Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
Process of word formation based on a reinterpretation of meaning and a reformation of an archaic, foreign word modeled after a similarsounding known word with a similar meaning. Through this diachronic linguistic process, incomprehensible words are (secondarily) motivated, i.e. their meanings are made transparent through a seemingly plausible interpretation. Analogy and assimilation play an important role in this process, and the original meaning is obscured, cf. Eng.
asparagus as sparrow-grass and Fr. choucroute (lit. ‘cabbage crust,’ an assimilated loan word based on Ger. Sauerkraut), or Arawakan hamaka ‘hammock’>Span. hamaca>Fr. hamac became Du. hangmak, hangmat, NHG Hängematte (hängen ‘to hang,’ Matte ‘mat’).
References
etymology
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