misnomer

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*h₁nómn̥“name”
2. Latin · derived fromnōmināre
3. Old French · derived frommesnomer
4. Anglo-Norman · derived frommesnomer
5. Middle English · inherited frommisnoumer“(law) mistaken identification of a person; plea based on such misidentification”
6. English todaymisnomer

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)). The verb is derived from the noun.

Words from the same roots