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
I wonder if impious ever gets parsed incorrectly: Rather than im- + pious one might see it as imp+ -ious. After all, imps are rather irreverent, aren’t they?
Offline
Yes, definitely. Peter Forster mentioned it here (post #101—that was quite a productive topic, wasn’t it?). I can see it parsing as imp-y-ous , also, with double adjectivizing suffixes.
Last edited by DavidTuggy (2010-02-08 23:42:03)
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
Offline
From
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp“An imp is a mythological creature similar to a fairy or demon, usually described in folklore and superstition. The word is related to impious.”
Not so, according to
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=imp
“O.E. impe, impa “young shoot, graft,” from impian “to graft,” probably an early W.Gmc. borrowing from V.L. *imptus, from L.L. impotus “implanted,” from Gk. emphytos, verbal adj. formed from emphyein “implant,” from em- “in” + phyein “to plant.” Sense of “child, offspring” (late 14c.) came from transfer of word from plants to people, with notion of “newness” preserved. Modern meaning “little devil” (1580s) is from common use in pejorative phrases like imp of Satan.
“Suche appereth as aungelles, but in very dede they be ymps of serpentes.” [“The Pilgrimage of Perfection,” 1526]”
making me think that it may well be a widespread folk etymology.
On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.
Offline