Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
You are not logged in.
Registrations are currently closed because of a technical problem. Please send email to
The forum administrator reserves the right to request users to plausibly demonstrate that they are real people with an interest in the topic of eggcorns. Otherwise they may be removed with no further justification. Likewise, accounts that have not been used for posting may be removed.
Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Continuing with short analyses of some antique and now hidden eggcorns (previous list is here):
Impress, Press Gang. When you are pressured to join a gang, is it a press gang? Apparently not. The problem with linking “pressured†and “press gang†is that there are two separate “impress†verbs in English. One comes from the Latin word “imprimere,†which means to crowd in on or to put an image on. It lurks behind the word “pressure†and we also see it at work in the phrase “I was impressed by the quality of this year’s crop of eggcorns.†The other “impress†derives from the Latin verb “praestare†and the Latin noun “prestitum,†one of the Latin words for a loan. The derived verb was once spelled “imprest†in English and the noun spelled “prest.†(the French cognates “prêt/prêter†are still spelled this way, the “ê†being, as usual, an alternative for “es†). The “t†has been changed to “s†in modern English spellings, giving us “press†and “impress.â€
The “impress†that means to coerce into military service and that gives us “press gang†comes from the second word, the one deriving from “prestitumâ€. The route from “a loan†to “forced service†is devious. “Prest†was originally the name for a monetary advance given to a person to encourage their enlistment (cf. the phrase “take the King’s coinâ€). Later “imprest†gained, and then restricted itself to, the more specific sense of compelling someone to accept military service. When the word “imprest†changed its spelling to “impress†it may already have been acting under the influence of the first “press†verb.
Salt-cellar. “Salt-cellar†is a strangely redundant term, since the “cellar†part of the word was originally “saler,†a word meaning “pertaining to salt.†The spelling change from “salt-saler†to “salt-cellar†appears to have been due the influence of “cellar,†a term for a storehouse that is related to the modern word “cell.â€
Shamefaced. Coined as “shamefast.†The facial changes caused by a sense of shame (downcast eyes, red cheeks, etc.) seem to have influenced the spelling.
Sovereign. Originally something like “soverain,†as we see in the French “souverain.†“Sovran,†a phonetic English spelling of the original word, was still in use as late as the nineteenth century. The “sovereign†spelling is apparently an assimilation to the word “reign,†something that sovereigns do because they aren’t good at anything else.
Stickler. “Stickler†is the frequentative of an old Teutonic verb meaning “to set in order†that has been turned into an “-er†one-who-does noun. When the term was first coined, a stickler was an umpire in a contest. Eventually the meaning of the word evolved to include someone who makes overly detailed demands for something. Modern English only recognizes this evolved meaning. Any connection with the noun “stick†(i.e., piece of wood) or the verb “to stick†(i.e., remain firm) is in the eye of the beholder.
Is anyone else impressed (pun intended) how often French cognates clue us into some of these older English eggcorns?
Last edited by kem (2009-12-31 00:11:52)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
Offline
Interesting that MW still lists sovran alongside sovereign. Seems like the old spelling should have died out by now. The Free Online Dictionary refers to sovran as a “literary” word for sovereign ...whatever that means! Very curious.
How refreshing to see the expression “pun intended” replacing “no pun intended” these days.
Offline