In some cases of folk-etymology it is difficult to see to what idea the corruption is due.[98] The mollusc called a periwinkle was in Anglo-Saxon pinewincla, which still survives in dialect as pennywinkle. It appears to have been influenced by the plant-name periwinkle, which is itself a corruption of Mid. Eng. pervenke, from Lat. pervinca; cf. Fr. pervenche. The material called lutestring was formerly lustring, Fr. lustrine, from its glossiness. A wiseacre is "one that knows or tells truth; we commonly use it in malam partem for a fool" (Blount, Glossographia, 1674). This comes, through Dutch, from Ger. Weissager, commonly understood as wise-sayer, but really unconnected with sagen, to say. The Old High Ger. wīzago, prophet, is cognate with Eng. witty. The military and naval word ensign is in Shakespeare corrupted, in both its meanings, into ancient. Thus Falstaff describes his tatterdemalion recruits as—
"Ten times more dishonourable ragged than an old-faced ancient."
(1 Henry IV., iv. 2.)
while Ancient Pistol is familiar to every reader. A cordwainer, from Old Fr. cordouanier, "a shoomaker, a cordwainer" (Cotgrave), worked with cordouan, "Cordovan leather; which is properly a goat's skin tanned." The modern French form cordonnier is due to association with cordon, a thong, bootlace, etc. Witch-elm has nothing to do with witches. It is for older weech-elm, wiche-elm, and belongs to Anglo-Sax. wīcan, to bend. Service-tree is a meaningless corruption of Mid. Eng. serves, an early loan word from Lat. sorbus.
In the case of a double-barrelled word, folk-etymology usually affects one half only, e.g., verdigris is for Fr. vert-de-gris, for Old Fr. vert de Grece, Greek green. The reason for the name is unknown. Cotgrave calls it "Spanish green." Mid. English had the more correct vertegresse and verte Grece (Promptorium Parvulorum, 1440). The cavalry trumpet-call boot and saddle is for Fr. boute-selle, lit. "put saddle." Court card is for coat card, a name given to these cards from the dresses depicted on them. Florio has carta di figura, "a cote carde." The card game called Pope Joan would appear to be in some way corrupted from nain jaune, lit. "yellow dwarf," its French name.
"PREPOSTEROUS" PERVERSIONS
But occasionally the results of folk-etymology are literally preposterous.[99] The Fr. choucroute is from sūrkrūt, a dialect pronunciation of Ger. Sauer-kraut, sour cabbage, so that the first syllable, meaning "sour," has actually been corrupted so as to mean "cabbage." Another example, which I have never seen quoted, is the name of a beech-wood near the little town of Remilly in Lorraine. The trees of this wood are very old and curiously twisted, and they are called in French les jolis fous, where fou (Lat. fagus) is the Old French for "beech" (fouet, whip, is its diminutive). This is rendered in German as tolle Buchen, mad beeches, the fou having been misunderstood as referring to the fantastic appearance of the trees.
Forlorn hope is sometimes used metaphorically as though the hope were of the kind that springs eternal in the human breast. In military language it now means the leaders of a storming party—
"The forlorn hope of each attack consisted of a sergeant and twelve Europeans."
(Wellington's Despatches, 1799.)