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#1 2011-11-17 19:14:54

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Talismen

We already have had a visit from the Mormen, thanks to Ken Lakritz and Pat. If you look around, you’ll see that it’s raining men.

Thai amulets and talismen for luck, fortune and love
Facebook

Talismen: Archetypal lucky charms, drawiing some specific good fortune towards you.
Witchbook

One in Three (=70 000 ) “Danish” Musulmen want Sharia as part of foundation for the Laws in Denmark.
Danish menophobe

Sierra Weddings Cute Ottomen Lounge
Flickr

The Ottomen had taken Tabriz and most of Northwest Persia. Abbas Safavi Shah made a treaty with the Ottomen and Persia was forced to pay tribute.
http://cogah.se/index-3.html

A group of dolmen, known as the Table des Fées (The Fairies’ Table).
Places of interest, Fresnicourt-le-Dolmen, France

The acorns are talisman {via Arabic tilsam (pl. tilsaman), a Gk. loan-word; also directly from Byzantine Gk. telesma “talisman, religious rite, payment,”}, musulman {from Arabic muslim + adjective suffix -an}, Ottoman {from Arabic ‘Uthmani’ belonging to Arabic masc. proper name ‘Uthman’, which in Turkish is pronounced Othman, name of the founder of the empire. Ending altered in Italian by formation of a new false singular, because -i was a plural inflection in Italian.} , and dolmen {dol, a table; men, a stone}.

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#2 2011-11-17 23:57:13

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: Talismen

Thinking there is “man” at the end of “human” rather than at the beginning (L. “homo”) may be the godparent of all these switches.

You have to wonder how many people hear both “pull” and “man” in the phrase “Pullman car.” There are several examples on the web of “pullman” being changed to “pullmen.”

Ditto for “roman.” Examples of “ancient romens:” http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22ancient+romens%22

If semen is plural, is one of the little wigglers a “seman?”

I’m not sure what you mean by “dolmen,” David. What is it the acorn of?


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#3 2011-11-18 10:13:18

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

Re: Talismen

Of course every spermatozoon is a seaman, on a night sea journey with his brother seamen.

How can a man increase the amount of his seamen?
Just Answer

The scene entitled “He Made His Own Interpretation” starts with the principal telling Bernard and Joan that Frank is masturbating, and wiping his seamen on school property.
Movie review

I like the idea that the citizens of Rome are Romen.

Friends, Romen, Country Men, lend me your Ears
http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/new … 5-a-4.html

The Ottomen relied on multilingual guards, the dragomen.

September 3 1783 In all parts of Barbary, as at Constantinople, a guard of two dragomen are sent from the government to reside at the ministers’ houses : these guards accompany the family when they walk out.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=GcwTAAA … 22&f=false

Being high on the totem, the Brahmen were undoubtedly braw men.

Actually, the Brahmen are the highest rank Hindu I think
http://www.masterzdm.com/NCD/showthread … =&sb=5&o=0

Dolmen was the weak one of the litter. The plural is dolmens, so I assumed if it was used as ‘many dolmen’ that it was being conjugated as if it were humen.

Youman being is a classic.

Last edited by David Bird (2011-12-22 17:51:28)

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#4 2013-01-18 14:21:50

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: Talismen

I ran into this one today.

I thought the Germen were very good at physics and engineering!
http://social.msn.com/profile/XfDimj-cH … n-US&pg=28

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#5 2015-03-23 13:20:22

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: Talismen

There is also “shamen” for “shamans.” In printed literature the error occurs once for every 100 examples of the correct plural.


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#6 2015-03-24 03:45:36

JuanTwoThree
Eggcornista
From: Spain
Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 455

Re: Talismen

See paras 25 and 27

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iic … 22&f=false

Last edited by JuanTwoThree (2015-03-24 03:47:43)


On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.

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#7 2015-03-24 21:27:48

kem
Eggcornista
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2007-08-28
Posts: 2851

Re: Talismen

Are you referring to “Normen,” Juan? Unlike other misconstrued plurals in this thread, Norman really does have the Teutonic “man” in it. So Normen would be a reasonable plural (and was in fact the plural of Norman in Old English, according to the OED).

Fowler may or may not be right in para 27 about the word “German.” We don’t know whether the Teutonic “man” is really a part of the tribal name the Romans used (the “Germani”) that evolved into our word for “German” and “Germany.”


Hatching new language, one eggcorn at a time.

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#8 2015-03-25 11:01:03

burred
Eggcornista
From: Montreal
Registered: 2008-03-17
Posts: 1112

Re: Talismen

For the record, and because it took some artful digital terpsichore to recover the pages in question from where I’m sitting, here it is:

Lest you think otherwise, this “Fowler” is William Chauncey, 1793-1881, and not Henry Watson of Modern Usage. The book is, “The English language in its elements and forms : with a history of its origin and development : designed for use in colleges and schools.” It was copyrighted in 1850 and reprinted multiple times. There are some as yet unrecorded eggcorns in his list. To start with, his interpretation of the strange pronunciation of lieutenant, as being derived from an eggcornical misinterpretation, is interesting. I don’t know if it’s true, of course. I also liked his alternative derivation of musulman, however farfetched.

Edit: Unrecorded in this forum, I mean.

Last edited by burred (2015-03-25 11:07:09)

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#9 2015-03-27 03:52:56

JuanTwoThree
Eggcornista
From: Spain
Registered: 2009-08-15
Posts: 455

Re: Talismen

I didn’t have time or wit to do more than post a link. It does seem perverse to not pluralise Norman with -men. I wonder if it’s more what the Normans called themselves (Normanz?) than what their Anglo-Saxon subjects called them, when they weren’t calling them something more colourful, but equally Anglo-Saxon!

The introduction to the section, numbered 422, is a pretty definition of eggcorning loan-words. Any chance of that being put up as an image? I don’t know where to start.

Last edited by JuanTwoThree (2015-03-27 04:02:50)


On the plain in Spain where it mainly rains.

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#10 2015-03-29 14:46:26

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

Re: Talismen

What then follows is a collection of folk etymologies, some debunked, some perpetuated and perhaps some originated, along with a collection of anglicized place names.

I was interested in particular in his suggested etymology for fulsome, as derived from foul. This is not the case. It was originally full some, meaning complete, and then gradually acquired a negative connotation. I’ve been disturbed recently by the trend to use it in the original meaning. It’s another word whose meaning for the moment is in flux, and must be taken from context. It always meant “sickening” to me, but that is no longer guaranteed.

The notion that lieutenant would have anything to do with “left” would be a hidden eggcorn, since it is likely that the British pronunciation is derived legitimately from earlier forms.

Probing deeper into yeomen, it turns out that that is an authentic man lurking in there. As for mussulman, it’s hard to imagine how salama, that is, salaam or shalom, would solve the problem of the final man, or an.

Last edited by David Bird (2015-03-29 14:48:44)

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#11 2015-07-22 04:58:11

crispybacon
Member
From: Wellington, New Zealand
Registered: 2015-07-19
Posts: 24

Re: Talismen

I’ve certainly come across “speciman” (on paper) in a medical context, and you can find “speciman containers” and the like online.

As for “shamen”, there was a UK band called The Shamen who had a number one hit in the early nineties. I’m from there originally, and I don’t think I’d ever heard of a shaman when this song came out. Some instances of shamen (perhaps even for the singular) could have been influenced by this.

Last edited by crispybacon (2015-07-22 04:58:48)

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