ENGLISH LEXICOLOGY

5.7 Eponyms

 

Eponyms are words created from names of (usually) famous people, and the words’ meanings relate to something specific about them or their experiences (Denham & Lobeck, 2010, pp. 196-197). An eponym is the term which stands for an ordinary common noun derived from a proper noun, the name of a person, or place. The first Hershey Bar was concocted in 1894 by a confectioner, Milton Hershey, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Two days later, a candy-maker, Leonard Hirschfield, and his daughter nicknamed Tootsie introduced the first paper-wrapped candy, the chewy Tootsie Roll (Panati, 1984, p.123). A sandwich was born when at 5 a.m., on August 6, 1762, John Montagu, fourth earl of Sandwich, felt hungry while gambling, so he ordered to bring him some cold thick-sliced roast beef between two pieces of toasted bread (Hendrickson, 2008, p. 728). Quisling (n) means ‘traitor,’ and quisle (v) is the back-formation from quisling, and it means ‘to betray one’s country.’ Major Quisling (1887-1945) earned his rank in the Norwegian army. He served as military attaché in Russia and Finland. Although the Norwegians considered him mentally unstable, he was able to form the National Unity Party, shortly before Hitler came to power in1933. Suppressing all opposition, he assumed King Haakon’s throne in the palace and drove around in a bulletproof limousine that was presented to him by Hitler. When the war was over, he was tried for treason, murder, and theft and found guilty on all accounts. He was shot by a firing squad in 1945 (Hendrickson, 2008, p. 691).

In figure skating, the term axel is used to denote a graceful jump consisting of one-and-half turns in the air. It is named after its inventor, the Norwegian skater, Axel Paulson, who perfected it in the late 19th century (p.47). Some other examples of eponyms are algorithm (named after al-Khowarizmi (circa 780–850), an Arabic mathematician); ampere (named after André Marié Ampére (1775–1836), the French physicist); atlas (Atlas was forced by Zeus to support the heavens upon his shoulders. It was taken from Greek mythology); July (the seventh month was named after Julius Caesar by Mark Anthony); August (the eighth month was named after Augustus Caesar (63 BCE-14 CE), the first Roman emperor); alexandrite (a grass-green chrysoberyl that shows a red color by transmitted or artificial light, named after Alexander I Russian emperor); bignonia (‘a plant,’ named after Abbé Jean- Paul Bignon (1662-1743, French royal librarian); bobby (‘a police officer,’ named after Sir Robert Peel, who organized the London police force); and boycott (named after Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897), English land agent in Ireland, who was ostracized for refusing to reduce rents) (Hendrickson, 2008).