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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
A counterfeit item is something false that imitates a real prototype. The current meaning of “counterfeit†is reflected in the word’s history: we make (Latin “facere,†wending into English through the French “fait†) a fake to stand opposed, in place of, counter to the reality it imitates.
I’m not sure how the last half of the compound word came to be spelled “feit.†One would have expected a word derived from “facere†to have come into English as “fet†or “fect,†in analogy with “confect,†“affect,†“infect.†(“Counterfeit†was, in fact, spelled on occasion as “counterfet†and “counterfect†before the spelling standardized around “feit.â€). Perhaps, though, the“feit†spelling isn’t that surprising–“forfeit†and “surfeit†also derive from “facere†words.
“Counterfeit†is widely misspelled as “counterfit.†The possibility that this is nothing more than a misspelling looms large, especially because we now pronounce last syllable exactly like the word “fit.†I suspect, however, that some users of “counterfit†are influenced by the meaning of the word “fit.†“Fit†means, among other things, to put in place, and a “counterfit†is put in place to imitate the real. I can feel myself pulled toward the meaning of “fit” whenever I hear or say the word “counterfeit.”
What we most often counterfeit is money. Lots of funny money, bogus bucks, dittoed dollars, and plumb nickels out there. Here are three web examples of “counterfits:â€
Travel forum: “as far as i know the pen doesnÌt work on washed up bills good counterfitters used to wash up 1 dollar bills and reprint $100 on them.the ink checks the paper,â€
Forum post: “Does anyone know of a local currency that has seen an occurrence of counterfitting ?â€
“Reference to news article on Tenerife forum:”: “500,000 tons of counterfit goods seized by Italian Policeâ€
Last edited by kem (2010-03-13 14:01:47)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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As you say, it’s hard to prove the semantic motivation for this one, but I find it pretty likely that a reasonably large group of people would be consciously thinking of “fit” as one of the elements here.
I’m not sure how the last half of the compound word came to be spelled “feit.†One would have expected a word derived from “facere†to have come into English as “fet†or “fect,†in analogy with “confect,†“affect,†“infect.â€
Norman French mediated the adoption of the word into Middle English. The usual participial adjective derived from NF “contrefaire”—“to copy imitate”—was “contrefait,” but the Anglo-Norman Dictionary has a few examples of the spelling in -feit. The earliest Middle English spellings end in -fet, but the modern spelling was coming in by the middle of the 15th C.
The online Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND) is cool and free; the intro to the AND is here: http://www.anglo-norman.net/sitedocs/main-intro.html
Last edited by patschwieterman (2010-03-13 15:33:09)
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Counterfit is so natural, it almost slips by unnoticed. Here is ruder substitute that easier to spot: counterfake. This one is currently making the rounds in Asian markets, according to the hits I get.
Wikifici
Jade confesses that she “pulled a viper on viper”and the puma is counterfake.
Consumer fraud
Do not buy those products in a unbelievable price, and don’t buy counterfake products, do remember, you get what you paid, low price doesn’t macth high quality.
Roadside touts
Hi talking about Goa i think the widespread of selling marijuaana n coke on the road side is even more disturbing than the peddlars of counterfake goods at Nanjing Road.
Thanks for the Anglo-Norman link, Pat.
Looking for other switches based on fake, I turned up only one fake simile that looked genuine, among the hundreds of “I put a fake simile on my face”.
Cemetery archaeology
It was evidently the deceased record he was reading, for with his brush and India ink he soon has a fake simile of the tea label on the neat looking bundle.
http://www.metro.net/projects_studies/e … t_exec.pdf
Last edited by David Bird (2010-03-14 12:21:46)
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Ha! Cute one. I don’t recall having seen this one until I stumbled upon this example today while researching something:
It’s difficult to believe that any group of scholars would be a party to a fraud, and it’s also difficult to believe that counterfitters would not give themselves away with 48 separate opportunities to do so.
article
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