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- There is a belief, touted by some respectable sources (including the Oxford English Dictionary and Green’s Dictionary of Slang), that say uncle is a folk etymology from the Irish anacol, meaning an act of protection, quarter.
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Is 'uncle' a folk etymology?
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Jan 6, 2022 · There is a belief, touted by some respectable sources (including the Oxford English Dictionary and Green’s Dictionary of Slang), that say uncle is a folk etymology from the Irish anacol, meaning an act of protection, quarter. Anacol is a verbal noun from aingid, meaning to protect.
Oct 5, 2016 · Most American schoolboys are (perhaps unhappily) familiar with the expression cry uncle or holler uncle, meaning “give up in a fight, ask for mercy.” Uncle in this expression is surely a folk etymology, and the Irish original of the word is anacol (anacal, anacul) “act of protecting; deliverance; mercy, quarter.” Which is more plausible?
Nov 28, 1998 · The speculations are ingenious: one from American Speech in 1980 was that “Uncle in this expression is surely a folk etymology, and the Irish original of the word is anacol ... ‘act of protecting; deliverance; mercy, quarter, safety’, a verbal noun from the Old Irish verb aingid, ‘protects’ ”.
The only facts we know for sure are that it’s strictly a North American phrase, and that it first appeared in written English in 1918. After that, opinions split on to how the custom developed ...
uncle. (n.) late 13c., from Old French oncle, from Latin avunculus "mother's brother" ("father's brother" was patruus ), literally "little grandfather," diminutive of avus "grandfather," from PIE root *awo- "grandfather, adult male relative other than one's father" (source also of Armenian hav "grandfather," Hittite huhhas "grandfather ...
Feb 12, 2019 · Folk etymology involves a change in the form or pronunciation of a word or phrase resulting from a mistaken assumption about its composition or meaning. Also called popular etymology . G. Runblad and D.B. Kronenfeld identify two main groups of folk etymology, which they call Class I and Class II.
Folk etymology – also known as (generative) popular etymology, analogical reformation, (morphological) reanalysis and etymological reinterpretation – is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more familiar one through popular usage.
