Ghost Words: Words Without Meaning
Known as spurious or ghost words, they are there, complete with convincing definitions, as the result of error. The 19th century scholar William WalterSkeat savagely described them as “coinages due to the blunders of printers or scribes, or the per-fervid imaginations of ignorant or blundering editors.”
spiritualhopesociety.com/EVP_Evidence.html
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/whitenoise_1.jpg
Ghost Words – Words without Meaning
Some words do not deserve a place in a dictionary. Known as spurious or ghost words, they are there, complete with convincing definitions, as the result of error. The 19th century scholar William Walter Skeat savagely described them as “coinages due to the blunders of printers or scribes, or the per-fervid imaginations of ignorant or blundering editors.”
www.printeresting.org/tag/cmyk/
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/humanprinter1copy1_1.jpg
Some common words are former ghosts that have become accepted through widespread usage. Gravy, for example originated from a misreading of the Old French word granẻ (“containing grain”) as gravẻ. Other words have been evicted from their lexical home once their origins were discovered.
“Abacot”
www.sacred-destinations.com/england/cambridge…
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/5318672002f19a9d520o_1.jpg
Up to the end of the 19th century, abacot was defined in many dictionaries as “the cap of state formerly used by English kings, wrought into the figure of two crowns.” Some dictionaries even figure of two crowns.” Some dictionaries even contained an illustration of an abacot taken from the great seal of the 15th century king Henry VII.
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/helmet_1.jpg
It was Sir James Murray, editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, who in 1882 revealed the true origin of the word. In a 1548 history of the kings of England by Edward Hall, the printer mistook the words a bicocket (a kind of helmet) for abococket. This was then misread by other writers, changed to abacot, and copied by dictionary compilers.
“Dord”
www.mefeedia.com/tags/fluidity
The 1934 edition of Webster’s Second New International Dictionary gives the definition of dord as “density.” The reason: in the files of the publishers, G. & C. Merriam of Massachusetts, the abbreviation for density was listed as “D or d.” Somehow the spaces between the letters were lost and Dord appeared. The mistake was spotted in 1939 but not changed until the 1947 edition.
“Howl”
www.archinect.com/features/article.php?id=858…
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/showcasevader02x_1.jpg
An interesting dialect word that really never was, howl was at one time defined as “a house.” allegedly derived from the Scottish spelling of hovel. This can be blamed on the printer responsible for setting into type Robert Louis Stevenson’s unfinished novel Weir of Hermiston in 1986. Stevenson had been working on the book when he died in Samoa in 1894. The manuscript was sent to England, where the printer saw the word howf.
“Kime”
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/23423809188a9c054c79o_1.jpg
In 1808 Sidney Smith, editor of the Edinburgh Review, described the “savage customs” of Hindus, telling how “some run kimes through their hands, and widows burn themselves to death.” In a book published soon afterward, John Styles took issue with Smith for not being sufficiently critical of self-mutilation with kimes, which he assumed to be dreadful instruments of torture. As Smith pointed out, he had simply written knives, but it had been misread by the printer.
www.rcs.k12.va.us/csjh/06_07_web/drewH/drew2.htm
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/knives_1.jpg
“Morse”
cinemagypsy.wordpress.com/2008/10/
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/nurseshoes_1.jpg
“Hardened wretch, art thou but this instant delivered fro death, and dost thou so soon morse thoughts of slaughter?” So says Father Eustace in many early editions of Walter Scott’s novel The Monastery. What did Scott mean by morse? It had nothing to do with Morse code: his book was written 17 years before the code was invented.
digg.com/travel_places/Taktshang_Goemba_Tiger…
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/tigersnest_1.jpg
One authority explained that it came from the Latin word mordere, “to bite”; another, that is was derived from amorce, an Old French word meaning “to prime.” Then someone looked at Scott’s manuscript. The word he had written was nurse.
“Slughorne”
www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/873851
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/873851comhastings_1.jpg
In “The Battle of Hastings.” The 18th century poet Thomas Chatterton wrote “Some caught a Slughorne and an onsette wounde.” He was using slughorne to mean “a battle trumpet.”
Image via Wikipedia
Even though Chatterton was known to be a forger of medieval works, other writers copied him, and slughornes were soon appearing in other epic poems – in Robert Browning’s 1855 poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” for instance. In fact, Chatterton had misunderstood the meaning of the Gaelic word slaugh-ghairm, “a battle cry” (from which the English word slogan comes). An instrument called a slughorne never existed.
“Tweed”
www.artfabrik.com/trunkshows.html
or: http://images.stanzapub.com/readers/2009/09/01/trunkshow1_1.jpg
The cloth known as tweed is really tweel, the Scottish equivalent of twill, which refers to a fabric made with two threads. It became tweed because it was confused with the river of that name, which happened to flow through the area where the cloth was traditionally made.
Liked it
User Comments
Debra.
On September 1, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Interesting article, MrGhaz! Some info I didn’t know. It’s always fascinating to discover the true origin and meaning of words. Thanks for the enlightenment!
Melody Arcamo Lagrimas
On September 1, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Very interesting and nicely written.
Inna Tysoe
On September 1, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Interesting article.
Thanks!
Inna
Daisy Peasblossom
On September 1, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Fun! Words are such amazing things.
CHAN LEE PENG
On September 1, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Interesting article. I learned new words from you. Very well done. Have my liked it.
rutherfranc
On September 1, 2009 at 8:35 pm
lawyers today would have had a field day suing those printers with the misprints..
nobert soloria bermosa
On September 1, 2009 at 8:45 pm
nice work my friend, i see you have had lots of hardwork in posting this
giftarist
On September 1, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Very interesting..Well researched, thanks for sharing
cutedrishti8
On September 1, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Intresting topic to share with us…great work…
papaleng
On September 1, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Thank you sir, for today’s English lesson. nice article.
Yovita Siswati
On September 2, 2009 at 12:10 am
Thanks for the lessons! Great work.
unown971
On September 2, 2009 at 1:49 am
Good article! Loved it!
Christine Ramsay
On September 2, 2009 at 2:25 am
That was really interesting. I had never heard of such words before.
Christine
ken bultman
On September 2, 2009 at 3:13 am
Fantastic. Fun post. What if translators left the “r” out of celebrate by mistake? lol.
Darla Smith
On September 2, 2009 at 6:56 am
Interesting article.
pengirl M Burdick
On September 2, 2009 at 10:45 am
Very interesting and amusing. I especially like morse and dord. Thinking of ways to incorporate them into casual conversation…
Sherry Wallace
On September 2, 2009 at 10:59 am
I thought this was very interesting, mrghaz. The birth of new words is sometimes an accident. You write about so many interesting topics, mrghaz.
Susan
On September 2, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I loved this article. In the U.S., this is how are language evolves and it’s an accepted fact. I’m sure dictionary companies love our changing language too, otherwise they would have no reason to issue a new dictionary every year!
We also have slang dictionaries issued every year. As slang comes into common usage it’s moved from the slang dictionary to the regular dictionary.
If you look at the derivation of almost all words in the English language, the actions you described in this article are how they came into existence.
Lucas Dié
On September 2, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Most amusing!
Juancav
On September 2, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Informative meaning of some words.
Lostash
On September 2, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Great fun! Language is wonderful and corruption is just a part of it.
Mystify
On September 2, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Very fasinating, interesting work! Wonderful subject to write about,words have a history just like everything else in life! I can honestly say I didn’t know the origins of most of these and I was quite intrigued finding out.Thanks for sharing Mr Ghaz!
John
On September 2, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Well researched. English is one the hardest languages in the world to learn. This article shows why.
Jane Jane
On September 3, 2009 at 9:31 am
informative.. another knowledge for me..=)
hollynoel001
On September 3, 2009 at 4:14 pm
great history and english lesson enjoyed it very much!!
Gijo George
On September 4, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Good description about Ghost words. Enjoyed reading it.
Patrick Bernauw
On September 6, 2009 at 3:39 am
Wow, Mr Ghaz! I clicked three articles in the “Popular Articles” list of Socyberty because they seemed to be very interesting… and guess what? You wrote them all three!
And even better news: they not only “seemed” interesting, they also were “a good read”!
This is one of them!
Chris Marlowe II
On September 6, 2009 at 3:57 am
“Known as spurious or ghost words, they are there, complete with convincing definitions, as the result of error.” – that’s exactly what I am: “coinages due to the blunders of printers or scribes, or the per-fervid imaginations of ignorant or blundering editors.”
Post Comment