Eggcorns (Wikipedia / YouTube video by RobWords) are language mistakes that sometimes take over and change the spelling and perhaps even the meaning of a word. This is rare in German because there's fewer homophones but in this episode of Wort der Woche, DW explains how "munttot" became "mundtot". Available as audio or transcript.
schnurrito 5 points 9 months ago
A (natively German-speaking) family member of mine told me that in their childhood, they were surprised that "Folgetonhorn" didn't start with "Voll-".
Dojan 5 points 9 months ago
I couldn't think of any in Swedish, but the Swedish wiki page on it had some examples. My favourite is "älgskog" (elk forest) instead of "älskog" (coitus).
There's also a few I had no idea were malapropisms. To "lägga rabarber på" (put rhubarb on sth.) means to occupy or steal something. Apparently it was originally "lägga embargo på" (put embargo on sth.), but it's gotten so widespread that people just say that they'll put rhubarb on something.
Eggcorns are essentially the same things as bone apple teas, no?
ChaoticNeutralCzech 3 points 9 months ago
Depends on
- how widespread they become ("bone apple tea" is not seriously used by many but can still count)
- if they still retain some original meaning, unlike mondegreens
For example, almost everyone calls polo shirts "polokošile" (half-shirts) in Czech when the correct term is "pólo košile". But since it's a less formal shirt, people don't see "half-shirt" as incorrect.
Zachariah 4 points 9 months ago
Two here:
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=59418
here's two German eggcorns – or, rather, one folk etymology that made it big time, and one original gem:
– Hängematte: Hanging mat. The word describes the thing so well that only a few linguistically interested people in the Germanosphere have the slightest idea of its origin: hammaka in Arawak via Spanish, French etc. into German, Dutch and some others: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammock
– Vogeliere: Aviary. An eggcorn by some acquaintance via the french loan word volière (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voli%C3%A8re) on the word "Vogel" – large bird cage.
LeFrog 6 points 9 months ago
There is also Armbrust (crossbow) which comes from arcubalista but literally means arm + chest
ChaoticNeutralCzech 3 points 9 months ago
Yeah but I never knew one until today.
ChaoticNeutralCzech 1 point 15 days ago
Steh-Greif
Zwuzelmaus -1 points 9 months ago
German has many other, more meaningful linguistic peculiarities.
ChaoticNeutralCzech 1 point 9 months ago
There's mostly nerds on Lemmy and many don't care how "meaningful" fun facts are. But if you know of some interesting phenomena, surely you can post about them!
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german
@lemmy.world
520
31
23
Welcome to the place to learn the German Language! Come here to discuss topics or quirks related to the German language, ask any questions about learning German, provide tips to current learners, and share your journey through the German-learning process!
RULES
Make sure anything you plan on asking has not already been answered.
No harassing someone over their level of the language of German. Everyone starts somewhere.
No harassing period actually. Obviously no bigotry falls under this category.
In general, no low effort posts or spam. If you ask a question and it didn't receive much engagement, don't go on to ask it again immediately, at the least remove the original copy.
No NSFW. This rule has its loose limits and some exceptions (i.e. commenting on German "dirty talk" and whatnot is alright).
Mods are the interpreters of these rules, and have jurisdiction over other cases where a rule isn't explicitly mentioned here, but it is a common sense rule.
This community is largely for English speakers learning/discussing German. Other languages aren't outright banned yet, but expect minimal support. If other communities arise for German help in other languages, then those languages will be barred from this community in favor of the new one.
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The German Wikipedia page needs some improvement, though.
Only contains deliberate wordplays and somewhat cringy dad jokes as examples...
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