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HelpRe: Fake Etymology
in reply to a message by Rachel Shaina
On the one hand, all words don't have inherent meaning, but derive their meanings from what we say they are. On the other hand, that derivation has to be collective, otherwise it's, well, meaningless. I can make up as many definitions to words as I want, but if they aren't collectively agreed upon definitions, no one else will know what I'm saying, and the words will have failed their purpose as words.
I don't think an Arabic speaker would ever read 'Emmalee' as a transcription of 'my hope.' I think it likely that if you said 'Emmalee' to an Arabic speaker hoping it to be heard as 'my hope,' it wouldn't work out. I think if I saw someone parading a gross misspelling of an English word or phrase that also happened to be a pretty normal style name in their culture in no way connected to those English words, but tried to claim them as it's etymology, my reaction would be something like 'that's cute, but go sit down.'
The most one can do with fake etymologies is hold them as an association ("I like this name because it reminds me of the Arabic word for 'my hope.'") But that doesn't make them legitimate etymologies.
https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/120652
I don't think an Arabic speaker would ever read 'Emmalee' as a transcription of 'my hope.' I think it likely that if you said 'Emmalee' to an Arabic speaker hoping it to be heard as 'my hope,' it wouldn't work out. I think if I saw someone parading a gross misspelling of an English word or phrase that also happened to be a pretty normal style name in their culture in no way connected to those English words, but tried to claim them as it's etymology, my reaction would be something like 'that's cute, but go sit down.'
The most one can do with fake etymologies is hold them as an association ("I like this name because it reminds me of the Arabic word for 'my hope.'") But that doesn't make them legitimate etymologies.
https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/120652
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