Discussions about eggcorns and related topics
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Chris -- 2018-04-11
Hello everyone. I’m an occasional reader, first-time poster.
So “Bathtism” for Baptism. I’ve actually come across this one twice in person (one was my own daughter), and a quick google search shows I’m not alone. It seems to be confined to children, but I’ve taken to using it myself in the hopes of changing the world, one word at a time.
Now the only problem could be that the word is derived from the Latin and Greek word ‘to bathe’. From the OED:
[a. F. baptise-r, -izer (11th c.), ad. L. bapt{imac}z{amac}-re, ad. Gr. {beta}{alpha}{pi}{tau}{giacu}{zeta}{epsilon}{iota}{nu} ‘to immerse, bathe, wash, drench,’ in Christian use appropriated to the religious rite, f. {beta}{gaacu}{pi}{tau}{epsilon}{iota}{nu} to dip, plunge, bathe.]Are substitutions allowed for words that return to their roots?Any thoughts?
I’ve added a few links with examples of the substitution, but google will show you a few others.
billycalderwood.com/?p=98
pandcrobinson.blogspot.com/2007/11/bathtism.html
Cheers,
Corny
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Thanks, Corny. And welcome to the Forum.
I’m surprised how many of the “bathtism” hits on Google are secondary sources. That is, they are people telling a story about a person (usually a child) who made the verbal slip. But I also see a few examples that appear to be primary sources.
We have found on this Forum that certain candidate eggcorns are what we might call “urban legend eggcorns.” That is, they are intentional puns that get passed around with the tagline that the speaker knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who actually said it in a non-punning way. We are glad to hear that you actually DO know the person who said it.
An addition to our growing list of religious eggcorns.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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While there is a lot more eggcorn potential in false etymologies than there is in cognates, the forum has typically given its blessing to reunifications like this one if it appears that the return to roots has cleared up an obscure etymology for the user. That would probably be the case here. Some have gone all the way to “bathism” (easily confused with Baathism, of course) and “bathized”.
i have been bathised when i was a baby, so i guess officially i am a catholic
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=170663
I figure if LO wants to be bathised he can make that choice himself when he’s old enough to understand.
http://community.babycenter.com/post/a2 … 53732&pd=0
Last edited by burred (2011-03-09 15:14:41)
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I was initially very enthusiastic about this one, but the etymology aspect ruined it a bit for me. If I understand this correctly, “baptism” derives from something which means “bath” ... or perhaps “bath” derived from the same root. At any rate, “bath” was sort of looming withing “baptism” all along so the alteration wasn’t as profound as other modifications might have been.
Oh well, it was at least credible that so many children would misinterpret the word, and first-hand accounts are always so delightful.
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I think you may be misreading the OED, Corny. “Baptise/baptize” and “bath” do not derive from the same source. “Baptize” comes from a Greek word for immerse/bathe/wash. “Bath” derives from a Germanic root that probably has some connection to “heat” (cf the German word “Bad” in the names of old spa towns )
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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