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#1 2010-01-27 20:04:44

klakritz
Eggcornista
From: Winchester Massachusetts
Registered: 2005-10-25
Posts: 674

rambunctious/rumbunctious/rumbustious/robustious

These 4 words all mean the same thing and presumably descended with modification from a common ancestor. Which came first?

The online dictionaries are vague, but at least one ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rumbustious) suggests that ‘robustious’ was the original and that ‘rumbustious’ is a corruption of it. And if you see ‘rumble’ or ‘rum’ (meaning weird or strange) within ‘rumbustious,’ it’s a plausible eggcorn gone mainstream.

The same dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rambunctious) describes ‘rambunctious’ as a specifically American variation on ‘rumbunctious.’ Again, if you see ‘ram’ in ‘rambunctious,’ it may be another old eggcorn.


Does anyone out there have a better understanding of this word family and its genealogy?

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#2 2010-01-29 10:51:51

David Bird
Eggcornista
From: The Hammer, Ontario
Registered: 2009-07-28
Posts: 1690

Re: rambunctious/rumbunctious/rumbustious/robustious

Great self-referential word history. Thinking about it, there may be a vast field of variants of rambunctious. Here is an interesting one. They are rambunches; he is rambunch. Might be mostly misspellings, though.

The grandkids blog
Yes, they are loud, rambunches and sometimes wild little things

Dating site
I have a 3 year son who is a rambunch child.

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#3 2013-03-06 11:44:46

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2850

Re: rambunctious/rumbunctious/rumbustious/robustious

Seems like the spellings “rambuckous/rambucktous/rambucktious/rambuckious” have that eggcorn smell. Can’t get much more rambunctious than a bucking bronco. A few dozen exemplars on the web.

Comment on a Flickr photo: “Riley is a bit rambuckous...what was in that yogurt cup? ”

Web forum post: “Sorry if I posted threads out of place. I guess I was just getting to rambuckous !”

Mom forum comment: “He is rambuckous and outgoing”

Book roleplay: “Full of loud, rambucktous spirit and emotion in everything.”

Harry Potter blog: “Lily was in Hermone’s arms, the most rambucktous Potter to date at the age of 2. ”

Web tabloid reader comment: “I have to shoo away when he becomes to rambucktious to customers.”

Fiction of some kind: “The class is rambuckious, as I lay down my head. Watching the clock.”

Last edited by kem (2013-03-07 09:27:49)


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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