law of Hobson-Jobson
English
Etymology
Coined by E.E. Morris; based on Hobson-Jobson.[1]
Noun
- The "rule" that words or phrases borrowed between languages will be modified in their pronunciation as necessary to conform to the set of sounds used by the borrowing language.
- 1898, E.E. Morris, Austral English, page xv:
- In many places in the Dictionary, I find I have used the expression ‘the law of Hobson-Jobson.’ The name is an adaptation from the expression used by Col. Yule and Mr. Burnell as a name for their interesting Dictionary of Anglo-Indian words. The law is well recognised, though it has lacked a name, such as I now venture to give it.
- 1921, H.L. Mencken, The American Language, second ed., chapter 2, section 2,
- Its variations show a familiar effort to bring a new and strange word into harmony with the language—an effort arising from what philologists call the law of Hobson-Jobson.
- Ibid., chapter 10, section 3,
- Reckawackes, by the law of Hobson-Jobson, was turned into Rockaway, and Pentapang into Port Tobacco.
- 1921, John S. Farmer, A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English Slang and Its Analogues, page 482, s.v. Tommy-axe,
- Tommy-axe. A corruption of tomahawk: an instance of the law of Hobson-Jobson (q.v.).