Yp1-03(2) Idioms: Motivation and Etymology Dmitrij Dobrovol’skij and Elisabeth Piirainen Abstract

3.2. Folk etymology

Motivation exists only in those cases where the image component is alive. This can be the (historically) true etymology, but also a reinterpretation of the original concept, a “modernized” folk etymology, brought into line with the extra-linguistic facts that are encoded in the inner form. This can be illustrated by the idiom to give someone the green light ‘to give someone permission to do something that they were planning’. It historically originates in the signals used in early railroad systems and not in urban traffic lights, although, from a contemporary view, the image component seems to be grounded in the regulation of road traffic, when the light switches to green signaling road users to proceed. Compare also idiom (9).

(9) to hit the nail on the head

‘to describe something in exactly the right way, to find exactly the right answer to a problem in one or two words’

The idiom is clearly motivated (for the average speaker) by fragments of world knowledge about the function of nails (as a tool). The allusion is to an accurate hit with a hammer on the head of a nail, which requires some skill. There is a homomorphic relation between the literal and figurative meaning: the head of the nail is the central point of a matter, while to hit correlates with ‘to grasp, capture something concisely and appropriately’. Thus, the idiom is semantically decomposable (in the sense of Dobrovol’skij 1982; Nunberg et al. 1994 or Langlotz 2006). When historical correspondences are taken into account, however, the correlation is different, resulting in a complete shift of the image: The true etymology is based on medieval knighthood and archery, where a target was fixed to the wall with a nail, exactly in its center. The best bowman was able to hit precisely on the nail. This true etymology can be proven by historical evidence. We find a clear reference to the bowman in a German equivalent in one of Martin Luther’s texts (1541): das ein guter schütze den pflock odder nagel treffe [“that a good archer may hit the tack or nail”] (Cornette 1997: 88). Presumably, the earliest English pieces of evidence were also used with reference to the archery frame (cf. Thou hittest the nayle on the head, ca. 1520, Apperson 1969: 435). It is impossible to say at what time the shift of the mental image (in the direction of the hand tool) took place.
These examples show that shifts from true to folk etymology do not have clear consequences for the usage of an idiom. The crucial factor is whether speakers perceive the idiom as motivated or opaque.