It was interesting to read (was it last week?) about words that have uses outside of being people's names (I didn't express that very well).
I've read a book called Malinche's Conquest, which is about Cortez's invasion, and particularly Malinche - Cortez's native mistress. The name 'Malinche' in Mexico now, apparently, is the equivalent of 'traitor' (the book's really interesting and says a lot of interesting stuff about past and present Mexico). Anyway, I know there are other words that derive from people's names - I think that's been a topic actually (it has, I just checked - Eponyms - but it was a while ago...) - so I thought I'd throw the challenge out for more: particularly ones of historical interest (which may of course be interpreted as widely as to mean any of them...)
sigh, it's the middle of the day and my words don't seem to be functioning proper...
Not to go off topic but. If you liked the book about Malinche, here's another for you to try. "The True History of the Conquest of Mexico" by Bernal Días de Castillo. He was one of the men that travelled with Cortéz and was of the group that entered Mexico City. It is a detailed, and fairly unbiased account of his personal observations of that totally alien world.
i was just talking about names this morning at breakfast.
English has a group of words called names. and very small subset of word used as names.
We use Leo or Leon, which is a romance language word --Lion.
but we tend to think names like 'Rainbow' or 'Storm' as new age fad names. Ursula is the name is the same as ursula, the word meaning she bear. Leon is lion.
English uses Ursula, but i have never met anyone named She Bear, or Running Deer, or Crazy Horse, with out thinking either, they are calling on a native american heritage, or the are pretending to. (and there names like Running Deer tend to be mocked by English speakers.) Impala is a name of a car, not your son or daughter.
Helen, has variously been said to mean Lighthouse, source of light, (but not the sun or moon) light, and shining.. the HEL part is clearly realated to Helios, but the en part is some sort of diminutive that makes it clear, we are not talking about the sun, but some lesser light.
i have met other helens, but i have never met a woman called Lighthouse, Shining, Lampbulb{=source of light}.
Why do you think that is? what is it about Anglo saxon culture, that we have a subset of words, called names.
(and yes, Glen, Rose, Brook, Violet, Beryll, Opal, Pearl, Ruby, Daisy, Forrest, and a short list of others do exist as both words/names. and there is the occational Bull Durham, a nick name that is an animal.. but who went to school with big Ox? Cheetah? Tiger? (yeah, someone went to school with Tiger Woods) I know an Agnes-- but not anyone named Lamb (not as first name, but it is a "family" name)
it seems pretty much limited to English/Anglo saxon culture.
and realizing i was off on a tangent..
a signature on a document required? "put your John Hancock here"
Been betrayed? "he was a regular Benedict Arnold"
both come to mind.
comiconomenclaturist is a word i stumbled across in a book of odd words. i suspect it's made up.
it means someone who collects funny names..
English has ... very small subset of word used as names.
Very interesting. All I can think of is the name "Heather", but there are probably far more.
Keiva: Go away. You are not welcome here.
Not on point, bill. (#1)
Edit re comment below: not on point, of-troy. Not on the subject of this thread. (#3) Re-edit: similar re bill's below (#6) and ASp's below. (#8)
the person know as Keiva, who recently posted on this thread, was banned, for flaming. he forced his way back into this forum by implied threats.
Go away Keiva. You are not wanted here
Keiva: Go away. You are not welcome here.
I love lots of names.
I love chinese names because they mean something.
I know a guy named "di" which means "little brother" and also means "earth"
I've always loved greek names, too, even more so since I read the AWAD notes concerning the origin of some of the patronymics.
My dad (well, step-father, but the only father I've ever had) is an elder (or maybe a chief, I'm not much into cultural stuff) in a tribe of Cherokees and his name is Daniel Owl Talker Green.
My favorites, though, Indian names - like from India. I love those names especially, as they sound like poems. Sometimes I hear one and I just keep reciting it to myself like that guy in "The Stand" who kept saying "M-O-O-N, that spells moon." It's surpizes me that people can actually have such cool names.
k
Go away, Keiva. You are not wanted here.
You raped my identity with your faux handle 'AphonicRants.'
I agree, name that mean something, or refer to something can be wonderful. i like being able to play on my name and call my self of troy (i have also been queenie, thequeen, and queen4theday.., well, i never claimed to be modest!)
but many other societies do treat names differently.
my brother in law's family name means something like pathway or road. my neice's given name means dewdrops.. her name pathway (of)dewdrops.. what a beautiful name! how mundane helen is.
Dear of troy: How mundane to have been named for the most beautiful woman in the world.
Yes, but her beauty was the cause of strife, and war and unhappiness.
The person known as Keiva, who recently posted on this thread, was banned for flaming. He forced his way back into this forum by implied threats of legal action against Anu Garg, the founder of AWAD. This same person has also been known to post under the names AphonicRants, KeivaCarpal.
Dear of troy: Of course the tragedy was really caused by the gods' interference in
human affairs. Actually the whole Troy myth is stupid. Troy was indeed a rich prize,
but it was destroyed many times for its richness, not because of just one woman.
Homer or his predecessors had to make a story. It is absurd to suggest that such
a war was fought just for one woman, who would have been old enough that her
beauty would have been long gone before the war was over. Many a man has died,
and worms have eaten them, but not for love.
But Helen is still a beautiful name. Not so good in my family. When something got
lost in the church, and people asked how to get it back, they got told to go to
Helen Hunt for it. An aunt of mine by that name died very young, from falling out
of a chair. Or so the story went. I suspect some acute medical problem did not
get detected, in spite of fact her father was a doctor. Lab tests then were very
primitive in a small town, over a hundred ;years ago.
I like names; I think I will call myself a comiconomencularist (is that right??). My maiden name was Wyles, which implies something like catching fish with a trap (ie wily), so my full name meant Defender of Mankind (Alexandra) living in the woods (Lee) catching fish. Very impressive.
Someone mentioned 'Quisling' to me as also meaning traitor, but I think it must be American because I don't get it - can anyone explain?
Someone mentioned 'Quisling' to me as also meaning traitor, but I think it must be American because I don't get it - can anyone explain?
http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Vidkun+Quislingk
Dear FF: Early in WWII, Hitler invaded Norway. A Norwegian named Quisling
supported Hitler and became wartime ruler of Norway.
Quisling, Vidkun (1887-1945), Norwegian politician, whose collaboration with the Nazis during World War II made his name synonymous with traitor. Quisling aided Fridtjof Nansen on his humanitarian missions in the USSR and Armenia in 1922-25 and later served in the Norwegian legation in Moscow. Returning to Norway, he entered politics, voicing strong anti-Communist sentiments. He served as minister of defense (1931-33) in an Agrarian cabinet, but then bolted to found his own National Union, a Fascist party that received subsidies from Germany. At the time of the Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940, the German envoy tried unsuccessfully to have King Hĺkon accept Quisling as prime minister, and the National Union was subsequently declared the only legal party. The Germans finally installed Quisling as prime minister in 1942, and throughout the war he collaborated with the Nazis and tried to inject their principles and practices into Norwegian society. Largely responsible for the persecution of Norwegian Jews, he also introduced terrorist methods in dealing with those loyal to the king and the legal government in London. Arrested, tried, and sentenced by a Norwegian court after the war, Quisling was executed on October 24, 1945.
"Quisling, Vidkun," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
OH. Thanks for the info on Quisling. Interesting that he didn't come up in the subjects I did on WWII... maybe he was mentioned briefly... although come to think of it, Scandinavia seems to get left out of a lot of general Euro history, which seems a bit unfair to me.
Did someone already mention John Hancock for signature? (How sad that I know that, about US history, and not about Quisling... ah, the holes in my education!)
heather, rowan, lily, poppy, daisy, etc are all names, and in english a hell of a lot of surnames are words as well, as covered extensively: fletcher, archer, thatcher, miller, baker, butcher, smith, i could go on but even i get the drift. perhaps more interesting are words like hooker, originally a rug maker and now a prostitute and all because of a famous general. can anyone add to this example? words that have changed their meaning because of a well known person?
Dear dodyskin: in High School I knew a guy so handsome he got teased because his name was "Flower".
Many years later I found out that this meant the same thing as "Fletcher" but was much older.
...meant the same thing as "Fletcher" but was much older.
Leave me out of this. I didn't even know the guy.
beauty's a flower, but love is the jewel that wins the world