Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Calling the rear storage compartment of a car a “boot” led to this possible interpretation of the word as a “booth”. Booth has got a surprising etymology. It worked it way from Proto-Indo-European to P. Gmc, to Norse, to Danish, whence to O.E. c. mid-12th c. It seems to be a cognate of both be and bound – but strangely, not to abode, from what I can tell. In O.E. it referred to a temporary dwelling. This seems just right for two of these examples, in which the car’s booth provided a temporary dwelling for stolen sheep and hapless owners.
News comment:
locked up in the booth of his car by yet to be identified assailants
(http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:l6F … =firefox-a)
Fanfic:
He proceeded to put the bags in the car’s booth.
(http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthre … 35&page=11)
Crime chronicle:
On the way to Kubekrom a mob stopped the vehicle, and discovered the stolen sheep in the car’s booth, the suspects said.
(http://www.ghanaian-chronicle.com/thestory.asp?ID=5291)
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Interesting etymology – and ‘booth’ must be related to ‘bothy’ which retains the sense of a humble dwelling and is described only as an obsolete Scots word. I find this a little odd as it remains in common use as far south as Shropshire and probably much further. Perhaps those that compile dictionaries have little if any contact with folk who live in bothies.
I notice that almost all examples are from non-Western countries although I was surprised not to find any Irish ones – I’ve Irish friends who would call a booth a ‘boot’ and I would have expected examples of the reverse due to hypercorrection. I’m surprised too that you’ve put it in ‘Slips etc’ – seems fully eggcornish to me.
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