English
misnomer
Misnomer comes from Middle English misnoumer ‘(law) mistaken identification of a person’, from Latin nominō ‘to name, give a name to, call by name’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to change’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to change’root as named · steps between not traced
- Hittitemodernḫannaⁱ-transliteratedcuneiform ḫannaⁱ-, a transliteration‘to sue, judge’
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁nómn̥‘name’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*nōmn̥‘name’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōmen‘name’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnominōas nōmināre‘to name, give a name to, call by name’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400mesnomer
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500misnoumer‘(law) mistaken identification of a person’
- Englishearliest quotation 1994misnomer
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*meyth₂-‘to change’root as named · steps between not traced
- Hittitemodernḫannaⁱ-transliteratedcuneiform ḫannaⁱ-, a transliteration‘to sue, judge’
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₁nómn̥‘name’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*nōmn̥‘name’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEnōmen‘name’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEnominōas nōmināre‘to name, give a name to, call by name’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400mesnomer
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500misnoumer‘(law) mistaken identification of a person’
- Englishearliest quotation 1994misnomer
Earliest quotation: 1994, Illinois. Appellate Court, Stephen Davis Porter: “[…] plaintiff's misstyling himself as corporation in initial complaint…”
The story
The noun is derived from Late Middle English misnoumer (‘(law) mistaken identification of a person; plea based on such misidentification’), from Anglo-Norman mesnomer, a noun use of Anglo-Norman mesnomer, mesnommer, and Old French mesnomer, mesnommer (‘to name incorrectly’), from mes- (prefix meaning ‘badly, wrongly’) + nomer, nommer (‘to name’) (from Latin nōmināre, the present active infinitive of nōminō (‘to name’), from nōmen (‘name’) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ (‘name’)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- ‘to change’
message, mad, miss, mess, commit, mute, mutant, madden, premise, intermittent, mutate, omit, transmutation, mutable, molt, commutative, commutation, moult, 19 more
through Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥ ‘name’
name, pseudonym, anonymity, 31 more
through Latin nōmen ‘name’
noun, nominal, renown, ignominious, ignominy, nomen, 19 more
through Latin nominō ‘to name, give a name to, call by name’
Today it means
noun A mistake in the naming of a person or place; a misidentification.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- / misnomer