Baboon Báfjáni

I’ve been trying to create a neologism for this animal that refers to its dog-like muzzle. All possible compounds were too long. The only reasonable solution is a “spooneristic metathesis” in the word fábjáni: BÁFJÁNI, which sounds more Icelandic ‘bavían(i)’. The use of a spoonerism is appropriate in this case because baboons and apes in general are mostly associated with idiots and fools. The Íslenska Orðsifjabók mentions as an additional meaning of ‘bavían(i)’: (lastyrði um mann) flón, undanvillingur. So the playfulness of this kind of 'aðlögun' which is at the same time a spoonerism is appropriate. Moreover, one can use -fjáni in compounds for different baboon species, like -mandra (from salamandra) and -varpa (from moldvarpa). Fjáni sounds much like bjáni or kjáni so the association with foolish 'monkey-tricks' is retained.

A spoonerism is an error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched (Metathesis). It is named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930), Warden of New College, Oxford, who was notoriously prone to this tendency. While spoonerisms are commonly heard as slips of the tongue resulting from unintentionally getting one's words in a tangle, they can also be used intentionally as a play on words. In some cultures, spoonerisms are used as a rhyme form used in poetry, such as German Schüttelreime. Spoonerisms are commonly used intentionally in humor, especially drunk humor. Examples of spoonerisms: Runny Babbit: a Billy Sook (Bunny Rabbit: A silly book), Lirty Dies and Scicious Vandals (Dirty Lies and Vicious Scandals), a spoonerism and name of the show of the from the Capitol Steps, a political satire group. (See wikipedia: spoonerism)Metathesis (from Greek μετά-θε-σις, from μετα-τί-θη-μι "I put in a different order": Latin trānspositiō) is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables of a word, or even whole words. But most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more adjacent sounds: foliage → foliage, cavalry → calvary . Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some use it as a regular part of their grammar (e.g. the Fur language). The process of metathesis has altered the shape of many familiar words in the English language, as well. (See wikipedia metathesis).