# Help me ID a language phenomenon **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267 "2004-05-27T00:22:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/1 "2004-05-27T00:22:50Z")
The word aitchbone (H-bone) was originally the nache bone, the root of which through Old French comes from the Latin for buttock-_natis_ . In modern times the aitchbone is the rump bone of beef or the associated cut. Through use of language, which I assume was conveyed verbally as opposed to written, ‘A nache bone’ became ‘An aitch bone’. Likewise the phrase, ‘For the nonce’, came from the original, ‘for then once’. It means for one occasion. What is the name of this phenomenon and are there other examples? And while we are at it, where does the meaning for a nonce being a paedophile come from? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/2 "2004-05-27T01:11:55Z")
> [@](#): > > where does the meaning for a nonce being a paedophile come from? HM Corrections slang. Prisoners have an odd code of honor. There are justifiable crimes like assault, robbery and even murder that people can say they _had_ to commit. And then there are nonsense crimes that can never be justified and that originally included vadalism and that type of thing. But at the top of the list of nonsense crimes were sexual assaults on children. Over time nonce or nonsense criminal evolved from encompassing all nonsense crime to being restricted to just kiddy fiddlers. I have caught the word ‘nonce’ being used to refer to an arsonist in a film from the late 50s/early 60s, but I can’t remember the name of it. ---
**Author:** ![MelCthefirst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@MelCthefirst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MelCthefirst)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/3 "2004-05-27T01:46:15Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > HM Corrections slang. Prisoners have an odd code of honor. There are justifiable crimes like assault, robbery and even murder that people can say they _had_ to commit. And then there are nonsense crimes that can never be justified and that originally included vadalism and that type of thing. But at the top of the list of nonsense crimes were sexual assaults on children. > > Over time nonce or nonsense criminal evolved from encompassing all nonsense crime to being restricted to just kiddy fiddlers. I have caught the word ‘nonce’ being used to refer to an arsonist in a film from the late 50s/early 60s, but I can’t remember the name of it. Where did you get this info? ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/4 "2004-05-27T01:47:53Z")
I can’t remember the name of the process off the top of my head, but it’s a common phenomenon for an initial letter to be attached to the word ahead of it. This happens often with an initial ‘n’. For example, an apron was once a ‘napron’, an adder was a ‘nadder’ and an orange was a ‘norange’, from the Arabic ‘naranj’. On preview: [This site](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=umpire) tells me that an umpire was a ‘numpire’ and the process is called ‘false splitting’, but I’m sure I’ve heard it called something else. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/5 "2004-05-27T02:59:46Z")
I can’t believe it. It’s been years since I’ve been able to provide original information to a GQ before somebody smarter and faster beat me to it! I’ll probably lose to a cross post though. Anyway, according to “The Word Detective”, the process is call metanalysis. ---
**Author:** ![sarcophilus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f4b2a3/32.png) [@sarcophilus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sarcophilus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/6 "2004-05-27T05:15:33Z")
> [@Greg Charles](#): > > I can’t believe it. It’s been years since I’ve been able to provide original information to a GQ before somebody smarter and faster beat me to it! I’ll probably lose to a cross post though. > > Anyway, according to “The Word Detective”, the process is call metanalysis. Thank you all, especially Greg Charles. Umpire came from the french for non-peer ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/7 "2004-05-27T05:34:49Z")
[This](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970908) explains it pretty well. Vaguely related… would the old english oath “Zounds!” (as a contraction of “God’s Wounds”), be metanalysis, or something else entirely? ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/8 "2004-05-27T14:40:32Z")
[nitpick] > [@lambchops](#): > > […] and an orange was a ‘norange’, from the Arabic ‘naranj’. Oranges were probably never called _noranges_ in English. According to [American Heritage](http://www.bartleby.com/61/52/O0105200.html), they lost the ‘n’ already in France, where the italian _melarancio_ became _pume orenge_, under influence of the city _Orange_, which was prominent in the orange trade. (As an aside, this is the same _Orange_ which gave rise to the Dutch royal familly, and those _Orangemen_ in Nirthern Ireland. (Through even more convoluted mechanisms.)) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-id-a-language-phenomenon/247267/9 "2004-05-27T15:53:25Z")
I have a small file of these I compiled some time back: > [@](#): > > 1. To or from “an” > > adder a nadder > aitchbone a nachebon > apron a napron > auger a nauger > eyas a neias (nestling hawk) > orange a norange > ouch a nouche (brooch set with precious stone) > umpire a noumpere (non-pair) > > newt an ewte > nickname an ekename > ninny an innocent > > Obsolete or dialect terms > > nidiot, nidget an idiot > > Note from OED2 re “orange”: The loss of the initial `n’ in French, > English and Italian is usually ascribed to its absorption by the > indefinite article in “une narange”, “una narancia”. Medieval > Latin also had the forms “arangia”, “arancia” whence “aurantia” by > popular association with “aurum” gold, from the colour. So perhaps > Old French “orenge” for “arenge”, after “or” gold. > 2. From dative form of “the” (“then”) > > nonce then anes > > Obsolete > > nale then ale > 3. From “mine” – obsolete or dialect > > nain mine own (Scots) > naunt mine aunt > neam mine eme (eme == Scots for uncle or friend) > nuncle mine uncle > > 1. From “a” > > accomplice a complice > > 1. Misc. > > druthers I’d rather