Popular Etymology

[DavidHouston]

The Journal of the Royal Institute carries a number of articles in Thai concerning Thai language, as one might expect. The following article may be found in 2007:

"Abstract Popular Etymology: Vocabulary Adaptations Between Thai, Pali-Sanskrit, and English Languages" by Nitaya Kanchanawan,

Associate Fellow of the Academy of Arts, The Royal Institute, Thailand

An English language abstract is provided:

"Foreign words, archaic words, and dialects whose original meanings maybe unknown

maybe borrowed and adapted to local words or sounds that convey specific meanings. In the

Thai language the so-called “borrowed” words or phrases maybe changed into Thai (Siamization)

or Pali-Sanskrit (Pali-Sanskritization) which may or may not convey the original meaning.

Conversion in the opposite direction is the adaptation from Thai into English (Anglicization) of

words or phrases whose new meaning(s) maybe changed or may not carry the sense of the

original meaning."

ฺBTW, the Thai title of the article is, in part, "การลากเข้าความ" which, according to Domnern Sathienpong, means "forcing or straining a meaning or an argument " which the author translates into English as "Popular Etymology". If anyone has any notion as to how these seemingly distant phrases relate, I would certainly appreciate an explanation. Thanks.

For those of you who might be interested in these things, the original Thai article may be downloaded, or, if you send me a PM with your email address, I would be happy to send it to you.

[Rikker]

[Here's a direct link to the downloadable PDF on the Royal Institute site: Popular Etymology: Vocabulary Adaptations Between Thai, Pali-Sanskrit, and English Languages (in Thai)]

"Popular etymology" is also known as folk etymology, which can refer to two separate but related things. They are (to quote Wikipedia):

1. A commonly held misunderstanding of the origin of a particular word, a false etymology.

2. "The popular perversion of the form of words in order to render it apparently significant"; "the process by which a word or phrase, usually one of seemingly opaque formation, is arbitrarily reshaped so as to yield a form which is considered to be more transparent."

An example of the first is the false belief that "crap" comes from the name of Thomas Crapper, who helped popularize the flush toilet (the word was common long before his time and can be traced back to Old English and beyond).

An example of the second is cater-corner becoming kitty-corner or catty-corner, after the original meaning of cater ("four") became obsolete.

The first is a type of misconception. The second is a type of productive force that can actually change words and phrases. A false etymology could also exist for a word whose form has been altered by folk etymology, causing it to satisfy both of the meanings of 'folk etymology'. Say, if I made up some story about the origin of the phrase "kitty corner" that involved cats.

The Thai phrase ลากเข้าความ seems clearly to be the second sense. To interpret it literally (with some parenthetical clarification), I'd say it means "dragging (a word) into a (different incorrect) meaning".

One example that comes to mind, that I don't notice in her article (though I haven't read it carefully yet) is the idea that the native Thai word รัก (love) comes from the Indic รักษา (care for). Sometimes, particularly in older documents, you'll see รัก spelled รักษ์, in the sense 'love', as in ฉันรักษ์เธอ. This basically satisfies both meanings 1 and 2 listed above, insofar as a spelling change represents an alteration of the word (since they're homophones).

Interesting topic, and interesting article, though I think the actual history of some of the words she gives is more complex than folk etymology. Thanks for posting it, David.

Edited April 29, 2008 by Rikker

[mangkorn]

Thanks, Rikker. I have long wondered about รักษ์ - which can sometimes be seen even in contemporary public-service advertising.