Ghost word

A ghost word is a meaningless word that came into existence or acceptance, not by being derived through long-standing usage, nor by being coined at need, but only as the result of an error. In the best-known examples such an error will have caused the word to be published in a dictionary or similarly authoritative reference work. Alternatively, ghost words sometimes have been published or come into use because of errors in communication, such as misinterpretation, mispronunciation, misreading, or typographical or linguistic confusion.

Once authoritatively published, a ghost word commonly becomes widely copied and takes a long time to be erased from usage (eg "morse", as discussed in this article); sometimes such a word even comes into permanent usage (eg "scapegoat", also described below).

Contents 1 Origin of the term 2 More examples 3 More difficult examples 4 Incorrect use of the term ghost word 5 Pernicious effects of ghost words 6 See also 7 References 8 Links

Origin of the term

The term "Ghost-words" was coined and originally presented in public by Professor Walter William Skeat in his annual address as president of the Philological Society in 1886.^[1] He said in part:

Of all the work which the Society has at various times undertaken, none has ever had so much interest for us, collectively, as the New English Dictionary. Dr. Murray, as you will remember, wrote on one occasion a most able article, in order to justify himself in omitting from the Dictionary the word abacot, defined by Webster as "the cap of state formerly used by English kings, wrought into the figure of two crowns." It was rightly and wisely rejected by our Editor on the ground that there is no such word, the alleged form being due to a complete mistake ... due to the blunders of printers or scribes, or to the perfervid imaginations of ignorant or blundering editors. ...

I propose, therefore, to bring under your notice a few more words of the abacot type; words which will come under our Editor's notice in course of time, and which I have little doubt that he will reject. As it is convenient to have a short name for words of this character, I shall take leave to call them "ghost-words." ... I only allow the title of ghost-words to such words, or rather forms, as have no meaning whatever. (emphasis added in this article)

...I can adduce at least two that are somewhat startling. The first is kime... The original ... appeared in the Edinburgh Review for 1808. " The Hindoos... have some very savage customs... Some swing on hooks, some run kimes through their hands..."

It turned out that "kimes" was a misprint for "knives", but the word gained currency for some time. A more drastic example followed, also citing Skeat's address:^[2]

A similar instance occurs in a misprint of a passage of one of Scott's novels, but here there is the further amusing circumstance that the etymology of the false word was settled to the satisfaction of some of the readers. In the majority of editions of The Monastery, we read: ... dost thou so soon morse thoughts of slaughter?

This word is nothing but a misprint of nurse; but in _Notes and Queries_ two independent correspondents accounted for the word morse etymologically. One explained it as to prime, as when one primes a musket, from O. Fr. amorce, powder for the touchhole (Cotgrave), and the other by to bite (Lat. _mordere_), hence to indulge in biting, stinging or gnawing thoughts of slaughter. The latter writes: "That the word as a misprint should have been printed and read by millions for fifty years without being challenged and altered exceeds the bounds of probability."(italics added in this article) Yet when the original manuscript of Sir Walter Scott was consulted, it was found that the word was there plainly written nurse.

More examples

In his address, Skeat exhibited something like a hundred more specimens that he had collected; we omit them here.

Other examples include:

* The supposed Homeric Greek word στητη = "woman", which arose thus: In Iliad Book 1 line 6 is the phrase διαστητην ερισαντε = "two [= Achilles and Agamemnon ] stood apart making strife", where later someone not familiar with dual number verb inflections read it as δια στητην ερισαντε = "two making strife because of a στητη", and he guessed that στητη meant the woman Briseis who was the subject of the strife.

* The placename Sarum, which arose by misunderstanding the medieval-type writing abbreviation Sar~ which was intended to mean some early form such as "Sarisberie" (= Salisbury).

* The most famous example in English (and many other languages whose translations of the bible are based on the same sources) is "scapegoat" which is a mistranslation of the word Azazel (In Hebrew: עזאזל) originated by William Tyndale in his 1530 Bible, and appropriated in the King James Version of the Bible (Leviticus chapter 16) in 1611. Confounded by the word, Tyndale had interpreted Azazel as ez ozel – literally, "the goat that departs"; hence "(e)scape goat." According to the Talmud, Yoma 67b, Azazel is a contraction of az (harsh) and eil (strong) and refers to the most rugged of mountains. This identification is supported by Rashi, the great Medieval grammarian, who interpreted Azazel to be the name of a specific mountain or cliff over which the goat was driven.^[3] According to R.H. Charles, it was called so for its reputation as the holding place of the fallen angel of the same name.^[4] Modern scholars generally reject Tyndale's interpretation and favor one related to a fallen angel/evil demon interpretation. Today in modern Hebrew Azazel is used derogatorily, as in lekh la-Azazel ("go to Azazel"), as in "go to hell".

More difficult examples

Many neologisms, including those that eventually develop into established usages, are of obscure origin, and some might well have originated as ghost words through illiteracy, for example "Okay". However, establishing the true origin often is not possible, partly for lack of documentation, and sometimes through obstructive efforts on the part of pranksters. Consult the etymology of pumpernickel for example, where what is probably the most popular story rationalising its etymology is apparently a deliberate hoax. "Quiz" also has been associated with apparently deliberate "false etymology". All these words and many more have remained in common usage, but they may well have been ghost words in origin.

Incorrect use of the term ghost word

A recent, incorrect use of the term "ghost word" refers to coining a new word implied logically from a real word, often etymologically incorrectly. The correct term is back-formation, a word that has been established since the late 19th century. An example is "beforemath" which is derived from "aftermath". In principle nothing prevents a back-formation from becoming a something like a ghost word, but it is not easy to find examples, and as a rule it would clash with one element in Skeat's definition: "...such words, or rather forms, as have no meaning..."

Pernicious effects of ghost words

Ghost words and similar errors and creations, certainly including back-formations, usually are at least troublesome as a source of neologisms and similar linguistic noise. More philosophically, one might as well regard them as a source of linguistic challenge and entertainment; probably most of them disappear harmlessly, and those that enter common use might well gain general acceptance simply because they express something comfortably, or otherwise meet a need. The ultimate origins of most words in any language are in essence no more respectable.

See also

• Corruption (linguistics)
• Dord
• False etymology
• Fictitious entry
• Folk etymology
• Howler (error)

References

Links

• Transactions of the Philological Society