Since I am quite fond of the topic of alternate linguistics and alternate etymologies in particular, I figured we could have a go at this it...
I don't mean the usual "think of an obscure, forgotten word for tank that could be used as an ATL term" approach. I'm interested in us looking for words that entered our everyday vocabulary and are used on a regular basis, but whose etymologies make little sence or were the result of mistranslations and general misunderstandings of the semantics of a word. Note that these terms don't have to come from English, you can mention examples from any language(s) you understand.
I'll kick off with some funny Czech language examples :
The Latin term for the species of common rabbit is cunniculus (full name oryctolagus cunniculus). When the first rabbits were imported to German-speaking countries during the Middle Ages, Germans gradually settled on using the garbled version of the word, resulting in Kaninchen (and its variations). But this isn't where our story ends... Once rabbits got imported to the Czech lands from the German ones, Czechs unfortunately mangled Kaninchen further. There seems to have been a misunderstanding of pronunciation and semantics on part of the Czechs. They thought the weird burrow-dwelling hare look-alikes were called Königchen i. e. "Little Kings / Kinglings". Hence the eventual calque into Czech : Králík, i.e. "little king / kingling". Then it eventually entered Slovak vocabulary as well (králik) and the rest is history...
A single tram/streetcar is called a tramvaj, due to the Czechs mistaking the English term for a tram rail line ("tramway") with the term denoting a tram itself (the vehicle).
So, what are your favourite odd or silly etymologies for common OTL terms ?
I don't mean the usual "think of an obscure, forgotten word for tank that could be used as an ATL term" approach. I'm interested in us looking for words that entered our everyday vocabulary and are used on a regular basis, but whose etymologies make little sence or were the result of mistranslations and general misunderstandings of the semantics of a word. Note that these terms don't have to come from English, you can mention examples from any language(s) you understand.
I'll kick off with some funny Czech language examples :
The Latin term for the species of common rabbit is cunniculus (full name oryctolagus cunniculus). When the first rabbits were imported to German-speaking countries during the Middle Ages, Germans gradually settled on using the garbled version of the word, resulting in Kaninchen (and its variations). But this isn't where our story ends... Once rabbits got imported to the Czech lands from the German ones, Czechs unfortunately mangled Kaninchen further. There seems to have been a misunderstanding of pronunciation and semantics on part of the Czechs. They thought the weird burrow-dwelling hare look-alikes were called Königchen i. e. "Little Kings / Kinglings". Hence the eventual calque into Czech : Králík, i.e. "little king / kingling". Then it eventually entered Slovak vocabulary as well (králik) and the rest is history...
A single tram/streetcar is called a tramvaj, due to the Czechs mistaking the English term for a tram rail line ("tramway") with the term denoting a tram itself (the vehicle).
So, what are your favourite odd or silly etymologies for common OTL terms ?