Eponymous Words- Words Originating From Names of Persons

How would you feel, if a language adopted your name as a word? I’m sure; it is going to be a great feeling. Immortalized is what one can say. But be careful that your name stands for something positive. Every language takes words from different sources- other languages, names of places and even names of persons. Words originating from names of people and places are known as eponymous words. In case of people it could be a real person or a fictional personality. Through this article we look at some such words. Let us look at some words which owe their origin to persons.

Let us begin with words which are a part of the natural world around us. The words Flora and Fauna are derived from the names of a Roman God and Goddess. Faunus, the Roman God of Forests, is used for animals. From the Roman Goddess Flora is the word Flora and as we all know the word stands for flowers, or plant life. Another of God's creation, a variety of small fish known as Guppy owes its name to Lechmere Guppy. He was a civil engineer who was also a naturalist, and has lent his name to a type of fish. He sent some specimens of this tropical fish to the British Museum and since that time fish of this particular variety are known as Guppies.

The next words that we take up are Derrick and Derringer. A derrick is a device used to lift heavy weights at ships and docks. The word owes its origin to Thomas Derrick, an English hangman. The word derrick originally referred to the gallows that were used to hang criminals. Derringer, a type of gun, derives its name from the inventor Henry Derringer. It refers to a small pocket pistol. The name got so popular that often any type of small pistol is referred to as a derringer.

The word Maverick can be used both as a noun and an adjective and means individualistic and unorthodox. The word maverick is derived from the name of an American cattleman, Samuel Augustus Maverick. His cattle would normally move around freely and he would not brand his cattle. It gives the impression of one being master-less.

Charles Boycott, a British land agent, had a difficult job to handle in the country of Ireland. He was supposed to collect high rents from the local farmers. The farmers ostracized him. His name led to the term boycott. The term was quickly taken up by the newspapers and today it means to refuse, stay away from.

All of us would like to be known as an epicure and every politician would prefer to avoid being called a gerrymander. The word epicure is after a Greek philosopher by the name of Epicurus who gave expositions on life. He insisted on logic as the basis of any belief. The word refers to a connoisseur, gourmet – a person who enjoys good food and has tastes for good things in life. The word gerrymander means winning elections by redrawing the constituencies. The word has been drawn from the name of Elbridge Gerry, a governor of Massachusetts. He signed a bill to redraw the map to favor his party and win the elections. Gerrymander means the process of modifying electoral constituencies to support a particular person or class.

 

A very common industrial process, galvanization, owes its origin to an Italian scientist, Luigi Galvani. The word means to stimulate and provoke; it also represents a process, wherein electricity is used to coat one metal onto another.

 

Clothes and footwear cannot be left out from this list. There was a time when bloomers ran down to the ankles. These were invented by Mrs. Elizabeth Smith Miller. She took a pair of them to Amelia J. Bloomer, a women’s rights activist, who liked them and wore them constantly, because they gave women far greater freedom of movement than long tight skirts. The knee length water proof boots known as Wellington Boots owe their name to Arthur Wellesley – the first Duke of Wellington. The original Wellington was a high leather boot reaching the knees.

 

We all are waiting for the Oscar awards to be awarded. The award is named after Oscar Pierce, a wheat farmer and fruit grower from U.S. His nephew Margret Herrick was the Secretary of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and remarked on seeing the statuette that it reminded him of his uncle. Since then the awards are known as Oscars.

 

Briefly discussing some words - Silhouette owes its origin to Etienne Silhouette, the Finance Minister of France, and means portrait of a person showing only the outline. Sadist, - a person who enjoys cruelty, derives from the name of a Frenchman, the Marquis de Sade, and Nicotine from the name of Jean Nicot, who bought the seeds from a trader.

 

Some more words of this sort are: Algorithm, Bowdlerize, Braille, Cardigan, Chauvinism, Derby, Draconian, Guillotine, Lynch, Machiavellian, Maudlin, Mesmerism, Quixotic, Sandwich, Thespian, and Victorian. The article does not list nearly all such words.

Reference: Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis, www.etymonline.com, members.tripod.com