What are Eponyms?

An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular  place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named.There are some words in the English language which have been taken/ derived from names of people, either their inventors or their qualities/traits. Have a look at the following:

Eponym: From theGreek hero Achilles, who could be killed only by shooting in his heel

Eponym:From al-khowarizmi, an Arabic mathematician who showed that any mathematical problem could be solved if broken into small steps/series called algorithms.

Ampere: Unit of current.

Eponym: From Andre Marie Ampere, the French physicist who first defined a way to measure electric current.

Angstrom: A unit of measurement equal to one hundredth million.

Eponym: From Anders Jonas Angstrom, Swedish physicist and astronomer who was one of the early founders of the science of spectroscopy.    

Aphrodisiac: A potion that arouses love, mainly sexual love in someone.

Eponym: From Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

Atlas: A collection of maps.

Eponym: From Atlas, a titan in Greek mythology, forced by Zeus to support the heavens on his shoulders.

Axel: A jump with one and a half turns in figures skating.

Eponym: From Axel Paulsen 1856-1938, Norwegian figure skater

Bacchanalia: A drunken orgy

Eponym: From Bacchus, Roman name of the Greek God of wine, Dionysus

Boolean: Based on a system where the only operators are or and not

Eponym: From George Boole, British mathematician and philosopher

Bowdlerize: To rewrite a document

Eponym:From Thomas Bowdler, who in 1818 published an edition of Shakespeare,‘in which those words and expressions are omitted which cannot be read aloud in a family’

Boycott: Ostracize or refuse to do business  

Eponym:CharlesC. Boycott (1832-1897), Irish land agent for an absentee landlord who refused to bow to Irish land reforms of the 1880s and was shunned by members of the party supporting the reforms.

Braille: A system of writing for the blind comprising raised bumps on a sheet of heavy paper.

Eponym: Louis Braille, the French teacher, musician who invented this system.

Burke: To strangle or suffocate someone on purpose

Eponym:William Burke, an Irishman was executed in Edinburgh in 1829 for suffocating 16 people in order to sell their bodies to Edinburgh Medical School for dissection at £7 10/- each.

Caesarean: a kind of child delivery through surgery.

Eponym: From Julius Caesar, Rome’s greatest General, who legend says was born through C-section or ceasarean method.

Casanova: A philanderer, one who has affairs with many women.

Eponym: From Giovani Casanova, an Italian charlatan or quack known for his book History of my Life, focusing on his romantic quests.

Celsius: Unit to measure of temperature

Eponym: From Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer and scientist who invented the thermometer.

Chauvinism: Extreme passion, extreme devotion

Eponym: From Nicholas Chauvin, a soldier in Napoleon’s army known for his ardent devotion to the emperor.

Chimerical: Shadowy, ghosts, impractical

Eponym: From the Greek monster chimaira

Cologne: Kind of perfume, as in Eau de cologne.

Eponym: Fromthe German city cologne

Derby: A horse race

Eponym: From Edward Stanley, 12th earl of Derby, founder of the English Derby

Draconian: Harsh and stringent

Eponym: From Draco, a 7th century BC lawyer known for his harsh laws.

Erotic: Sexually stimulating

Eponym: From Eros, the Greek god of love

Fahrenheit: Unit of measuring temperature where water freezes at 32 degre and boils at 212 degree

Eponym: G.D Fahrenheit, the German instrument maker who provided this temperature scale.

Fauna: Animal kingdom

Eponym: From Faunus, the Roman God of forests and pastures

Flora: Plants and flowers

Eponym: From Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers

Frankenstein: a horrible monster

Eponym: From Mary Shelley’s creation Frankenstein

Galvanize: to electrify, to stir into action

Eponym: From Dr. Galvani, an Italian physiologist noted for his discovery that the muscles in a frogsinglequotes legs contracted in an electric field.

Gargantuan: Anything large or massive

Eponym: From the book ‘Gargantua’, by French author Francois Rabelais

Gordian Knot: A very difficult problem/situation

Eponym: From King Gordian

Guy: slang for a man, commoner

Eponym: From Guy Fawkes, a drama character

Hector: To quarrel, tease

Eponym: From the Greek hero Hector

Eponym:Hercules, a Greek hero forced to complete 12 extremely difficult tasks to restore himself in the eyes of the gods.

Hobsons’ choice: A very difficult choice or no choice at all

Jumbo: huge, large

Eponym: Jumbo, a 62 ton African elephant exhibited at London Zoo from 1865 to 1882.

Lesbian: a female homosexual

Eponym: From the island of Lesbos, where Sappho was born. She was a Greek lyric poet who wrote love poems to other women

Lilliputian: Very small, tiny

Eponym: From thecharacters called Lilliput of Gullivers Travels by Jonathan Swift

Lothario: flirt, seducer

Eponym: From the character Lothario, who was of loose morals

Machiavellian: cunning,decietful

Eponym: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian political theorist whose book The Prince (1513) argues that power is achieved and maintained by sheer determination void of any consideration of morality.

Malapropism: Mispronounced word or phrase in humour

Eponym: From the character Mrs. Malaprop who does so in the play The Rivals, by Sheridan

Martinet: A strict disciplinarian

Eponym: From Jean Martinet, French army officer

Masochism: enjoyment through self torture

Eponym:Psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing based this word on the name ofLeopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836-1895), Austrian author of the novel Venus in Furs about the enjoyment of pain.

Maverick: An unpredictable person, doing things different from normal

Eponym: Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803-1870), American cattleman who never branded his cows.

Eponym: From Narcissus, a Handsome youth in Greek mythology who fell in love with his own image

Nemesis: Strong retribution; source of damage

Eponym: From Nemesis, the Greek Goddess of Retribution

Ohm: Unit of electrical resistance

Eponym: Georg Ohm, scientist who worked on electrical resistance

Quixotic: unrealistic, imaginary

Eponym: From Don Quixote

Rodomontade:  boasting, bragging

Eponym: Rodomonte, the arrogant Saracen king of Algiers in Ariostosinglequotes Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso whose name is based on Italian rodomontada "boasting".

Sadism: Gaining pleasure by inflicting pain on others.

Eponym: Count Donatien Alphonse François de Sade (1740-1814), French soldier who wrote novels about his adventures in mistreating young girls in his village.

Sideburns: That part of the hair that grows in front of the ears.

Eponym: Ambrose Everett Burnside (1824-1881), American general known mostly for wearing sideburns.

Spoonerism: A speech error in which the first letters of two adjacent or close words are switched, as singlequoteI hissed your mystery classsinglequote

Thespian: A great actor

Eponym: From Thespes, Father of Greek tragedy

Eponym: From A. Volta

Eponym: From Gullivers Travles by J.Swift. A tribe called yahoos