Eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include eponymous and eponymic.
Usage of the word
The term eponymElizabeth I of England.
When
Rocky film series), as well as to self-titled works named after their creators (such as the album The Doors by the band the Doors
).
Walt Disney created the eponymous Walt Disney Company, with his name similarly extended to theme parks such as Walt Disney World.[4][5][6][7] Medical eponymous terms are often called medical eponyms although that usage is deprecable.
History
Periods have often been named after a ruler or other influential figure:
- One of the first recorded cases of eponymy occurred in the second millennium BC, when the Assyrians named each year after a high official (limmu).
- In ancient Greece, the eponymous archon was the highest magistrate in classical Athens. Eponymous archons served a term of one year which took the name of that particular archon (e.g., 594 BC was named after Solon). Later historians provided yet another case of eponymy by referring to the period of fifth-century Athens as The Age of Pericles after its most influential statesman Pericles.
- In Ptolemaic Egypt, the head priest of the Cult of Alexander and the Ptolemieswas the eponymous priest after whom years were named.
- The Hebrew Bible explains the origins of peoples through individuals who bear their name. Jacob is renamed "Israel" (Gen 35:9) and his sons (or grandsons) name the original 12 tribes of Israel, while Edomites (Gen. 25:30), Moabites and Ammonites (Gen. 19:30-38), Canaanites (Gen. 9:20-27) and other tribes (the Kenites named after Cain[citation needed] (Cain's life is detailed in Gen. 4:1-16)) are said to be named after other primal ancestors bearing their name. In most cases, the experiences and behavior of the ancestor is meant to indicate the characteristics of the people who take their name.
- In Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus and Gaius Julius Caesar" (although that specific year was known jocularly as "the consulship of Julius and Caesar" because of the insignificance of Caesar's counterpart). Under the empire, the consuls would change as often as every two months, but only the two consuls at the beginning of the year would lend their names to that year.
- During the Christian era, itself eponymous, many royal households used eponymous dating by regnal years. The Roman Catholic Church, however, eventually used the Anno Dominidating scheme - based on the birth of Christ - on both the general public and royalty. The regnal year standard is still used with respect to statutes and law reports published in some parts of the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries (England abandoned this practice in 1963).
- Government administrations may become referred to eponymously, such as Kennedy's Camelot and the Nixon Era.
- British monarchs have become eponymous throughout the English-speaking world for time periods, fashions, etc. Edwardianare examples of these.
Trends
- Political trends or movements are often named after a government leader. Examples include Jacksonian democracy, Stalinism, Maoism, Obamacare, and Thatcherism.
Other eponyms
- In thermos[10]in the United States.
- In geography, places and towns can also be given an eponymous name through a relationship to an important figure. husband and consortin 1866.
- In science and technology:
- Discoveries and innovations are often named after the discoverer or a figure influential in their advance. Examples are the Avogadro constant, the Diesel engine, meitnerium, Alzheimer's disease, and the Apgar score. For a different view of the process see Stigler's law of eponymy.
- In scientific names that honor a person. Examples are the plant Linnaea (after Carl Linnaeus), the baobab Adansonia (after Michel Adanson), and the moth Caligula (after the Roman emperor Caligula).[11][12]
- Relatedly, biomedical terminology uses many eponymous terms, and many also have noneponymous synonyms.
- Many astronomical objects are named after their discoverer or another person.[13]
- In art:
- Plays, books, and other forms of entertainment may have eponymous names, such as the ancient Greek epic The Odyssey, derived from its principal character, Odysseus, and the novel Robinson Crusoe.
- The term is also used in the Bad Company's first album was entitled Bad Company and contained a popular song named "Bad Company". Parodying this, the band R.E.M. titled a 1988 compilation album Eponymous. One especially convoluted case of eponyms is the 1969 song "Black Sabbath", named after the 1963 movie Black Sabbath; the band that wrote the song changed their name to Black Sabbath and released it on the album Black Sabbath.
- Plays, books, and other forms of entertainment may have eponymous names, such as the ancient Greek epic
- In tribal antiquity, both in ancient Greece and independently among the Hebrews, tribes often took the name of a legendary leader (as Sons of Noah, provided a primitive attempt at ethnologyas well, in the genealogical relationships of eponymous originators.
Orthographic conventions
Capitalized versus lowercase
- Because
- However, some eponymous adjectives and noun adjuncts are nowadays entered in many dictionaries as lowercase when they have evolved a common status, no longer deriving their meaning from the proper-noun origin.[16] For example, Herculean when referring to Hercules himself, but often herculean when referring to the figurative, generalized extension sense;[16] and quixotic and diesel engine [lowercase only].[16][17] For any given term, one dictionary may enter only lowercase or only cap, whereas other dictionaries may recognize the capitalized version as a variant, either equally common as, or less common than, the first-listed styling (marked with labels such as "or", "also", "often", or "sometimes"). The Chicago Manual of Style, in its section "Words derived from proper names",[18] gives some examples of both lowercase and capitalized stylings, including a few terms styled both ways, and says, "Authors and editors must decide for themselves, but whatever choice is made should be followed consistently throughout a work."
- When the eponym is used together with a noun, the common-noun part is not capitalized (unless it is part of a title or it is the first word in a sentence). For example, in Parkinson disease (named after parkinsonian although Parkinson disease),[19] and gram-negative, gram-positive although Gram stain.[20] Uppercase Gram-positive or Gram-negative however are also commonly used in scientific journal articles and publications.[21][22][23] In other fields, the eponym derivative is commonly capitalized, for example, Newtonian in physics,[24][25] and Platonic in philosophy (however, use lowercase platonic when describing love).[14] The capitalization is retained after a prefix and hyphen, e.g. non-Newtonian.[14]
For examples, see the comparison table below.
Genitive versus attributive
- English can use either genitive case or attributive position to indicate the adjectival nature of the eponymous part of the term. (In other words, that part may be either possessive or non-possessive.) Thus Parkinson's disease and Parkinson disease are both acceptable. Medical dictionaries have been shifting toward nonpossessive styling in recent decades.[26] Thus Parkinson disease is more likely to be used in the latest medical literature (especially in postprints) than Parkinson's disease.
National varieties of English
- American and British English spelling differences may apply to eponyms. For example, British style would typically be caesarean section, which is also found in American medical publications, but cæsarean section (with a ligature) is sometimes seen in (mostly older) British writing, and cesarean is preferred by American dictionaries and some American medical works.[27]
Comparison table of eponym orthographic styling
| Prevalent dictionary styling today | Stylings that defy prevalent dictionary styling | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Addison disease[28] | *Addison Disease *addison disease |
|
| Allemann syndrome[28] | *Allemann Syndrome *allemann syndrome |
|
| cesarean [only][28] cesarean also cesarian [but no cap variant][16] cesarean, "often capitalized" or caesarean also cesarian or caesarian[29] |
More information on this word's orthographic variants is at Wiktionary: caesarean section. | |
| darwinian [only][28] darwinism [only][28] Darwinian [only][16][17] Darwinism [only][16][17] Darwinist [only][16][17] |
||
| diesel (n/adj/vi) [no cap variant][16][17] and also diesel-electric[16] diesel engine[16][17] dieseling[16][17] dieselize, dieselization[16] |
*Diesel engine *Dieseling *Dieselize, Dieselization |
|
| draconian[17] draconian often Draconian[16] |
||
| eustachian [only][28] eustachian often Eustachian[16] eustachian tube [only][28] eustachian tube often Eustachian tube[16] eustachian tube or Eustachian tube[17] |
*Eustachian Tube | |
| fallopian [only][28] fallopian often Fallopian[16] fallopian tube [only][28] fallopian tube often Fallopian tube[16] fallopian tube also Fallopian tube[17] |
*Fallopian Tube | |
| Marxism [only][16][17] Marxist [only][16][17] |
*marxism *marxist |
|
| mendelian [only][28] or Mendelian [only][16] mendelian inheritance [only][28] or Mendelian inheritance [only][16] but Mendel's laws[16][28] |
*Mendelian Inheritance | |
| Newtonian [only][16][17] | *newtonian | |
| parkinsonism [only][16][28] parkinsonian [only][16][28] parkinsonian tremor[28] Parkinson disease [only][28] Parkinson's disease [only][16] |
*Parkinsonism *Parkinsonian *Parkinsonian tremor *Parkinsonian Tremor *Parkinson Disease *Parkinson's Disease |
|
| quixotic [only][16][17] | *Quixotic | |
| Roman numerals[17] roman numerals[16] |
AMA Manual of Style lowercases the terms roman numerals and arabic numerals. MWCD enters the numeral sense under the headword Roman but with the note "not cap" on the numeral sense.[16] |
Lists of eponyms
By person's name
By category
- Adages
- Adjectives
- Asteroids
- Astronomical objects
- Cartoon characters
- Chemical elements
- Colleges and universities
- Companies
- Diseases
- Foods
- Human anatomical parts
- Ideologies
- Inventions
- Mathematical theorems
- Medical signs
- Medical treatments
- Minerals
- Observations
- Places and political entities
- Prizes, awards and medals
- Scientific constants
- Scientific equations
- Scientific laws
- Scientific phenomena
- Scientific units
- Sports terms
- Surgical procedures
- Tests
- Trademarks or brand names
See also
- Antonomasia
- Archetypal name
- Demonym
- Eponymous hairstyles
- Ethnonym
- Etymology
- False etymology
- Genericized trademark
- List of eponymous laws
- Medical eponyms
- Metonym
- Name reaction
- Pseudepigrapha, texts falsely attributed to and named after someone who is not the author
- Stigler's law of eponymy
- Territorial designation
- Toponym
References
- ^ "Orion Spacecraft - Nasa Orion Spacecraft". aerospaceguide.net. 15 July 2016. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
- ^ (ancient Greek ἐπώνυμος (a.) given as a name, (b.) giving one's name to a thing or person, ἐπί upon + ὄνομα, Aeolic ὄνυμα name)
- ^ "eponym, n. : Oxford English Dictionary". OED Online. 2019-10-26. Archived from the original on 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
- ^ "eponym". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com LLC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
- ^ "eponym". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 21 April 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
- ^ "eponymous". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com LLC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
- ^ "eponymous". Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Archived from the original on 21 May 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
- ^ Bayer Co. v. United Drug Co., 272 F. 505 (S.D.N.Y. 1921) Archived 2011-09-08 at the Wayback Machine, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, accessed March 25th, 2011
- ^ Harper, Douglas. "heroin". Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ King-Seeley Thermos Co. v. Aladdin Indus., Inc., 321 F.2d 577 (2d Cir. 1963); see also this PDF Archived 2006-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 978-1472905741.
- (PDF) from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
- ^ Lauer, Tod. "Astronomical Eponyms". National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Archived from the original on 2021-08-22. Retrieved 2021-08-22.
- ^ ISBN 978-0199570027.
- ISBN 9781491800751.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87779-707-4
- ^ ISBN 978-0-395-82517-4
- ISBN 0-226-10389-7.
- ISBN 978-1401873745.
- ^ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emerging Infectious Diseases Style Guide. Preferred Usage Archived 2014-06-13 at the Wayback Machine
- PMID 26324094.
- .
- ^ "Gram-positive". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
- ^ "Newtonian". Merriam-Wester. Archived from the original on 2016-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
- ^ "New·ton". The American Heritage Dictionary. Archived from the original on 2016-10-22. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
- ISBN 978-0-19-517633-9, chapter 16: Eponyms.
- ^ Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) uses "cesarean section" Archived 2021-03-13 at the Wayback Machine, while the also US-published Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary uses "caesarean" Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine. The online versions of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Archived 2020-07-27 at the Wayback Machine and American Heritage Dictionary Archived 2020-07-29 at the Wayback Machine list "cesarean" first and other spellings as "variants", an etymologically anhistorical position.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4160-2364-7
- ISBN 978-0-87779-809-5
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eponyms.
- Definitions of -nym words, at Fun-with-Words.com
- WhoNamedIt.com, a database of medical eponyms
- Eponyms explored, BBC ideas, 2019
