mondegreen
nounUK /ˈmɒndəɡɹiːn/ · US /ˈmɑndəɡɹiːn/
Etymology Coined by American journalist and editor Sylvia Wright in 1954 in Harper's Magazine from mishearing a line in the Scottish ballad The Bonnie Earl o' Moray: “They have slain the Earl o' Moray, / And laid him on the green”, the second line being misheard as, “And Lady Mondegreen”.
1
Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences A form of (possibly intentional) error arising from mishearing a spoken or sung phrase, possibly in a different language.
- Our report of a relative who, as a child, thought the classic version of the Lord's Prayer began "Our father, a chart in heaven, Harold be thy name" stated that this type of mistake is known as an eggcorn. A number of readers have suggested that instances like this in which a whole phrase rather than just a word is misheard, should be called mondegreens rather than eggcorns.2006 November 18, “Feedback”, in New Scientist, archived from the original on 24 May 2016, page 218:
- The title lyric ["Bei Mir Bistu Shein"], the only part of the original Yiddish preserved by Cahn, was a mondegreen waiting to happen—“My Mere Bits of Shame” and “My Beer, Mr. Shane” were among the earliest recorded mishearings—but the language barrier didn't […]2012, Gary Rosen, Unfair to Genius: The Strange and Litigious Career of Ira B. Arnstein, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
2
Rare A misunderstanding of a written or spoken phrase as a result of multiple definitions.
- Related terms
- daffynition, folk etymology, Hobson-Jobson, soramimi
- Coordinate terms
- catachresis, eggcorn, malapropism