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Chris -- 2018-04-11
The Taino tongue, a once-flowing spring of Native American vocabulary in English, handed us the word “hammock†(Taino “hamákaâ€). English and Romance language speakers managed to reproduce the Taino sound with some fidelity. The Germans, however, shot wide of the mark, voicing (and writing) “hamáka†as “Hängematte.†Semantics no doubt lies behind the deviation. “Hängematte†looks like it has been compounded out of the German verb for hang (“hängenâ€) and the German noun for mat (“Matteâ€). The German term, says the Duden Online site, has been “volksetymologisch umgedeutet,†reinterpreted by means of a folk etymology, to a hanging mat.
Last edited by kem (2013-04-26 18:33:36)
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Beauty. Hangmat is sooo right I suspect it may slowly take over. There are home grown versions for the moment.
Hangmock
Hangmack to sell, new, only used once.
Classifieds
Still too hot to sleep inside, so I tried a hangmock this night! This went all fine until it started raining. . . . .
Funny syntax suggests ESL blog
I see that Taino also connects to that other hidden eggcorn, or at least folk etymon, mangrove.
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Mangrove also has eggcorns of its own:
subtropical deserts … littoral zone … limnetic zone … phytoplankton … profundal zone … benthic zone … freshwater wetlands … salt marshes … mangrow swamps.
They live in the mangrow swamps. These are salt water (yes, only on the coast).
My hometown, Limbang, used to be popular with mudcrabs thanks to the nearby mangrow swamps.
And you have to wonder about the many swamps of tropical fruit-trees:
The soldiers on patrol, wearing heavy serge tunics, leg straps and boots, along with their equipment, have to enter steaming hot Mango swamps in pursuit
Much of the mainland of Iriomote is covered in dense vegetation and mango swamps.
Ian starts his journey with a trip through the mango swamps
On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.
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“Mangrow swamp.” That’s low-hanging fruit.
I wonder if these people are hearing the English “man” in the other half of the word.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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Wouldn’t ‘mango’ be the low-hanging fruit?
On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.
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Good one.
Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.
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