Rebracketing (also known as prothesis, aphaeresis, junctural metanalysis, reanalysis, resegmentation, false splitting, false separation, faulty separation, misdivision, refactorization, oronym, and mondegreen) is a process in historical linguistics where a word originally derived from one source is broken down or bracketed into a different set of factors. It is a form of folk etymology, where the new factors may appear meaningful (e.g. hamburger taken to mean a burger with ham), or may seem to be the result of valid morphological processes.
Rebracketing often focuses on highly probable word boundaries: "a noodle" might become "an oodle", since "an oodle" sounds just as grammatically correct as "a noodle", and likewise "an eagle" might become "a neagle", but "the bowl" would not become "th ebowl" and "a kite" would not become "ak ite".
Technically, bracketing is the process of breaking an utterance into its constituent parts. The term is akin to parsing for larger sentences, but it is normally restricted to morphological processes at the sublexical level, i.e. within the particular word or lexeme. For example, the word uneventful is conventionally bracketed as [un+[event+ful]], and the bracketing [[un+event]+ful] leads to completely different semantics. Re-bracketing is the process of seeing the same word as a different morphological decomposition, especially where the new etymology becomes the conventional norm. The name false splitting in particular is often reserved for the case where two words mix but still remain two words (as in the "noodle" and "eagle" examples above).
The name juncture loss may be specially deployed to refer to the case of an article and a noun fusing (such as if "the jar" were to become "(the) thejar" or "an apple" were to become "(an) anapple"). This phenomenon is especially common in the cases of loanwords and loan phrases in which the recipient language's speakers at the time of the word's introduction did not realize an article to be already present (e.g. numerous Arabic-derived words including "algorithm", "alcohol", "alchemy", etc.). Especially in the case of loan phrases, juncture loss may be recognized as substandard even when widespread (e.g. "the hoi polloi", where Greek hoi = "the", and "the Magna Carta", in which no article is necessary because magna carta is borrowed rather than calqued, Latin's lack of articles makes the original term either implicitly definite or indeterminate with respect to definiteness [in this context, the former], and the English phrase's proper-noun status renders unnecessary any further determination through the use of an article).
As a statistical change within a language within any century, rebracketing is a very weak statistical phenomenon. Even during phonetic template shifts, it is at best only probable that 0.1% of the vocabulary may be rebracketed in any given century.
Rebracketing is part of the process of language change, and often operates together with sound changes that facilitate the new etymology.
In English, the word adder derives from the Old English næddre, snake, re-bracketed from "a nædder" to "an adder" (c. 14th century); the word "nedder" for snake is still present in some Northern English dialects. Similarly, "nickname" is a refactorization of "an ekename" (1303, ekename = additional, little name).
Ned or Neddy may have risen from generations of children hearing "mine Ed" as "my Ned" (mīn is the Middle English form of the first person possessive pronoun, and the my form was also emerging around the same time). Similarly "mine Ellie" → "my Nellie".
As another example, alone has its etymology in all+one (cognate to German allein). It was subsequently rebracketed as a+lone (akin to aflutter, afire), so the second part seemed likely to be a word, "lone".
The word hamburger's origins were in a form of ground meat dish originating from Hamburg, Germany (where it is still called Tartar steak). A possible bracketing for the original may be [[ham+burg]+er], but after its introduction into America, it was soon factorized as [ham+burger] (helped by ham being a form of meat). This led to the independent suffix -burger: chickenburger, fishburger, etc. In the original etymology, burg was town and burger was a resident, or something related to the town; after refactorization it becomes a chunk of meat for a sandwich, although a hamburger does not contain ham.
The English helico•pter (from Greek heliko- and pterōn) has been rebracketed to modern heli•copter (as in jetcopter, heliport).
cybern•etics: (from Greek kubernān and -ētēs) has become modern cyber•netics (as in cyberspace).
prosthodontics (= false teeth) is from prosth(o)- + Greek odont-; odont- = "tooth", and prostho- arose by misdivision of "prosthetic", which was treated as supposed stem prosth- and suffix -etic, but actually came from Greek pros = "in front of" and thē- (the root of the verb tithēmi = "I place").
In Swahili, kitabu (“book”) is derived from Arabic kitāb. However, the word is split as a native Swahili word (ki + tabu) and declined accordingly (plural vitabu). This violates the original triliteral root of the original Arabic (K-T-B).
As demonstrated in the examples above, the primary reason of juncture loss in English is the confusion between "a" and "an". In Medieval script, words were often written so close together that for some Middle English scholars it was hard to tell where one began and another ended. The results include the following words in English:
adder: Middle English a naddre ("a snake") taken for an addre.
aitchbone: Middle English a nachebon ("a buttock bone") taken for an hach boon.
another, formed by combining "an other" into one word, is sometimes colloquially split into "a nother" and a qualifier inserted as in "a whole nother issue."
apple pie order: English a nappes-pliées (meaning "neatly folden linen" in French) taken for an apple pie (this is also an example of transposition).
apron: Middle English a napron taken for an apron.
auger: Middle English a nauger taken for an auger.
eyas: Middle English a niyas (from French niais from Late Latin nidiscus (from Latin nidus = "nest")) taken for an eias.
humble pie: Middle English a numble taken for an umble (ultimately from Latin lumbulus, this is also an example of homorganicness).
lone: Middle English al one (all one) taken for a-lone.
newt: Middle English an eute (cognate with eft) taken for a neute.
nickname: Middle English an eke name ("an additional name") taken for a neke name.
the nonce: Middle English, for old English þen ānes (the one [occasion]).
nuncle (dialectical form of uncle): Middle English mine uncle taken for my nuncle.
omelette: Seventeenth century English from French la lemelle ("omelette") taken for l'alemelle; ultimately from Latin lamella ("blade"), perhaps because of the thin shape of the omelette (SOED).
ought: Middle English a nought ("a nothing") taken for an ought. Ultimately distinct from Old English naught ("nothing"), of complex and convergent etymology, from na ("not") and wight ("living thing, man"), but cf. aught ("anything", "worthy", etc.), itself ultimately from aye ("ever") and wight (SOED).
tother: Old English (now dialectal) that other taken for the tother.
umpire: Middle English a noumpere taken for an oumpere.
In French similar confusion arose between "le/la" and "l'-" as well as "de" and "d'-".
French démonomancie ("demonomancy") taken for d'émonomancie ("of emonomancy").
Old French lonce ("lynx") taken for l'once, thus giving rise to once (hence English: ounce), now more often applied to the snow leopard.
Old French une norenge ("an orange") taken for une orenge.
boutique from Greek-derived Latin apotheca, a change found in some Romance languages (e.g. Italian bottega, Spanish bodega, Sicilian putìa), a putative proto-Romance l'aboteca or l'abodega taken for la + lexeme.
Dutch shares several examples with English, but also has some of its own. Many examples were created by reanalysing an initial n- as part of a preceding article or case ending.
adder: As in English.
arreslee (horse-drawn sleigh): From early modern Dutch een (n)arreslede, from nar "fool, jester" + slede "sleigh".
avegaar "auger": As in English.
omelette: As in English.
spijt "pity, regret": From Middle Dutch despijt, from Old French despit "spite". Reanalysed as de spijt "the pity".
In Arabic the confusion is generally with non-Arabic words beginning in "al-" (al is Arabic for "the").
Alexander the Great has been interpreted in Arabic as Iskandar; by extension
Greek Alexandreia (Alexandria) taken for al Exandreia (and thus Al-Iskandariyah; this is also an example of metathesis).
Greek Alexandretta taken for al Exandretta (and thus Iskenderun; this too is an example of metathesis).
Visigothic Ulishbona (Lisbon) taken for ul Ishbona (and thus medieval Arabic al-Ishbūnah).
Negroponte (Euboea) from στὸ Νεύριπον 'to Nevripos', rebracketing of στὸν Εὔριπον 'to Evripos', and then a folk etymology connecting it to Italian ponte 'bridge'
Cattaro (Kotor) from Δεκάτερα, Decatera splitting to De Catera (of Catera) in Italian, then to Cattaro/Kotor.
ajar from on char ("on turn").
alligator from Spanish el lagarto ("the lizard").
alone from all one.
atone from at one.
Perhaps the most common case of juncture loss in English comes from the Arabic al (mentioned above), mostly via Spanish, Portuguese, and Medieval Latin:
Arabic al-faṣfaṣa in Spanish as alfalfa, alfalfa.
Arabic al-kharrūba in Spanish as algarroba, carob.
Arabic al-hilāl in Spanish as alfiler, pin.
Arabic al-hurj in Spanish as alforja, saddlebag.
Arabic al-qāḍī in Spanish as alcalde, alcalde.
Arabic al-qā’id in Spanish as alcaide, commander.
Arabic al-qaṣr in Spanish as alcázar, alcazar.
Arabic al-qubba in Spanish as alcoba, alcove.
Arabic al-‘uṣāra in Spanish as alizari, madder root.
Arabic al-rub in Spanish as arroba, a unit of measure.
Arabic al-zahr ("the dice") in Spanish as azar, "randomness", and in English as "hazard"
Arabic al-bakūra in Portuguese as albacor, albacore.
Arabic al-ġaṭṭās in Portuguese as alcatraz, albatross.
Arabic al-’anbīq in Medieval Latin as alembicus, alembic.
Arabic al-dabarān in Medieval Latin as Aldebaran, Aldebaran.
Arabic al-ḥinnā’ in Medieval Latin as alchanna, henna.
Arabic al-‘iḍāda in Medieval Latin as alidada, sighting rod.
Arabic al-jabr in Medieval Latin as algebra, algebra.
Arabic al-Khwarizmi in Medieval Latin as algorismus, algorism.
Arabic al-kīmiyā’ in Medieval Latin as alchymia, alchemy.
Arabic al-kuḥl (powdered antimony) in Medieval Latin as alcohol, which see for the change of meaning.
Arabic al-qily in Medieval Latin as alkali, alkali.
Arabic al-qur’ān in Medieval Latin as alcorānum, Koran.
Arabic al-ġūl in English as Algol.
Arabic al-majisti in French as almageste, almagest.
Arabic al-minbar in Medieval Hebrew as ’almēmār, bema.
Arabic al-qaly in English as alkali, alkaline.
Arabic al-kuħl in Old French as alcohol (modern French alcool), and in English as alcohol.
Junctural metanalysis played a role in the development of new words in the earliest period of Greek literature: during the oral transmission of the Homeric epics. Many words in the Homeric epics that are etymologically inexplicable through normal linguistic analysis begin to make some sense when junctural metanalysis at some stage in the transmission is assumed: e.g., the formula eche nedumos hypnos "sweet sleep held (him)" appears to be a resegmentation of echen edumos hypnos. Steve Reece has discovered several dozen similar instances of metanalysis in Homer, thereby shedding new light on their etymologies.
Juncture loss is common in later Greek as well, especially in place names, or in borrowings of Greek names in Italian and Turkish, where particles (εις, στην, στον, σε) are fused with the original name.
Examples:
Prefix "stan" < στήν 'at', 'to'
Istanbul or Stamboul and Stimpoli, Crete, from "στην Πόλη" [stimˈboli], 'in the city' or 'to the city'
İstanköy, Stanco for the island of Kos
Standia for the island of Dia
Prefix "s-" < σε 'at'
Satines for Athines (Athens), etc.
Samsun (s'Amison from "se" and "Amisos")
Sdille for Delos
Sakiss for Chios
Susam for Samos
Samastro for Amasra (Greek Amastris)
Stamiro (?)
Stalimure (?)
Prefix 'is' < εις 'at', 'to'
İzmit from Media, with earlier İznikmit from Nicomedia
İznik from Nicaea ([iz nikea])
Other
Navarino for earlier Avarino
