Backform

Pennanen (1966: 150) also commented on the relative productiveness of British and American English in backforming new words: Although the coining of back-formations is at present mainly carried on in America on the various levels of spoken and written usage, it should be emphasized that the difference here is one of degree only.

Those who deny the synchronic relevance of backformation would hold that backforming x from y is simply the folk-etymological assumption that x is the derivational source of y.

Thus, donate [1845] was backformed from donation [c.1425] to serve as a putative base from which the latter could be derived.