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The genuine etymological story of phon ( e ) y 1
Author(s) -
Cohen Paul S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
transactions of the philological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-968X
pISSN - 0079-1636
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-968x.2011.01247.x
Subject(s) - subject (documents) , speculation , counterfeit , philosophy , linguistics , history , literature , computer science , art , library science , economics , archaeology , macroeconomics
The etymological source and history of English phon ( e ) y ‘fake, sham, counterfeit’ have been the subject of speculation and disagreement for over 100 years, and are still problematic. In the present paper, I outline the treatment of phon ( e ) y in the three editions of the Oxford English Dictionary ( OED ) as well as in more specialised dictionaries, and in the relevant scholarly and popular literature; where appropriate, I make a careful examination of cited documents in the original. I go on to make a critical analysis of all these, adduce new evidence, and advance a coherent theory to account for the data, including heretofore unexplained phonological aspects.