Use of word "fungates"

I noticed the following language in the hook documentation comment of a module hook-alter:

Function that fungates as last resort to alter the pre_render build.

/**
* Implements hook_field_group_pre_render().
* Function that fungates as last resort to alter the pre_render build.
*/

The only definitions I can find for "fungates" have to do with fungus, which I doubt is what is intended. But I get lots of search results if I search on Drupal and fungates, so it's apparently in common use.

Is this some technical term which has been insufficiently documented (which could present an issue to people who are limited English proficient or folks like me who have simply never encountered the term) or is it some long-ago auto-correct error that has managed to propagate itself through the Drupal ecosphere?

In either case, it might be a better practice to substitute some other more-widely-understood term, such as "serves."

/**
* Implements hook_field_group_pre_render().
* Function that serves as last resort to alter the pre_render build.
*/

I'm posting this in Groups rather than as an issue because (1) I don't know if this is something legitimate that was settled long ago or (2) since it appears in hook-alters rather than in core or a specific module, I don't know what I would file it against.