We may now apply the same reasoning to lexicalization, which, as we have seen, is a process unfolding in the same compartment of the language system and going in an orthogonal direction from grammaticalization. The following diagram summarizes the various aspects of lexicalization seen in preceding chapters. It shows them as properties and processes which change from right to left.

The properties and processes taken together characterize lexicalization and coincide in the typical cases. Their inversion, i.e. processes that run from left to right, and properties that change from left to right, in the diagram are proper of a process not hitherto discussed. It is called folk-etymology (or popular etymology)

Folk etymology is, thus, a process in which an expression which either has no morphological structure or whose morphological structure is ignored is analyzed as having an internal structure which is imposed on it. A celebrated example of English folk etymology is the hamburger. This is originally a loan from German Hamburger, designating a person or a thing coming from Hamburg. In the late 19th cent., it acquires the special meaning ‘sandwich made with a patty of ground meat’, on the supposition that this was typical of Hamburg cuisine. This word is then analyzed, by folk etymology, as a compound with ham as determinans (slightly at odds with its actual denotatum). This then serves as a model for further such compounds, including fish burger, cheese burger etc. Finally the determinatum becomes independent, so we get burgers.

Processes of the lexicalization type occur every day in all languages of the world. They are essentially uncontrolled, happening almost “by themselves”. Processes of the folk-etymology type are exceedingly rare.¹ They depend on the creativity of certain speakers who initiate an unusual change and on the receptivity of their peer group to take it up.

¹ Contrary to Wikipedia (16/04/2023), folk etymology is not a productive process.