# False Etymology **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2001, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108 "2001-06-17T09:34:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/1 "2001-06-17T09:34:06Z")
False etymology is often as fascinating to study as real etymology. A good example of this is the apparently recent creation of the word, “dystopia.” This word seems to be intended to mean the oppsite of “utopia.” I have seen it written in newspaper and magazine articles and I suspect it may even be used by academics (who should know better) in scholarly publications. This neologism is based on a flawed understanding of the etymology of “utopia” (coined by Thomas More in 1516). “Utopia” was a coinage created by combining Greek words that meant “No Place.” The coiners of “dystopia” obviously confused the Greek privative “ou” for the Greek adjective “eu,” which means “good.” [forgive me, for I don’t have access to Greek fonts and I must Romanize the Greek]. Thus, the false etymology of utopia as eutopia, and the creation of a word that employs the Greek opposite of “eu,” which is “dus” [English “dys”]. I actually think the word,“dystopia,” is apt. False etymology can lead to interesting linguistic insights. Nick ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/2 "2001-06-17T10:38:26Z")
How about _kakotopia_ – like dystopia, a product of mis-belief in the origin of utopia, but sure _sounds_ descriptive enough to me! ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/3 "2001-06-17T10:48:41Z")
Utopia derives from the Greek Ou- Not, and topia - Place. However, Chambers notes the alternative of Eutopia- Eu- well, topia place and suggests that More himself coined this spelling. The OED confirms this- Eutopia - first used by More or his friend P Giles. Noting that this was a play on Utopia- no place. Hence, Dystopia is quite valid as an antonym of Eutopia. And BTW, Dystopia is not a recent coinage; it goes back until at latest 1868 when it was recorded in Hansard. Cacotopia comes from Caco- being bad and has a similar etymology. Even if it was based on a false understanding of the word Utopia, I am not sure that it would be ‘bad etymology’. The coinage of English words is made glorious by the bending and shaping of the language to fit reality. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/4 "2001-06-17T10:49:25Z")
This seems to be an answer in search of a question, but if the question is about the origins of “dystopia”, J S Mill used the word in a speech in the House of Commons in 1868, along with “cacotopia” (_sic_). Looking at the examples in the _OED_, it seems to have been used a few times since then by people who thought they were coining the word, or at least that their audience wouldn’t be familiar with it. So the implication is that it never really caught on until recently. I’ve noticed it several times over the last few years, mostly in literary criticism, referring to books like _1984_ and _Brave New World_. The again, it doesn’t surprise me that literary critics should be the source of yet another “clever” solecism. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/5 "2001-06-17T15:55:01Z")
You’re also confusing the etymology of the word with its meaning. “Dystopia” was coined from “dys” and “topia,” meaning “bad place.” It doesn’t matter what the etymology of “utopia” was, so there’s nothing “false” about dystopia. A better example of false etymology is “tip” or “posh,” which have genuinely false etymologies ascribed to them. If the term wasn’t already used for something else, “folk etymology”\* would be a good description, too. \*“Folk etymology” is when a word form changes from an unfamiliar form to a more familiar one, like the “glass” in “isinglass.” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2001, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/6 "2001-06-17T20:04:30Z")
I believe the term that the OP is looking for is “back-formation”. Another example would be the verb “to lase”, meaning “to emit coherent radiation”. The original noun “laser” is an acronym (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), but it looks like it’s a formation of “lase” + “-er”, meaning “A thing which lases”, so “lase” got adopted as a verb for what a laser does. Side note on “Utopia”: In the book _Dinotopia_, one of the characters points out that the name of the island literally means “terrible place”, quite the opposite of the meaning implied. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2001, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/7 "2001-06-18T02:06:57Z")
How about “Key West”? This is the westernmost of the Florida Keys, but its name comes from a mispronounciation of the French for Bone, not from its location. At least, this is what I have heard - I didn’t check - it’s late, sue me. ---
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/8 "2001-06-19T05:46:17Z")
It is clear that Thomas More meant “utopia” as “nowhere,” hence the equivalent place, “Erehwon.” This blessed “nowhere” could also be describes as a “good place,” but its salient feature was that it did not exist. Just because intelligent writers, such as Mill, could play upon the obvious ou-eu-dys connection does not mean that the original meaning was “no place.” What I was calling attention to is the fact that most of the folk who write about “dystopia” probably are totally ignorant of the origin of “utopia.” As I said earlier, I like “dystopia” and think it is an apt formation. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2001, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/9 "2001-06-19T05:57:58Z")
In that all of Moore’s created names get translated, rather than left in their original greek-derived forms, but… There’s a poem in the front, supposedly by a Utopian poet,(I’m assuming that Moore wrote it, and not some later writer, of course), which makes a pun on Utopia and Eutopia. (The translation uses Nolandia and Golandia (which the notes give as an attempt to keep the rhyme and the meaning ‘Good Place’) No Place IS a Good Place, to the Utopians, at least, and this is explicitly stated in the book, Pjen seems to be right. (And Chronos is correct, it is a backformation, _created in reference_ to Utopia - and you’re being rather absurdly dismissive of the literacy (or OVER-literacy) of the people who use dystopia when you assume they wouldn’t know the meaning of Utopia - not a ‘bad’ etymology.) ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2001, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/10 "2001-06-19T06:05:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*_If the term wasn’t already used for something else, “folk etymology”_ would be a good description, too. > \*\* I believe that poet, author, translator, and etymologist John Ciardi (_A Browser’s Dictionary, A Second B~ D~, A Third B~ D~_) did, in fact, use it thus, in spite of its established technical usage. ---
**Author:** ![Chronolicht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Chronolicht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronolicht)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2001, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/11 "2001-06-19T08:41:58Z")
We danced beneath the silver moon, and softly whispered someday soon, Brazil… –Terry Gilliam’s Brazil Eustress, distress, eutopia, dystopia, makes perfect sense. It’s funny how this group is polarized into purists and renegades. "What I was calling attention to is the fact that most of the folk who write about “dystopia” probably are totally ignorant of the origin of “utopia.” --Nuerodoc The coinage of English words is made glorious by the bending and shaping of the language to fit reality. --Pjen Few people study etymology as you people do but many have large vocabularies. Nuerodoc, you seem to imply that ignorance of a word’s origin and its antonym ought to preclude the filthy rabble from using it. What bugs me the most is business and military metaphors, etc. entering the popular language. “On the ground”, “outside the wornout box”. Mispronunciations like impordant and supposably. ---
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2001, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/false-etymology/69108/12 "2001-06-20T06:00:59Z")
"What I was calling attention to is the fact that most of the folk who write about “dystopia” probably are totally ignorant of the origin of “utopia.” --Neurodoc The coinage of English words is made glorious by the bending and shaping of the language to fit reality. --Pjen Few people study etymology as you people do but many have large vocabularies. Nuerodoc, you seem to imply that ignorance of a word’s origin and its antonym ought to preclude the filthy rabble from using it. Actually, I agree with you. The user of language may be “ignorant” of the correct etymology (and I would insist that there is a correct etymology based on the historical facts of word formation). Nonetheless, the lingusitically agile mind may perceive and make connections of meaning that are logical and insightful. We see this all the time in puns, of which Shakespeare was a genious in our language. I beg your indulgence and forgiveness if my comments seemed to denigrate the general genius of the grimy grammarians who make felicitous words from misunderstandings. Dystopia is felicitous. It is brilliant, indeed. But most of the modern writers and oral pundits who have used this OK term are, in fact, ignorant of the etymology of utopia. All I wanted to do was to call attention to this fact, and now that I have done so, I will say nothing more about it. What bugs me the most is business and military metaphors, etc. entering the popular language. “On the ground”, “outside the wornout box”. Mispronunciations like impordant and supposably. \*\* [/QUOTE]