers, linguists and even authors of etymological dictionaries offer explanations, decorating them with various kinds of “myths”, which should give the reader the impression of the plausibility of the etymology being presented. Below are several examples of this kind of etymological “myths”.

How do elephants sleep? Oddly enough, this question is directly related to the etymology of the word elephant. In the monuments of ancient Russian writing (XV century) you can find a fable according to which elephant supposedly cannot bend its tracks, and therefore whenever you want to sleep, go to sleep(‘when he wants to sleep, he sleeps leaning against an oak tree’). It is on the basis of this folk etymological comparison ( elephant from the slonity) a number of serious etymologists (for example, A.G. Preobrazhensky) explain the origin of the Russian word elephant. A common “myth” has arisen around the etymology of this word, which should confirm the correctness of the proposed explanation. Actually, not a word elephant was formed from the verb lean against, based on the belief that elephants supposedly sleep without bending their legs, but, on the contrary, this belief itself arose as a result of folk etymological comparison of words elephant And (at) elephant.

Our word elephant, as we already know, apparently was the result of rethinking in the process of borrowing from Turkic aslan[aslan] ‘lion’. Such reinterpretations of the names of animals known only by hearsay are not so rare in the language (above we came across an example where ‘elephant’ turned into ‘camel’).

Was a plow carried across a ford? In Latin there were two groups of words that were similar in sound: 1) porta[porta] ‘gate’, portus[portus] ‘harbour’ (as if ‘the sea gate of the city’) and 2) portare[portá:re] ‘to wear’. Latin word portus came to us through French media in the form of a noun port, and the root of the verb portare‘to carry, carry, transport’ we find in Russian words import'import', export‘export’, transport(literally: ‘transport’), etc.

Even in the 19th century, scientists tried to somehow etymologically connect similar words with each other porta‘gate’ and portare'wear'. And they found an ingenious solution to this issue, seemingly based on historical facts. To the author of the “Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language” G.P. Tsyganenko (Kyiv, 1970) found this solution so convincing that she included it in her dictionary:

"Latin words porta‘gate’ and portus‘harbour’ are formed from the verb portare‘to carry, to carry’. Etymologically, the connection between the concepts of ‘to wear’ (portare) and ‘gate, harbor’ (porta, portus) is explained historically as follows: the ancient Romans had a custom, when founding a city, to first plow it, that is, to plow the line along which the city wall was supposed to run with a plow. In those places where gates should have been erected, the plow was carried by hand. From here porta literally ‘a place where one carries (a plow)’, then – ‘a place for entry, exit, etc.’” (pp. 360-361).

The most interesting thing here is that such a custom actually existed among the ancient Romans. And yet the explanation given is just a fiction at the level of folk etymology. How can this be seen? First of all, the Latin words porta And portus(with the original meaning ‘passage, entrance’) there are reliable Indo-European correspondences: German. Furt[furt], English ford[fo:d] ‘ford’, literally ‘passage (across the river)’. In Icelandic the corresponding word is the same as in Latin portus, means ‘harbour’ (it entered the Russian language in the form fiord). What to do in all these cases with carrying a plow (through a ford!)? It is clear that we have before us a word that is more ancient than the above Roman custom.

Finally, we find the general meaning of ‘passage’ in the ancient Greek word poros[poros] ‘crossing’, ‘strait’, ‘path’, which could not be formed either from portare, nor from a similar Greek verb, because it does not have a suffix - t- and it reflects a more ancient word-formation model than the Latin verb. By the way, it should also be noted that the Greek poros in the meaning of ‘passage, hole (in the skin)’ came into the Russian language through Western European languages: it's time, time‘openings of the sweat glands on the surface of the skin’. Here, apparently, a reference to the plow would hardly be appropriate.

This example shows that the most beautiful etymological “myth”, based, it would seem, on firmly established historical facts, crumbles like a house of cards when seriously verified using the linguistic comparative-historical method.

ABOUT Baba Yaga and about nonsense. It would be possible to write a voluminous book with the most diverse etymologies that have been proposed by writers of different countries and eras, from Homer to the present day. But since Homer did not write anything about the etymology of Russian words, we will limit ourselves to examples from a slightly later time.

V. Berestov says in his memoirs that S.Ya. Marshak was keenly interested in questions of etymology. Here is one of his impromptu etymologies:

« Baba Yaga- this is perhaps the Tatar “babai-aga” (old uncle). This is how in Rus' during the time of Batu they frightened children: Sleep, otherwise the babay-aga will take you.”

It should be emphasized that S. Ya. Marshak proposed his etymology in a cautious form (“perhaps”), communicated it in a friendly conversation (and not in print), without imposing his assumption on his interlocutors. Unfortunately, no matter how witty the explanation of S.Ya. Marshak, before us is an ordinary etymological “myth”. Word Yaga and its etymological “relatives” are widely represented in West Slavic languages. Consequently, our word appeared long before Batu.

In other cases, writers are more categorical in their judgments. So, for example, A.M. Argo, in an interesting article “A Little Textual Criticism” (“Science and Life”, 1968, No. 6, pp. 120-122) writes too confidently about the origin of the word nonsense:

"Word nonsense along the line of least resistance, others derive from Latin grammatical forms: gerund And gerundive.

The root is actually different.

When the first shipbuilders arrived in Russia under Peter the Great, they spoke mainly in German.

Accompanying their words with intense gestures, they showed the structure of the masts, their installation and purpose, and at the same time they said ‘hier und da’, which in German means ‘here and there’; in Russian pronunciation this has become ‘nonsense’, which means something obscure and unnecessary.”

In this passage, first of all, attention is drawn to the complete absence of arguments refuting the first etymology. She is simply declared unfaithful. Meanwhile, book words of seminary origin gerund, nonsense, nonsense with a high degree of probability are traced by etymologists to the above Latin words. The fact is that the topic of “replacing a gerund with a gerundive” is one of the most complex and confusing topics in Latin grammar. In the eyes of the seminarian this was truly gerund.

In its positive part, the author of the new etymology also does not provide a single argument other than a typical etymological “myth” - a reference to German shipbuilders who actually worked in Russia in the Peter the Great era. Here, too, a reference to a historical fact, as in the case of the plow with which the ancient Romans plowed the territory of the future city, should create the impression of plausibility of the etymology presented.

President Jackson creates a new word. Anyone who has had to learn English knows how difficult it is to master its spelling.

In English, there are cases where words written differently are pronounced the same. For example, right‘correct’ and rite‘rite’ have the same pronunciation: [right]. Conversely, two exactly identically written words can be pronounced differently: read‘reading’ is pronounced [ri:d], a read‘read’ [ed]. Often the phonetic appearance undergoes such significant changes that almost nothing remains of the real “literal” content of the written word in its pronunciation. Yes, word nature‘nature’ in English is pronounced [neyche]. Same letter A in English, very different sounds can be designated (depending on its position in the word): [a], [o], [hey] and others. All this creates serious difficulties in mastering English spelling. The discrepancies between the spelling and pronunciation of English words are often so significant that they even jokingly say: “If it is written in English Manchester, then you should read Liverpool».

President Jackson of the United States of America, who lived more than a hundred years ago, preferred to write English words as they were heard. This can be judged by the following story, which is usually passed off as true. One day they brought a paper to the president to sign. After reviewing the document, he approved it, saying: “All correct!” [ol correct] ‘everything is in order!’ or ‘everything is correct’. As his resolution, the President wrote these words on the document, but he wrote them in an abbreviated form. According to the rules of English spelling, this abbreviation should have the form A.S.(all correct). But President Jackson did not write the letters required by spelling standards, but those that corresponded to the pronunciation of the words: O.K. Because the last letter (To) called in the English alphabet kay[kay], the president's resolution was read: okay [óy kay]. So, with the help of President Jackson, a new, currently very popular word arose in the English language: okay ‘everything is all right!’.

Alas, this curious story is also just an etymological “myth”. For those interested in the origin of the word OK, it will be useful to get acquainted with the article by Zh.Zh. Warbot “OK”, published in the magazine “Russian Speech” (1983, No. 5).

A few more etymological “myths”. S.S. Narovchatov, who wrote an excellent article “Language” in the journal Science and Life (1969, No. 10), is also not always careful enough when touching on etymological issues. For example, he confidently states that the word bear etymologically means ‘knower of honey’ (actually: ‘honey badger’) or what spring“easily explained by a single-root word” clear(in fact, these words have different origins). But here we have an already familiar type of etymological “myth”: “Daughter” is a ‘milker’: in the old days, the younger members of the female half of the family were entrusted with the responsibility of milking cattle” (p. 104). The error here is not in the matching of words itself. daughter And milk, and in the explanation of this connection and in the unsuccessful reference to the customs of the “old times”. In fact, the word daughter etymologically it does not mean ‘milking, milking woman’, but ‘sucking’ or ‘breastfed’. This very widespread semantic model of naming children can be illustrated using the example of the same verb milk- illustrated using Slovak language material: dojčit"[doychit] ‘breastfeed’ - dojča[deutscha] ‘baby’ (compare also: dojka[milking] ‘nurse’).

Outside the Russian language, Slavic and Indo-European “relatives” of the verb milk usually mean ‘to breastfeed’ and ‘to suck’ (breast). Word daughter, Genitive daughters, has reliable correspondences in a number of Indo-European languages: Lithuanian. duktė[ducté:], genitive case dukters[duktyars], ancient Indian. duhitā[duhita:], ancient Greek. thygater[thyugate:r], Gothic. dauhtar[dokhtar] and others.

Consequently, the expression “in the old days” used by S.S. Narovchatov, you need to understand not in the sense of 200-300 or even 1000, but at least 5-6 thousand years ago. And transfer into this ancient era the modern meaning of the Russian word milk to explain the Indo-European origin of the word is hardly appropriate.

In the same article we find another example of mixing different chronological eras. Noting that in the Latin word ursus[ýpcyc] ‘bear’, also in French ours, Italian orso[opco], Persian arsa[ársa] and others. There is a combination rs S.S. Narovchatov makes an assumption (which, however, he himself admits to be “too bold”) that in the ancient Slavic language “the name of this beast sounded something like ‘ros’.” And from here already - Ros‘bear river’ and ‘bear tribe’ - grow up. And then the author of the article continues:

“What if my guess is not so arbitrary, and it turns out that the ‘bears’ are Russians (?! - Yu. O. ) was once called not only good-naturedly and ironically, but also according to the original meaning of the word. This ‘once upon a time’ refers, however, to the times of Askold and Dir, and perhaps God, but the guess from such a circumstance does not become less interesting” (p. 109).

Here, first of all, the presence of the same chronological “scissors” is striking: the use of material from Indo-European languages, reflecting the prehistoric era of five or six thousand years ago - on the one hand, a reference to a relatively late historical era (Askold and Dir - Kyiv princes of the 9th century AD). BC), which, by the way, seems to the author to be very ancient, on the other.

It should be noted that already in the pre-Slavic era, the Slavs had a taboo name for the bear - ‘honey badger’. No traces of the ancient Indo-European name for this beast have been preserved in any Slavic language. Since there are no traces of it in the Baltic languages that are closest to the Slavic ones, one must think that this ancient name for the bear was lost by our ancestors even before the Slavic languages were separated into an independent group. Thus, the assumption that in the times of Askold and Dir “Russians” were called “bears” hangs in the air.

Finally, it is necessary to note the phonetic inconsistency of the etymological “myth” presented. The given French and Italian names for the bear are completely unnecessary, since they historically go back to the Latin ursus. Sound s in Persian word arsa- the result of a later change from š [š]. Greek word arktos[árktos] ‘bear, she-bear’ (by the way, this is where our word originates from Arctic) and other Indo-European correspondences indicate that there is no original combination - rs- the Indo-European name for the bear did not exist. And the insertion of a letter is completely arbitrary O, essentially, into the Latin or Persian combination - rs-(ursus, arsa) in order to form an “Old Slavic word” grew up.

What's happened bark? Now let’s briefly look at the example of the etymology of the word bark - a word that we can find in N.A. Nekrasov, M. Gorky and other Russian writers. Take at least a line from Nekrasov’s poem “On the Volga”:

The bark moves like a river.

N. A. Nekrasov.

Raskivs are large sailing ships on the Volga, later replaced by steamships. Etymologically the word bark associated with the verb sew, embroider, embroider. The famous Slavist academician N.S. spoke out against this etymological connection. Derzhavin. According to N.S. Derzhavina, word connection bark with verb sew is the result of folk etymological rethinking, but in fact bark- this is a borrowing from German Reiseschiff[raizeshif] ‘vessel for travel’.

However, before us, apparently, is nothing more than an etymological “myth” about borrowing. Firstly, bark- This is a typical cargo ship, not a ‘travel vessel’. Secondly, the originality of this word is confirmed by reliable etymological connections in the Russian language itself.

You and I usually nail or nail the board. An experienced carpenter does not nail, but sews on board (of course, not with threads, but also with nails). This is where the dialect word comes from Shitik, which V.I. Dahl in his dictionary explains it this way: ‘small river vessel’ (Volga word) or ‘boat with stripes, ripples, with sewn sides’ (Siberian word). In Dahl we find the word shiva‘shitik boat, not dugout’ (vol. IV, p. 635).

Therefore, from an etymological point of view, bark- this is a ship embroidered, that is, covered with boards. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus (10th century AD) reported that the ancient Russians made “printed boats” covered with boards. By the way, the Russians sewed boards to their ships not only with wooden nails, but also with willow twigs and juniper roots.

It is possible that this is where we should look for a connecting link between the meanings of ‘to sew’ and ‘to nail, to nail down’ in Russian verbs sew, sew on.

"Goodbye meat!" How difficult it can sometimes be to decide whether a particular etymology is true or fictitious can be judged by the example of the origin of the word carnival. This word came into the Russian language (through French mediation) from the Italian language.

Initially carnival was an Italian spring holiday similar to Russian Maslenitsa. This holiday was accompanied by various street processions, masquerades, mass dances, and funny theatrical games. Since this holiday took place before the beginning of Lent, during which the Christian religion forbade eating meat, the origin of the Italian carnevale[carnevale] ‘carnival’ has long been associated with words carne[carne] ‘meat’ and vale[vale] ‘farewell’. It is interesting to note that this etymology of the word carnival(English) carnival[ká:nivel]) can be found in the poem “Beppo” by the great English poet J. Byron. However, here, perhaps, even with the “naked eye” it is clear that we have before us a typical folk etymology. This explanation is very similar to, for example, the etymology Montevideo- from montem video‘I see a mountain’. A number of highly respected scientists have announced the etymology carne vale‘farewell meat!’ by erroneous folk etymology. Instead, another explanation of the origin of this word was proposed.

For a long time, even at festivals dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis and the Greek god Dionysus, a prominent place during the solemn procession was given to a cart in the shape of a ship or boat. Latin words carrus navalis[karrus nava:lis] literally means: ‘ship (or sea) cart’. The ancient tradition survived in Italy until the 18th century, when noble Italian women still went to the carnival in similar “sea carts”. Consequently, according to this explanation, which, in particular, was adhered to by the famous linguist V. Pisani, the Italian word carnevale derived from carrus navalis(or, more precisely, from a later form of these words: carro navale).

However, no matter how tempting the latter interpretation may be, it is apparently just another etymological “myth.” Firstly, numerous monuments of Latin writing do not give us a single example with a combination of words carrus navalis. The Italians, too, as far as we know, never called their carnival “sea floats” with the words carro navale. All these are just assumptions of scientists. Secondly, the connection of words carnival or Maslenitsa with the meaning ‘meat’ is found not only in Italian. Greek apokreōs[apókreo:s] ‘Maslenitsa, carnival’ has a completely clear etymology: aro- - a prefix meaning removal, separation or termination, and kreōs(or kreas) 'meat'. Word meat-eater‘Maslenitsa’ is well known in various Slavic languages, and its etymology is again related to ‘meat’.

True, the matter here was apparently not without cripples. But if we accept the etymology of the Italian carnevale, raising this word to carrus navalis, then you have to recognize the Greek apokreōs and Slavic meat-eater tracings from a reinterpreted Latin (or Italian) word. And this already looks extremely implausible.

The first edition of this book contains a story about the origin of the word carnival ended with a statement of the fact that the etymology of ‘goodbye meat!’ looks like a typical folk etymology, and the carnival ← carrus navalis- this is a far-fetched hypothesis of scientists (an etymological “myth” at the highest level). Readers have repeatedly asked the author a question about the true origin of the word carnival. Of the proposed etymologies of this word, the most plausible is the following.

Religious terms existed in late Latin carnelevamen[carnelman] and carnelevarium[carnelevarium] ‘abstinence, from meat’, associated with Christian fasting. These words consist of carne(m)‘meat’ (accusative case) and verb derivatives levare[leváre] ‘to deprive’. In a word carne-levar-ium assimilation occurred, giving rise to the word attested in one of the monuments of the 12th century car-nelevale[carnelevale]. And here, under the influence of folk etymology, a haplological (see above) loss of one of two identical syllables occurs - le-. As a result of this deletion, the word began to be perceived as carne vale‘goodbye meat!’

The purpose of the chapter you just read is to show the harmfulness of etymological “myths”, which create a misconception about etymology as a science, where what is needed is not objective evidence, but only witty comparisons and confident references to various kinds of historical facts (even if these facts have no relationship to the etymology of the word we are interested in).

In fact, it is a relatively easy matter to create such “myths”. It is usually more difficult to prove their inconsistency, because these “myths” are most often created around those words that do not have a sufficiently reliable etymology.

But the most difficult thing is, based on a scrupulous study of linguistic facts, without being carried away by frivolous, albeit tempting comparisons, to find the only way that allows the researcher to find a solution to the riddle called the etymology of a word.

Conclusion

So, our presentation has come to an end. Having examined various methods and specific features of etymological analysis, we are convinced that etymology is a complex and multifaceted science. She always requires a creative approach. Here you cannot, having “learned” a few specific rules, wait for ready-made answers to all questions. In many cases, these answers simply do not exist; they have yet to be obtained by future researchers, future historians of words. In this regard, the work of an etymologist opens up broad prospects for those who decide to devote their work to research in the field of the history of their native language.

However, the creative nature of etymological science does not at all mean that its methods are at least to some extent arbitrary. On the contrary, in the previous chapters it was shown that any serious etymological analysis is based on those strict patterns that appear in various aspects of the history of the word.

Among the methods used by etymological scientists, the first place rightfully belongs to the comparative historical method. That is why our acquaintance with the science of etymology began with a story about the kinship of languages, about sound correspondences in related languages, as well as about the phonetic, word-formation and semantic history of the word.

Of course, in a small book it was impossible to exhaustively cover all issues related to etymology in one way or another. Anyone who wants to become more familiar with both etymology and the science of language in general can refer to the list of references given at the end of the book. This list includes both popular science books and works intended for readers with some minimum linguistic training. It is possible that at first not everything in these works will be equally clear. But this will not diminish the educational value of reading such books. On the contrary, the reader will want to understand what is not yet clear to him, to find out what he does not yet know. The path to knowledge, as a rule, begins with a misunderstanding of something. Having realized the very fact of misunderstanding, a person usually seeks to expand his knowledge in the relevant area. And in this case, it is always very important to decide to take the first step, without reconciling with your ignorance.

In most cases, we use the words of our native language almost as naturally as we walk, breathe, and look. The word for us is the most important means of communication, a means of perceiving works of fiction. But the word is also of interest in itself: each word has its own origin, its own history, its own phonetic and morphological appearance, its own meaning.

If the stories about the science of etymology and the given examples from the history of words at least to some extent aroused the reader’s interest in his native language, if they made him think about the words that we use every day, the author will consider his task completed.

Bibliography

Ashukin N. S., Ashukina M. G.. Winged words. M., 1998.

Budagov R. A. Introduction to the science of language. M., 1965.

Vartanyan E. Journey into the word. M., 1987.

Vartanyan E. The birth of a word. M., 1970.

Vetvitsky V. G. Entertaining linguistics. M., 1966.

Dal V. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language. T. I-IV. M., 1998.

Zemskaya E. A. How words are made. M., 1963.

Ilyin M. In black and white. L., Detgiz. 1935.

Kazansky B. V world of words. L., 1958.

Maksimov S. Winged words. M., 1995.

Mokienko V. M. Into the depth of the proverb. M., 1975.

Norman B. Yu. Language: familiar stranger. Minsk, 1987.

Otkupshikov Yu. V.. Essays on etymology. St. Petersburg, 2001.

Urazov I. Why do we say this? M., Pravda, 1956.

Uspensky L. A word about words. M., 1997.

Vasmer M. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. T. I-IV. M., 1996.

Chukovsky K. From two to five. M., 1990.

Chukovsky K. Alive as life. M., 1982.

Shansky N. M. In the world of words. M., 1985.

Shansky N. M. Entertaining Russian language. M., 1996.

Shansky N. M., Bobrova T. A. School etymological dictionary of the Russian language. M., 1997.

The relationship of languages will be discussed in more detail below in Chapter III.

The Russian transcription of foreign words given here and below only approximately conveys their sound. So, for example, [h] in the ancient Greek word hydra is a sound intermediate between [h] [x] and [g] (compare Ukrainian [g]), and y in the same word it sounded approximately like German [ü] (the sound is intermediate between Russian [i] and [u]). The spelling of Lithuanian, ancient Indian and some other words is also given in a somewhat simplified form. By the way, in the Russian transcription of ancient Indian words the emphasis is not always noted, because its place is not known to us in all cases. Finally, the colon after the vowel in the transcription adopted here means the length of the preceding vowel.

Compare Russian words borrowed (eventually) from Greek hydra‘water snake’ and hydro(station).

Compare Pushkin’s “Poltava”: Execution tomorrow morning...

Semantics is the semantic side of a language or word. The term “semantics” also denotes a department of the science of language that studies its semantic side, considering changes in the meaning of a word. This branch of linguistics is also called semasiology.

In the Old Russian language with letters b(“er”) and ъ(“er”) denoted very short (so-called “reduced”) vowels. In their sound they resembled the pronunciation of modern Russians e And O in an unstressed position: eight pronounced roughly like [eight], ear like [cols]. Later, these sounds either disappeared (Old Russian take turned into take, window- V window), or turned into full vowels e And O (glass -glass, D'ska - board and so on.)

In the Latin language of the times of Cicero and Caesar With in all cases it was pronounced as k. Later - in the Middle Ages - With before vowels e, i, y,ae, oe began to be pronounced like Russian ts. Latin words entered the Russian language, as a rule, in medieval pronunciation (circus, center, Cicero, Caesar). But in Ancient Rome in all these cases in place ts sound was made To. Here and below in the transcription the so-called classical pronunciation is usually given. The only exceptions are examples taken from medieval Latin.

Serbian is one of the South Slavic languages.

The complex question of the origin of language will not be considered here. Those who are interested in this issue can refer to the fascinating book by L. V. Uspensky “A Word about Words”, where the author in the second chapter examines various theories of the origin of language.

Compare Russian words formed on the basis of the Latin word aqua: aquarium, scuba, watercolor, aqueduct.

In one of the churches in Florence (Italy) there is a fresco where the Dominicans are depicted as dogs chasing pagan wolves.

It would be more correct to talk about changes in sounds rather than letters. However, scientists of the 17th century practically did not distinguish between sounds and letters.

 Final ancient Indian weakened s, also denoted by h (visarga), is rendered here as – s.

Old Prussian is one of the Baltic languages that became extinct several centuries ago.

In the works of German scientists, these languages are often called Indo-Germanic. Later, new Indo-European languages were discovered (Tocharian, Hittite), which are not territorially connected with either India or Europe, but the term “Indo-European” remained unchanged.

Gothic is one of the ancient Germanic languages.

An asterisk (*) usually denotes forms that are not attested in written records, but have been reconstructed by scientists based on comparisons of related languages. A straight line above a vowel (ā) indicates its length.

The nasal consonant at the end of the accusative case varies across Indo-European languages ( m or n). The Lithuanian example is given with a dialect ending. In Gothic the final nasal has been lost.

In the genitive and dative cases, the Old Indian endings are not directly attached to the root ( sut‑), and to a stem consisting of a root and a suffix - āy- [-a:th-].

As we will see in the next chapter, the Indo-European long *ā is reflected in Gothic and Lithuanian as O.

Origin of the Old Church Slavonic ending – s in the genitive case the singular is not clear. It does not match the endings in other languages.

Old Slavonic h (“yat”) was formed from ancient *ai (see next chapter).

Old Church Slavonic @ (“yus big”) is a nasalized (nasal) vowel developed from * an. In Russian this nasal vowel has changed to at.

Ukrainian ill health means ‘to be sick’ (compare the Russian word illness), A nivroku- ‘I wouldn’t jinx it’. In general, the line can be translated into words: “Thank God, I am not sick.”

At least in writing. As for pronunciation, then R in a word tiger– solid – and in the word tigress– soft.

Sy.: “Russian speech”, 1969. No. 2, p. 103. It should be noted that in general the article in which this example is given is written in a very interesting way.

Compare also the Bulgarian verb torments‘moo’ and Ukrainian mukati‘moo’, where the real “pronunciation” of a cow made its own adjustments to the phonetic development of words.

From here in Russian hundredweight‘one hundred kilograms’.

Compare the word centimeter‘one hundredth of a metre’.

The genitive singular form, where the stem of the noun appears in full.

With a diminutive suffix -(b)tse, compare for example window – window.

The Aztecs are an Indian tribe indigenous to Mexico.

This is reflected in many languages, including Russian. So, have represents an effective verb in relation to Lithuanian imti[ūmti] ‘take’. In Russian, the root of the corresponding verb (* im-) through “us small” (see Table II) naturally gives I. Lithuanian imti will correspond to Old Russian yati‘take’ (compare Russian verbs heed, from(n)-yat, accept and etc.).

Here and further this most ancient form of the word is given. By the way, quite recently - in the dictionaries of the 30s of the XX century - the spelling Korowai corresponded to the usual spelling norm.

So. for example, T. A. Ivanova does in a review of the first edition of this book (see “Russian Language at School,” 1969. No. 2, p. 119).

The complex relationship of this word to Russian stomach are not reflected in the table of phonetic correspondences.

Compare Russian word controversial'fast'.

For brevity, we leave aside such meanings of the word drummer, as in ‘a musician playing a percussion instrument’ and ‘a part of the bolt for breaking the primer of a cartridge when fired’.

See below about tracing paper (Chapter XVIII).

Using the table of phonetic correspondences, you can make sure that Indo-European * gerbh- naturally gives the Germanic * kerb- and Proto-Slavic * gerb- (→ Old Slav. zhrb-, Russian stallion).

Low Sorbian is one of the West Slavic languages.

The possibility of individual cripples does not change the overall picture.

Initial iso- comes from the Greek i sos[úsos] ‘equal, identical’". Isosemantic series are series of words with the same semantic changes or connections.

The discrepancy between the initial k And š in the given Lithuanian foundations is explained by fluctuations in the reflection of Indo-European *k And *k’(see table of phonetic correspondences). We find similar fluctuations, for example, in cases like Russian. bow down And lean against, color And light, Lithuanian pirkti[púkti] ‘buy’ and piršti[púrshti] ‘to match’ (actually: ‘to buy a bride’), etc.

In the word hare we find a vowel A instead of expected O. However, Lithuanian zuikis[zyykis] ‘hare’, borrowed from Slavic bunny may reflect an older Slavic basis *zoyk-.

Compare a similar example: Russian. ( space And side, a country, where the final - on is also suffixal. The same can be said about words wave, string, harrow, price, etc. Strictly speaking, in all these cases the only suffix is - n-, and the final one - A refers to the ending (compare wave, But waves): However, in works on etymology this point is usually not significant.

Etymological connection of words about And pound was also noted by V.I. Dahl. According to this comparison, about represents an area in which the sound of the beater of one watchman guarding this area can be heard.

Explains the origin of the word differently sirloin M. Vasmer in his “Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language”. He sees in this word a re-arrangement of a late Germanic borrowing.

L. Hilferding. Collection cit., vol. II. St. Petersburg, 1868. p. 367.

Indo-European *O in the Lithuanian language, naturally, is reflected in the form A.

In fact, who would have thought, for example, that - n- in a word moon historically refers not to the root, but to the suffix?

Goit in dialects of the Russian language it means ‘to let live, to heal.’” The word Yugai in the Old Russian language it meant a prince who did not have the right to inherit the throne; outcast literally: as if ‘survived (from the family)’.

A word related to Old Indian. šasati[shasati] ‘cuts’.

Analogy in language is a broader phenomenon, relating not only to the formation of new words. But what interests us here is precisely the word-formation aspect of analogies.

Here chiti-, from *-kiti– as a result of mitigation To before And(see above).

K. Paustovsky. Third date. "New World", 1963, No. 6, pp. 96-97.

We will not be talking about German borrowing here. marriage‘izyan’, but about the original Slavic word marriage‘marriage’.

Compare also Russian attract and Lithuanian velku[vyalky] ‘I’m dragging, dragging’.

The reader has probably noticed that those Proto-Slavic words that are given under an asterisk in etymological reconstructions are quite often found in modern Lithuanian. The structure of this language is so archaic that the Bulgarian academician V. Georgiev expressed a seemingly completely paradoxical thought about this: since we do not have direct data from the Proto-Slavic language, their place in research, in some cases, can be replaced by data... from the Lithuanian language . Some of the examples we examined confirm this idea of the Bulgarian scientist.

In various Slavic languages, this word has “relatives” with different meanings: ‘grass’, ‘greens’, ‘cereal’, ‘cabbage’, ‘sorrel’.

In Latin, the endings of the dative and instrumental cases in the plural always coincide.

By the way, in this dictionary the words are translated incorrectly (‘from the city’ instead of the correct ‘to the city’).

Old Frisian is one of the ancient Germanic languages.

From Greek words topos[topos] ‘place’ and onyma[ónima] ‘name’.

Sometimes this general meaning is presented as “diffuse”, “undifferentiated”, potentially containing all subsequent specific meanings (the point of view of academician N.Ya. Marr).

Wed. in modern Russian poke And poke.

Compare, for example, Old Church Slavonic scum, Russian freezing And scum, vile, chilly‘cold’ and chilly‘hateful’, Russian dialect squeeze‘to get cold’ and ancient Greek stygnos[styugnos] ‘hateful’, etc.

Compare Old Russian damn‘slicing’ and damn, Lithuanian kertu[kyartý] ‘I rub, I cut’.

These three meanings in modern Russian differ in their plural forms. ‘Baked bread’ will have the shape here breads, ‘standing bread’ - of bread, and ‘grain bread’ is generally used only in the singular.

Suffix - un Both words are of relatively late origin. But alternating suffixes - V- And - T- are quite ancient. Compare Old Slavic. pѣ-t-ъ ‘rooster’, Russian. dialect . pe-v-ate And pe-t-ate‘rooster’, as well as Ukrainian. pi-v-en‘rooster’, where the marked suffixes constantly appear - V- And - T-.

Purist – from Latin purus[pýrus] ‘pure’ – a supporter of cleansing the native language from unnecessary foreign words.

comme il faut– (lit. ‘as it should, as it should’) - ‘decently, decent’.

The Greeks called all non-Greeks barbarians. Consequently, barbarism is a word from a non-native language.

Ironic allusion to A.S. Shishkov, who opposed the use of foreign words in the Russian language.

In its modern meaning, this word was used in Russian at the end of the 19th century.

This sound is pronounced like Russian T aspirated, something like tx.

This is where the word originates in Russian Oh yeah.

“Science and Life”, 1969, No. 10, p. 108. See also: S. S. Narovchatov. Unusual literary criticism. M., 1970, p. 80.

Attempts at folk etymological interpretation of incomprehensible foreign words will be discussed below (see Chapter XXIV).

Compare in Russian: pfenning(Germanic borrowing).

The reader can find brief information about the etymology of foreign words that are not specifically discussed in the book in the Dictionary of Foreign Words.

The above transcription does not note the softness of the Lithuanian consonants included in this combination.

The Dutch language is closely related to German. Compare the German words in this regard Sonne[zone] ‘sun’ and decken[deken] ‘to cover’.

Related information.

Among the many questions surrounding us, the question stands out: why are the objects around us called this way and not another? In some cases it is possible to answer this question without much difficulty, in others it is difficult or impossible at all. For example, it is clear that the word “pilot” comes from the word “fly”, “window sill” from “under the window”, and the combinations “moon, shovel, spoon” cannot be explained as easily. None of the named words have sufficiently obvious connections in the language; we do not know the motivation for the lexical meanings of these words - that sign of the object on the basis of which their name originated.

The meaning that reflects the characteristic by which the object is named is called the motivating or internal form of the word. Therefore, all words are divided into two groups: 1) words with a clear, understandable motivation for meaning, internal form: tselinnik (from “virgin land”), whitewash (from “white”). 2) words with an unclear or incomprehensibly motivated meaning - “wall”, “water”, “forty”, “thousand”, etc. The internal form of a word is present at the moment of its creation. In the course of historical development, they can be obscured and forgotten completely, as a result words with a lost internal form, or unmotivated words, appear.

The loss of the internal form is associated with the following changes: 1) with a change in the morphemic structure of the word: “Monday”, “day”, “gift”. 2) with a change in the phonetic appearance of the word: “tomorrow” - “behind the morning”, “cloud” - “to envelop”, “meticulous” - “who gets to the point”, but now we do not associate these words with these meanings. 3) semantic change of the word: “week” - we do not elevate it to “do”, “shoot” - to “arrow”. The inner form of such words is now lost, but it can be found by studying their history.

The science that studies etymons (the original internal form of a word) and the words that express them is called etymology.

2. The concept of etymology and etymological analysis

Etymology is a branch of linguistics that establishes the origin of a word, that is, its true original meaning. The subject of the study of etymology is vocabulary, all words found in ancient and new texts, all common nouns and proper ones. Its task is to find and explain the most ancient meanings and forms of words. To solve this problem, scientists widely use knowledge about the kinship of languages and about the sound laws that operated in languages in the distant past, so the etymologist constantly has to deal with the history of language and society.

Etymologization is an extremely difficult matter. The search for the original meaning of a word must be carried out taking into account: a) the history of the word. b) its connection with other words of the native language. c) its connections with related languages. d) the history of a given people

Let’s take the word “bazaar”, which began to be used in the Russian language in the 14th-15th centuries, borrowed from Turkic languages, apparently from Tatar. A sign of borrowing is synharmonism. In the Tatar language it means “covered market”. It was not found in the Russian language until the 14th century; it appeared as a result of Tatar influence, initially in southern dialects.

In the process of use, the word acquired new meanings; its content became broader than its internal form. The original, original meaning begins to be forgotten. Due to historical shifts in semantics, changes in sound appearance and morphological structure, the word often fell out of the chain of cognates. Such a break in semantic connections between words of related origin is called de-etymologization. For example, few people know that the words “valley” and “palm” are related. The genealogical root here is “dol” meaning “bottom”. Chain: doln - dolon - palm - palm - palm. The word “hoop” has long been unrelated to the word “hand,” although the root “hands” is the same. The words “bark”, “furrier”, “skin”, “izskura” - “soon” (skin) have the same root. The same root words are “virgin, virgin, kiss”; to kiss is to wish to be healthy, whole. The words “pike, feel, puny” have the same root; puny is one whose bones can be felt.

As a result of forgetting the original etymological meanings of words and the loss of internal form in the language, such combinations of words become possible that, in the opinion of linguists, are meaningless - “white linen, black ink”, the original meanings of words in a phrase are logically incompatible.

3. The phenomenon of folk etymology

Every person, especially in childhood, encounters unfamiliar words, which he tries to understand and etymologize, but not on the scientific principles of analysis, but on random comparisons caused by the simple consonance of words. In these cases, we are dealing with the phenomenon of folk (or false) etymology. Folk etymology is an arbitrary convergence of words of different origins based on random comparisons or consonances. There are two main types of folk etymology: in first case an unknown word, one’s own or someone else’s, mistakenly becomes closer in consonance to known ones and is endowed with a new meaning.

For example, the word "pillow" is similar to the word "ear", although in fact the etymological root here is "spirit". The word "snub-nosed" in folk etymology is one with a nose like a chicken, but there is actually no connection with chicken. Previously, the word “horny” was in use, the first root of which is associated with the word “to cut off”, i.e. make it short. As a result of haplology, “corn-nosed” turned into “snub-nosed”, and there was a convergence with the word “chicken”. “Nearsighted” is one who brings his hands close to his eyes. However, in fact, there was the word “myopic” (sharp near), which again, as a result of haplology, turned into “myopic”, and again converged with the word “hand”. For all these reasons, in children's understanding, for example, the word “rider” is the one who works in the garden, “village” - where there are many trees, “idler” - who makes boats, “mill” - the miller’s wife. In the second case, an unfamiliar word is associated with known words in meaning, and in accordance with this changes its sound. In children's speech, “vaseline” turns into “mazelin”, “policeman” into “policeman”, “cracker” into “kusarik”, “spring” into “circle”, “fan” into “vertilator”.

Folk etymology is used as a vivid stylistic means for creating speech characteristics, for example, in Leskov’s works of art. This famous writer of the 19th century noticed how subtly and unusually the people etymologized everything difficult, foreign language and boldly introduced into his works the words “gulvar” (instead of “boulevard”), “spinzhak” (instead of “jacket”), governess (instead of “governess” ), and instead of “multiplication table” and “capital” - “multiplication dot” and “kapital” (from “to save”).

Scientific etymology is reflected in the following dictionaries: 1) N.M. Shansky, V.V., Ivanov, T.V. Shanskaya “A short etymological dictionary of the Russian language” / manual for teachers. 2) M. Vasmer “Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language” in 4 volumes. 3) N.M. Shansky, T.A. Bobrov "Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language". M., 1994

- "Anarchy": an archy: a folksy architect?

No, “anarchy”: an (without) + archy (the arched thing): someone who will not patronize MacDonalds.

"Anarchy" is an archy- as a popular name for an architect (“architect”)

No, Anarchy is an (without) and archy (something resembling an arch) - a person who does not visit McDonald's (the McDonald's symbol is two yellow arches forming the letter M).

From a conversation between two Americans

The etymology of words often fascinates people who have a vague understanding of linguistics. The most linguistically unprepared people express the most categorical judgments regarding the most complex etymological problems. Imagine a person who cannot distinguish the smell of an orange tree from the aroma of patchouli leaves - this will be our linguist, but a person absolutely far from the art of creating perfumes. Surely he will be sure that orange tree extract smells exactly like its fruit, patchouli ether is just an oil with a tropical smell, and he will not have a clear idea of what this “something tropical” smells like. Now let a person far from linguistics try to determine the etymology of a word, for example, “beluga” and “squirrel”. Based on the consonance, we can assume that both of these words have something in common with the word “white,” but this person will no longer be able to back it up with facts. The linguist will answer that our layman was partly right, the beluga was indeed called “beluga” because of the white color of the lower part of the body, but with the “squirrel” there will be difficulties. The word appeared in the 14th century, and before that there was “belaverevitsa” - a rare breed of white squirrels that existed in Ancient Rus'. But the word “ravine” has nothing to do with “enemies”, “envious people”, or anything “unfriendly”. “Ravine” is also an old Russian word meaning “spring, seething stream.” Here we see what was discussed in the previous chapter - this is a case when a word loses all sorts of “indicators” of its origin, when we simply cannot do without a particularly thorough analysis with the restoration of all semantic reconstructions.

We are talking about separating the non-scientific approach to etymology from the actual linguistic analysis of the word. Such arbitrary analysis, not supported by anything other than philistine intuition and superficial outlook, is usually called popular etymology. The ancient Romans called such etymological comparisons “bull” or “cow” etymology. Since “etymologies” of this kind often arose among the people, these false interpretations were later called “folk etymology” (as opposed to scientific etymology).

We have come closer to what we mentioned at the very beginning, talking about ancient etymology, about the arbitrariness of interpretation that existed at that time until the end of the Middle Ages. Folk etymology is the transformation of words towards their convergence with other words that seem (due to similar meanings, or forms, or various associations) related. For example, among the Stoics the convergence of the Latin crux - “cross” with crus, which means “leg”.

The concept of folk etymology, and its relationship to etymological science

The term “folk etymology” itself was introduced by the German linguist Ernst Förstemann in 1852 to designate a specific linguistic phenomenon - a complete or partial rethinking of a word as a result of its arbitrary convergence with other similar-sounding words, originating from the German - “volksetymologie” and the French - “ "etymologie populaire". But this phenomenon appeared long before it was comprehended by scientific minds. As mentioned above, the first etymological guesses appeared with the advent of even the most primitive language. But only over time did scientists learn to separate false etymology from truly scientific etymology, with the help of a large store of accumulated knowledge and methods.

The Great Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius gives the following definition: “Folk etymology is the understanding of the morphological composition of a word and the motivation of its meaning based on convergence with consonant words that are different from it in origin.” The Oxford Dictionary gives a similar definition: “...the adaptation of the form of an unfamiliar or foreign word during use so that the word can be related to a word or phrase already known to the speaker.” Examples are also given there: in the word “crayfish » (crawfish, back away, retreat, back down), coming from the Middle English "crevice" (crack, crevice, crevice; cleft; break; break), the last syllable being understood to mean "fish", and not as part of a compound word. "Brideguma", which came from Old English, meant "newlywed", but over time the second part of the compound word became "groom", and nowadays the groom or newlywed in English is denoted by the word "bridegroom".

Scientists etymologists distinguish several types of word changes, and in connection with this they distinguish several types of etymologies. But the problem is the blurred boundaries between the proposed terms. Folk etymology is usually called popular and false, but most researchers still prefer the latter option, for example, R.R. Gelgardt believes that the term "false etymology" more successful, although it may contain some internal contradictions [Gelgardt R.R. “On lexical assimilation in connection with false (folk) etymology”, 1956].

There are no difficulties in determining children's etymology, since this is still the same process of “word creation”, closest to folk etymology, but produced by children, children's associations about unfamiliar things. It’s strange, isn’t it, that a child considers himself a “truant” if he goes for a walk with his parents.

But modern linguists use two more interesting terms - “pseudo-etymology” and “pseudo-folk etymology”. For clarification, let us give an example from the work of A.P. Chekhov, when his character interpreted “carnal love” as “love on a raft”, and for him a “bachelor” is “a hunter shooting with blank cartridges.” Thus, these two types of etymology are most often found in works of art, when the author wants to show the hero’s lack of education, or the color of, for example, a village, rural area, where illiteracy can give rise to comedy. They have an occasional coloring, that is, this etymology is fictitious. Here is V.V.’s entry. Mayakovsky, a record of a real event, about the phenomenon of false etymology: when he asked the peasants if they knew what a pavilion was, one said: “I understand. This is the main one who commands everyone.” If this case had been invented by him, we could call it pseudo-folk occasional etymology, but since it is real, it is a case of folk etymology, born of an attempt to understand an unfamiliar word.

As can be seen from the above methodology of folk etymologization, by “pseudo-etymology” the authors understand the same “folk etymology”, that is, “folk interpretation”, but in that part of it that gives occasional meaning. The term “pseudo-etymology” does not convey anything fundamentally new. Likewise, pseudo-folk etymology is the deliberate creation of a “new” word.

Sometimes the incorrect etymology of such words is disseminated through completely authoritative sources, such as special literature on etymology, because it was taken seriously by mistake. Thus, linguists do not exclude the possibility that the lexical composition of a language can be replenished not only by its established methods, but also with the help of words that came “from the people.” A false etymology may well be perceived as scientific, and a “freshly invented” word may enter the dictionary and become commonly used. This happened with many abusive, vulgar words in the English language, for example, most of which came into use at the end of the 20th century.

Folk etymology in English

Folk or false etymology in English is called folk (fake) etymology, popular etymology. But I would like to note that not all English linguists consider the terms “folk” and “fake” to be identical, unlike Russian linguists.

Richard Leddener, an English linguist, for example, believes that false etymology is “an invented explanation for the origin of a word.” It can be spread through jokes or made-up puns that are circulated and treated as real stories and facts.

According to Leddener, false etymology (manufactured words or phrases) should be distinguished from folk etymology, a linguistic process in which words or a phrase are transformed as a result of a misunderstanding of the origin of that word. In defense of his opinion, he provided examples:

The word “golf” is popularly attributed to the acronym “Gentlemen Only; Ladies Forbidden" (for gentlemen only, ladies not allowed). But we know from history that the word “golf” is more than 500 years old. It was first mentioned in 1457 by King James II, in a document officially banning the game of golf in order to restore the popularity of shooting and archery. In the ancient Scottish manuscripts the spelling is, of course, different - gouff, goffe, goff, gowff, and golph, since before the advent of dictionaries people wrote by ear, as it turned out. An acronym cannot be formed from any of these words, and acronyms only came into use at the end of the 20th century.

The word "pommy" originated in Australia and is slang for a person of British origin, an emigrant from the UK. The true etymology of the word is unknown, the most common incorrect version again referring to the acronym "P.O.M.E" - Prisoner of Mother England (prisoner of Mother England), this abbreviation, according to one version, was used in the personal documentation of criminals transported from England to Australia.

An acronym was also invented for the word “news” with a decoding that includes all cardinal directions - North, East, West, South (north, east, west, south). However, the old spelling of this word varies greatly: newesse, newis, nevis, neus, newys, niewes, newis, nues, and so on.

A large place in false etymology is occupied by the so-called “Urban Legends” - “facts” obtained from anecdotes and rumors, but taken quite seriously. So, for example, the idiom “rule of thumb” (rule or law of the thumb) in translation sounds like “a practical method” (as opposed to a scientific one), “approximate calculation”. Urban legends give this idiom its original origin - the phrase spread from a list of laws in Old England, according to which a husband was allowed to beat his wife with a stick that was no thicker in diameter than his thumb.

The history of the emergence of such a concept as “caesarean section” is interesting. This concept is identical in translation into many languages. But the ancient folk etymology of this concept is most clearly manifested in the English language: there is a fictional story that Julius Caesar was born thanks to such an operation and in his honor it was called Caesarean Section, that is, “caesarean section”. It is interesting to note that this legend has taken hold in the German language under the name "Kaiserschnitt", which literally means "imperial section".

How would you explain the origin of the name “Jerusalem artichoke” if you were told that it is a type of sunflower in the USA and Canada? Folk etymology intervened in the history of this name, and from the Italian “girasole” (sunflower), according to consonance, “Jerusalem” was formed. “Artichoke” appeared due to the fact that the tubers of this plant resemble artichokes in taste and shape.

The word “cutlet”, which came into English from French (cфtelette), was mistakenly associated with the verb “cut” (to cut), a hint of this remained in the spelling of the word.

Another branch in folk etymology are false eponyms (names, often surnames of people that have become names or symbols). This direction was developed precisely in English linguistics. Here are some examples of false eponyms: Leopold von Asphalt (“asphalt”), Sir George Curry (“curry”), Joao Marmalado (“marmalade”), Gottfried Lager (“lager beer”), Antoine de Cabaret (“cabaret”), Pierre-Alphonse Buffet (“buffet”), Etienne Corset (“corset”), Jorge-Luis Avocado (“avocado”). All these words resemble the names of real or fictitious people who are “credited” with the invention of this or that device, dish, clothing... In fact, these words have a very definite scientific etymology. For example, “asphalt” comes from the Greek “asphaltos”; who Leopold Von Asphalt really was and whether he existed at all, history is silent.

Thus, from the last two chapters we can conclude that the phenomenon of folk etymology or “popular etymology” is inherent in all languages without exception, somewhere to a greater extent, and somewhere to a lesser extent. But to identify it and to clarify all the details of the transformations, a fairly deep knowledge of the language, the history of the people speaking it, and the cultural realities of a particular country is required.

Among other things, the fact remains unchanged that some words (perhaps even those included in special etymological dictionaries), which have a completely worthy scientific explanation of their origin, were actually once changed by the people, on purpose or out of ignorance, and the real etymology has been lost to centuries. Thus, linguists do not exclude the possibility that the etymology found in the most reputable etymological dictionary is incorrect, and that it may be popular, incorrect, false. This was discussed in the work just above, when scientists recognized the fact that it was impossible to identify the exact origin of the word due to insufficient knowledge and written sources.

Sociolinguistics and its connection with folk etymology

Language is a phenomenon of the spiritual culture of humanity, one of the forms of social consciousness. The uniqueness of language as a form of social consciousness lies in the fact that language not only reflects the world and is a prerequisite for social consciousness, but is a semantic foundation and a universal shell of various forms of social consciousness. Through language, a form of transmission of social experience (cultural norms and traditions, natural science and technological knowledge) inherent only to humans is carried out. We talk about such concepts in the context of sociological linguistics.

Sociolinguistics is a branch of linguistics that studies the connection between language and the social conditions of its existence, developed at the intersection of linguistics, sociology, social psychology and ethnography. The science is relatively young, it began to take shape at the beginning of the 20th century (20-30s), when linguists paid attention to language as a social phenomenon. In the context of this science, many opinions have been put forward regarding the fact that language can influence human thinking, as well as theories about the nature of the relationships between linguistic and social structures. The typology of linguistic situations characterized by the distribution of social functions between different languages and dialects used by a given group has become widespread. In addition, social linguistics has established patterns of interaction between languages in various social conditions and the mutual influence of culture and language.

The importance of sociocultural relations in the study of the history of words should be emphasized. They constitute a fundamental aspect of etymological research, and the history of words is inseparable from the history of culture and civilization. Semantic universals are based primarily on cultural universals that reflect collective human experience. The connection between extra-linguistic reality and the concept, its verbal expression is not the same among different peoples, which is due to the cultural and historical differences of these peoples, the specifics of the development of their social consciousness. From here the conclusion is drawn about the differences in linguistic pictures of the world among different peoples.

One of the main problems studied by sociolinguistics is the problem of social differentiation of language at all levels of its structure, and in particular the nature of the relationships between linguistic and social structures, which are indirect. The structure of social differentiation of language is multidimensional and includes both class differentiation due to the heterogeneity of the social structure and situational differentiation due to the diversity of social situations. Thus, considering the issue of folk etymology, it would be interesting to note that this phenomenon is characterized by certain patterns associated with the social stratification of language, which is studied by sociolinguistics.

The phenomenon of folk etymology has been studied until now almost exclusively from the point of view of subjective psychological linguistics. Meanwhile, in the phenomena of folk etymology, in its direction, class ideology finds a very clear expression.

The phenomenon of folk etymology is a striking sign of vernacular speech, therefore, when we hear an interesting word or phrase, we can easily guess from what environment it came to us, or who and why would use the word in this meaning. For example, if a person far from geography suggests that there is such a country called “Oystria,” we probably will not immediately guess that he meant Austria.

Another area where the use of folk etymologization is very popular is fiction. In fact, this point is very close to the first, because here we are also talking about poorly educated people.

Such words, reinterpreted by chance consonance and semantic similarity, convey the mood of the environment where the author’s hero is placed. For example, N.S. Leskova: the character uses speeches that are understandable to any reader, but something in them is deliberately changed: “governess” (“governess” and “nanny”), “gulvar” (“boulevard” and “walk”), “beliefs” ( “variations” and “probability”), “melkoskop” (“microscope” and “small”), “prelamut” - (the result of combining two similar-sounding words “mother of pearl” and “refract light”), “bustra” (combining similar by the sound of the words “busts” and “chandeliers”, both of these words denote objects that decorate the hall, and therefore are semantically similar).

Sometimes such folk etymologies acquire greater satirical expressiveness, for example: “tugament” (“document” and “tuga” from “to grieve”), “slander” (“feuilleton” and “slander”), “Abolon of Polveder” (an allusion to the famous statue Apollo Belvedere, the author used rearrangement of letters in these words to add a casual, folksy note to the name (half a bucket), “mimonoska”, “multiplication dolce” and so on.

Of course, such occasional formations of the authors are unlikely to be included in the dictionaries of the Russian language, but they are capable of enriching colloquial speech with novelty and humorous notes.

Difficulty reading N.S. Some critics view Leskov from the perspective of the difficulty of translating his texts and the need to read in the original, therefore a number of researchers from Great Britain believe that Leskov cannot be considered a classic due to the specifics of his difficult-to-translate style.

Examples of your own translations:

1) Prelamut - No translation (Mother-of-pearl - mother of pearl)

2) Multiplication table - No translation (Hollow - hollow out, Multiplication table - multiplication table)

3) Pubel - Pooble(Poodle - poodle)

4) Dance - Dance(Dance - dance)

5) Abolon Polvedersky - No translation

6) Nymphosoria - Nymphusorian(Nymph - nymph, infusorian - ciliate)

7) Busters - No translation (Chandelier - chandelier, bust - bust)

8) Small scope - Smallcroscope(Small - small, microscope - microscope)

Thus, folk etymologization as a phenomenon is most often observed among poorly educated people, be it unconscious transformations from ignorance and illiteracy, or consciously selected versions of words by the author (occasional coloring of pseudo-folk etymologization).

But there is another area that is most interesting from the point of view of sociolinguistics - children's speech. The most interesting because no science about language pays such close attention to a child’s speech as social linguistics combined with folk etymology. Here, at the junction, the so-called children's etymology arises.

Children's etymology

Mom, let's come to an agreement. You will say “skids” in your own way, and I will say it in my own way. carts" After all, they do not “climb”, but carry.

Why do you say “chopping wood”? After all, they don’t chop wood, but axing.

And why gloves? Necessary fingers.

Why do you call them bagels? They are not made from sheep, but from bread.

The cow doesn't butt, but horns.

No one, perhaps, is more keenly interested in questions related to the origin of words than small children. You can hear dozens of questions from a child in a few hours, and sometimes they will make even an educated person think about the correct answer. Some of these “whys” relate to the native language, to the origin of words that the child is just beginning to use in his speech.

Small children need to understand everything, but if a word is not clear, the child will change it, perhaps completely unconsciously. But no matter how many examples of such “freshly invented” words the world knows, they are all formed according to the same model - semantic.

Children's etymology differs from folk etymology in that its authors are children of preschool and primary school age. Children's etymology is close to pseudo-folk, but differs from it. This difference lies in the fact that writers engage in pseudo-folk etymology for a specific purpose determined by their writing craft, while children, by changing words, strive to bring them into line with their existing ideas about the world of things and phenomena surrounding them. For some children, a hammer is not a “hammer” (because it is not used for hammering), but a “mallet” (because it is used for hammering).

If in folk etymology the alteration of an unfamiliar word or expression occurs spontaneously, then in children's etymology a commonly used word that is understandable to all adults is “corrected,” and children motivate their “correction” and treat it consciously, relying on their little life experience. The child reasons something like this: “What is placed on a sore spot should be called a “plaster”, not a “plaster”, as adults say." Or: “Do they cut with a plane? No, they plan it, so that means it should be called? "planed".

Here are several children's etymologies that we heard and recorded at different times: “bariness” (“baroness”, for some reason derived from “master”), “short” (instead of “short” due to “height”), crowd (instead of “crush” because of “crowd”), “herbivores” (instead of “herbivores” derived from “food”).

Such changes are always comical, sometimes even reaching the point of absurdity, but no matter what you hear, pay attention, the phrase will never be devoid of meaning.

Children's etymology is also united with folk etymology by the fact that the same word is etymologized in the same way by several children, as evidenced by K.I. Chukovsky in his book “From Three to Five.” Here is one example: “write - scribe”, “play - player", "read - reader", "lie - liar », « sleep - specialist". Chukovsky calls such word creation “unconscious mastery,” and explains many examples by the same method of comprehending heard words by unintentionally substituting a minimum number of sounds. If a child is unfamiliar with the word “vermouth,” he can turn it into “wormwood” without even thinking, and this will be “unconscious mastery.” An example of rethinking the word “Austria” in English in consonance with “oyster” (oyster) has already been mentioned above, but this idea belongs specifically to a child’s imagination.

The children's humor magazine “Funny Pictures” quotes the following words on its pages: “varyulya” (instead of “pan”), “injection” (instead of “needle”), attributed to children’s etymology. As for such words as “toothgrab” (instead of “crocodile”), “dilibomchik” (instead of “bell”), cited in the same place, they cannot be attributed to words of children’s etymology, since they are not altered, but created anew. These are occasional neoplasms.

In one of the films, a little boy, in a conversation with his father, said that he would like pancakes with “chocolate shavers” (chocolate electric razors), to which the father good-naturedly replied - not “shavers”, but “shavings” - which in translation sounded like: “Not cheesecakes, but shavings, stupid.” This is the kind of play on words that can happen when translating such “word creations”.

Children's etymology? This is such an alteration of commonly used words, which, in the opinion of children, brings clarity to the content of the corrected word, correlating the latter with another word that is well known to them.

Thus, if a child does not notice a direct correspondence between the function of an object and its name, he corrects the name, emphasizing in this word the only function of the object that he was able to discern. Thus, we are convinced again and again that the development of a child’s speech is a unity of imitation and creativity. The child unconsciously demands that the sound has meaning, that the word has a living, tangible image; and if this is not the case, the child himself will give the unknown word the desired image and meaning. But again, it cannot be said that the vocabulary of the official written Russian or English language will be replenished as a result of children's word creation, but oral speech will again surprise the listener with its liveliness and truly endless possibilities for linguistic experimentation.

A very old text from the magazine "Foreign Languages and Study Abroad"

In the 1990s, the word began to be actively used in the Russian language privatization, previously found only in the works of academic economists. And almost immediately another word appeared - privatization. Why did it arise? Why do they sometimes say in common parlance semi-clinic instead of clinic, spinjak instead of blazer, nervousness instead of neurosis?
The fact is that words in a language differ in the degree of “transparency” and human understandability. Word boletus"transparent" means "grows under the birch tree." But about cactus a person cannot say why it is named that way. Linguists call words of the first type motivated or having internal shape. Sometimes people, faced with an unmotivated word, try to comprehend it, and as a result, a new word appears, which already has an internal form that is understandable to a person. And so they appeared privatization, semi-clinic, spinjak, nervousness and other similar words. The German linguist Förssmann called this phenomenon folk etymology. This is the definition given to folk etymology by the “dictionary of linguistic terms”: “the desire to look for internal form in words as a rational explanation of the meaning of words without taking into account the real facts of their origin.” If scientific etymology establishes the origin of words and explores their history, then folk etymology tries to explain words on the basis of random consonance.
Folk etymology, naturally, is found not only in the Russian language. English name of the dance country dance literally "country dance", in French it became contredanse"counterdance", where the first part of the name literally means "counter-". Name of medicine liqueur a pioncer"sleepy drink" - the result of the transformation liqueur opiacee"opium drink" The fire-resistant mineral from which smoking pipes are sometimes made is called meerschaum. This mineral is mined in mines, not on the seabed. Where does this name come from? Previously, pipes produced by the manufacturer were common in France Kummer. They were called pipe de Kummer"Kummer's pipe", but this name through folk etymology turned into pipe d'écume de mer"sea foam pipe" Later, under the influence of French, the names of this mineral appeared in other languages: German Meerschaum and Russian meerschaum 1 . Italian name for tomato pomi dei Mori"Apples of the Moors", the French perceived as pommes d'amour"apples of love", thanks to the French language, similar names also appeared in English and German: love-apples And Liebesäpfel, now obsolete.
The Hausa language is spoken in northern Nigeria. Since its speakers are Muslim, it was written in the 18th century based on the Arabic alphabet. At the end of the 19th century, after the colonization of Nigeria by the British, a variant of writing based on the Latin alphabet appeared. This option is called boko- "Latin letter; secular European education" (from English book"book"). However, the word is the same as a Hausa word meaning “counterfeit, counterfeit, deceit.” This coincidence was used by the Muslim clergy in agitation against Christian preachers and Europeans in general. Word boko continued to be used in independent Nigeria. In 1965, the poet Aliyu Husaini composed a poem for the election campaign dedicated to one of the political leaders of Northern Nigeria, Ahmad Bello (Sardauna). Here is an excerpt from it:
Sardauna ya ce gadararku boko
In mun ga dama mu d"auke shi soko
Domin fa mu ba mu salla da boko
Can Lahira ba aiki da boko
Allah ka taimaki mai gaskiya
Sardauna said that your Latin alphabet is a betrayal
We should treat it like it's stupid
After all, we do not use the Latin alphabet in our faith
And in Heaven there is no Latin alphabet
May Allah help those who are on the side of truth 2
Here are more examples of folk etymology. During the war trip food card issued to those traveling to another city. Quite quickly they began to call her regular, A rail, associated with the word rails. The English name of the animal - garden dormouse - dormouse appeared due to the fact that the French word dormeuse"sleeper" was confused with English mouse"mouse". The ancient Greeks, trying to explain the origin of words, also often resorted to folk etymology, and sometimes, in particularly difficult cases, even invented artificial words. Examples of such words can be found in Plato's dialogue Cratylus. So from a made-up word sela-eno-nea-aeia“the eternally old and eternally new luminary” supposedly comes from the word Selene"Moon".
It happens that only one of the two parts of an incomprehensible word changes. This is how words like: brotherhood penalty instead of brotherhood, meatball instead of meatball, governess instead of governess. The famous Swiss linguist F. de Saussure called such words “folk etymologies stuck halfway.”
The destiny of words created by folk etymology is, at best, vernacular, reduced, illiterate speech. However, it also happens that such words enter the language, and their predecessors disappear. So, in the Russian word ant in fact, the first syllable should have sounded O, not U (compare with Polish mrowka). But once in the Russian language this word was influenced by the word ant. As a result, Old Russian Morovian turned into ant. In a word wing historically there was a vowel I (Serbian winged, Slovenian krilo, Czech kr&@x00ED;dlo, Old Russian winged). But under the influence of the verb cover the root vowel changed, and in modern Russian this word turned into wing. At the word gudgeon the story is more complicated. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this word was more often written with an I: minnow, however, since the 17th century, writing has been noticed gudgeon, which later became the only one. This fish does not have a generally accepted etymology: perhaps it is related to the Latin piscis"fish" may be derived from the word squeak, and maybe from the word sand. If the assumptions of scientists linking gudgeon with the Latin word are correct, then both Russian etymologies turn out to be folk. Under the influence of folk etymology, the verb received a new meaning dominate, which used to mean “to be sufficient.” He was brought closer to words press, pressure, and it got the meaning “to crush, suppress, weigh down.”
The principles of folk etymology are actively used in the speech of children. K.I. Chukovsky also gave the following examples: street man - policeman, mazelin - petrolatum and others. Later, when children go to school, folk etymology may serve them badly. Having encountered an unknown word in a dictation, they write it down, trying to correlate it with familiar words, and as a result, errors occur. Teachers noted, for example, the following writings: sports competition(close to the word sport), capital(with the word save up), dating(With give), stink(With stench).
If folk etymology bothers schoolchildren, it often helps writers. N. S. Leskov, for example, created words such as: busters(from busts And chandeliers), propaganda(from propaganda And frighten), motarius(from reel And notary), microscope(from microscope And small), and so on.
With the help of folk etymology, incomprehensible geographical names are often explained. In the northeast of European Russia there is a river Shuya, from which the surname of the princes Shuisky came. It is often believed that this river name comes from the Slavic word awesome"left", shuitza"left hand". But in fact, this name appeared when tribes who spoke Finnish languages lived near the river. It comes from words related to Finnish suo- "swamp" and oja- "river". Same word suo present in the name of Finland - Suomi. The ancient Greek historian Diodorus in the book “Historical Library” says that one day shepherds left a fire unattended in the mountains, which completely burned out an entire mountain area. Therefore, according to Diodorus, these mountains began to be called Pyrenees(from Greek pyr- fire). In fact, the name of the Pyrenees Mountains is related to the word pyren"peak, mountain range" in Basque. This is not surprising, since the Basques are the oldest inhabitants of these places.
Folk etymology is often used in myths to explain obscure names. The name of the goddess of love is Aphrodite- was once borrowed by the ancient Greeks from the Phoenicians. But the Greeks did not understand this name, and they tried to interpret it using words aphros"foam" and dynō"diving". Many believe that this is how the myth of the birth of Aphrodite from sea foam appeared.
In the Old Testament we often see the use of folk etymology. Eve (Heb. Chavva) gets her name from the word “life” (Heb. chayim), since she became the mother of all living (Gen. 3:20). Scientific etymology connects the name of Eve with the Aramaic name Hevya. The name of Cain (Hebrew: blacksmith) in the book of Genesis is derived from the word kana “to acquire,” for Eve at his birth said that she “had acquired a man from the Lord” (Gen. 4:1). The name of the city of Babylon (Heb. Bavel) is derived from the verb balal "to mix", since the languages of the builders of the Tower of Babel were mixed there. In fact, the city's name comes from Semitic roots meaning "gate of god."
In the book of Exodus we can read that Moses (Heb. Moshe) got his name because when the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh, having found a basket with a baby in the reeds, “she called his name Moses, because, she said, I She took him out of the water" (Exodus 2:10). However, this interpretation of the name contradicts the rules of Jewish grammar. The word Moshe can be interpreted as a form of the verb limshot "to pull out", but only as active, not passive, that is, "one who pulls out" and not "one who is pulled out." In addition, it is unlikely that the Egyptian woman spoke Hebrew. The name Moses is Egyptian. It is a word meaning "child" and is a contraction of many names derived from Egyptian gods. Among such names: Amon-mose "Amon-child", Pta-mose "Pta-child", Tut-mose (Tutmose) "That-child" or Ram-mose (Ramses) "Ra-child". These names, in turn, are probably abbreviations of the full expressions "Amon (gave) the child" or "Ptah (gave) the child." The word Mose was used as a shortened version of all these names, and is found in Egyptian monuments.
Sometimes folk etymology is used to explain why a particular saint patronizes a particular activity. For example, earlier in some regions of Russia, trade in new harvest onions began on the day of St. Luke the Evangelist. Folk etymology has also given rise to a number of signs. Here is one of them: from St. Lupp the frost crushes the oats (that is, the oats fall off). The day of the holy martyr Lupus of Thessaloniki fell on August 23 (September 5, new style). The Monk Theodore the Studite, who lived in Byzantium in the 8th century, received his nickname from the Studite Monastery. The church celebrates his memory on November 11 (24), and the people created a proverb: “Fyodor chills the earth.” In accordance with Russian folk beliefs, on Saint Pud (April 15 (23)) it was necessary to “get the bees out of hiding,” and on the day of the Holy Martyr Basilisk of Komansky (March 3 (16)) they did not sow or plow so that the field would not it became clogged and the cornflowers did not grow.
Sometimes it is proposed to distinguish between folk etymology (explanation of an incomprehensible word using similar words) and folk word production (word changes under the influence of folk etymology, Baudouin de Courtenay's term).

1. It’s not entirely clear about this foam; it seems that according to other sources, it actually occurs in the sea and actually foams.