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What is the word for a person's name when that name has been derived from the name of a place/animal/thing? For example, one of the characters in the story "Hands" (by Sherwood Anderson) is named 'Wing'; the name having been given to him after the wing of a bird. In this case, is there a word to define what type of a name 'Wing' is (something-nym maybe)?


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well, if toponym is the word for something derived from a place, maybe a name derived from a place would be toponom?

I'm not sure about names from other things. animals=aninom?

just playing..



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eponym

Welcom, Anchita


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an eponym describes something named for a person; this would seem to be the other way 'round.


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the other way 'round.

mynope





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something named for a person

Not to naysay the tsuwm, but AHD defines it as the person for whom something is named. I seem to remember it also being the other way 'round, i.e., as tsuwm defined it, not the other other way 'round.


#101293 04/22/03 11:27 AM
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Faldage, are you obfuscating? I won't even ask tsuwm.


#101294 04/22/03 01:32 PM
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obfuscating?

Obfuscating? What obfuscating? You got the thing named for the person as opposed to person for whom the thing is named. Then you got the person named for the thing. That's a whole nother other way 'round. I understand me.


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tsuwm>an eponym describes something named for a person..
F>the person for whom something is named.
A person whose name is or is thought to be the source of the name of something, such as a city, country, or era. For example, Romulus is the eponym of Rome. [AHD]
ASp>obfuscating?

color me confused, but I'd say yes (even though invited to butt out)!

[the original question, as I thought I understood it, was what is the word for naming of a person after a thing; as opposed to naming a thing after a person; i.e. and e.g., the other way 'round. - ron obvious :P ]

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¿¡Hwæt!?

t> Rome, Romulus. Rome is the eponym.

F> Rome, Romulus. Romulus is the eponym.

What anchita wants to know is what would you call Romulus if he had been named after the City.


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A person whose name is or is thought to be the source of the name of something; i.e. and e.g.,
Romulus is thought to be the source (eponym) of the name of Rome. (working out the AHD formula...)


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Romulus is thought to be the source (eponym) of the name of Rome.

Are we arguing from the same side of the fence or not?


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...and so what *would you call it if Rome were the source of the name for Romulus?


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if Rome were the source of the name for Romulus

Well, that's the question, isn't it. It's not as though it were an unknown practice and I do believe there's a name for it. Or at least a word for that kind of name. WCPLIU.


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Okay, after all that bullshit, I still think that etaion had it right: mynope.

It even looks like a Greek name for something completely, utterly and uselessly obscure ...




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that name has been derived from the name of a place

The Origin and Significance of Scottish Surnames refers to names derived from the name of a place as local names. Take away the context and it seems a little inadequate as a descriptive. There doesn't seem to be any specific term in this book for names derived from animals or other things.


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hopefully clarifying

So a US Southern gal named Georgia is named after the state, then the -nym word to describe Georgia used as a name would be?


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Georgia as the name of the state or of the girl?

Unclarified

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Both.


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I imagine it will simply confuse things again...

What anchita wants to know is what would you call Romulus if he had been named after the City.

He'd probably be called Romulus


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Both.

Well, that's one way of looking at it.


Obfuscating the Obfuscation


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sort of like asking about the St Vincent part of Enda St Vincent Millay's name.

She was named Edna St. Vincent Millay because her uncle, was accidently injured, and was left unconscious in a ship's hold(he was checking goods he was having shipped, and was planning to leave on the same ship, leaving england) He was there 10 days, with no food or water, and very near death when found in NY.
he was rushed to St Vincents Hosp., and survived. His sister, close to term at the time, promised to name her child for the hospital, to thank them..

So Edna St Vincent Millay was named for a hospital.

what is the term used to descibe that?




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what is the term used to descibe that?


gratitudinym?





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retrotoponym?? (aside)This face has always seemed more confused than crazy. I think I look like this when I am confused......


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Namesake goes both ways; eponym should, too, for sources of names.


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they'd better... for NAME'S SAKE!!!


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Namesake goes both ways

Unfortunately, for eponym there's two both ways. We've already determined that eponym can refer to the person after whom something is named or the thing named after the person. What we haven't determined is if it can also refer to either in the case where the person is named after the thing. I think, for reasons of precision in language, there should be a separate word for this phenomenon.


#101314 04/23/03 11:38 PM
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What is the word for a person's name when that name has been derived from the name of a place/animal/thing? For example, one of the characters in the story "Hands" (by Sherwood Anderson) is named 'Wing'; the name having been given to him after the wing of a bird.

synecdoche

syn·ec·do·che ( P ) Pronunciation Key (s-nkd-k) n.

A figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole (as hand for sailor), the whole for a part (as the law for police officer), the specific for the general (as cutthroat for assassin), the general for the specific (as thief for pickpocket), or the material for the thing made from it (as steel for sword).

Native Americans had a particular fondness for synecdoche .. an endearing characteristic which is often romanticized in story and song. Hence:

On the banks of the river
stood Runnin' Bear, young Indian brave
On the other side of the river
stood his lovely Indian maid
Little White Dove was her name,
such a lovely sight to see
But their tribes fought with each other
so their love could never be

Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
with a love big as the sky
Runnin' Bear loved Little White Dove
with a love that couldn't die








#101315 04/23/03 11:50 PM
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http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0769327.html

The above site won't help nail down the nym you're looking for--but there are a few nyms you might like to add to your trove of nyms.


#101316 04/24/03 12:39 AM
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a few nyms you might like to add to your trove of nyms

Would that make him a nym-phophiliac?




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but there are a few nyms you might like to add to your trove of nyms.

Along with wordwindonym? use your imagination



#101318 04/26/03 09:51 PM
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Was not the US State of Georgia named after the King of England of similar name? Does this make a woman named Georgia after the State of George named after King George, a person whose name is a nym-nom?



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Intriguing, Father Steve. And if Georgia, the state, is named for King George, then how did Georgia acquire it's feminine connotation?


#101320 04/26/03 10:57 PM
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>Georgia named after a King

Isn't that also true of the Carolinas?


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Just guessing here, but terra (Latin for land) is feminine, so if Georgia and Carolina were meant to be adjectives describing the land, then by the rules of Latin they would have to be in the feminine form as well.

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Then there's Aga-nym-nom...


#101323 04/27/03 12:00 AM
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Isn't that also true of the Carolinas?
sjm, I am in awe of you. Yes indeed:
The territory was called Carolina in honor of Charles the First ("Carolus" is the Latin form of "Charles").

http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/nc/history/history.htm


#101324 04/27/03 02:06 AM
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Virgina is named for Elizabeth -- the virgin queen..




#101325 04/27/03 03:22 AM
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Things pertaining to the reign of Charles I (1625-49) and Charles II (1660-85) of England are referred to as "Caroline." For example, the proponents of the High Church (Anglo-Catholic) strain of Anglicanism were referred to as "the Caroline Divines." It is precisely true that the Carolinas derived their names from this adjectival reference to the English monarchs.



#101326 04/27/03 03:27 AM
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"The last of the thirteen original British colonies was named after England's King George II in 1733. The terms of the charter granted by the king specified that the colony to be founded by James Oglethorpe be named after the king and so it was."

Source: Shearer, Benjamin F. and Barbara S. State Names, Seals, Flags and Symbols Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut - 1994



#101327 04/27/03 12:53 PM
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And Maryland after Queen Mary?


#101328 04/27/03 09:44 PM
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Hardly. She died in 1538 ...


#101329 04/27/03 10:00 PM
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Well, OK, not that Queen Mary. Charlie One's wife. http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/name.html. Henrietta Maria.


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Maryland was chartered to catholics-- it was a place for them -(the idea being they should get the hell out of england) and is named for Mary, Jesus's mother...

and georgia had two main fuctions, one it was a prison colony, two it was the royal naval stores.. the white pines of geogia were used for mast, and the stumps were used to make turpintine, pine oil and pitch (from pitch pines) maybe other stuff too.. Anna, do you know? I don't think georgia is especially proud of being a penal colony, but the natural resources history might be better known by some one.
i remember the pitch, since i couldn't for the life of me (as child) think why anyone would want it!


#101331 04/28/03 04:12 AM
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It looks like you're going to be a busy lady, helen. My World Book agrees with the official Maryland State archive that Faldage linked to:
"Maryland was named for Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I of England. In 1632, Charles granted the Maryland region to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore. Calvert, a Roman Catholic, believed in religious freedom and welcomed settlers of all faiths to Maryland."

That makes two sources claiming that the state was named for Henrietta Maria, not the carpenter's wife. You had best inform the State Government, and the publishers of WorldBook, of their error, before they mislead too many others.


#101332 04/28/03 11:38 AM
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Well trust the catholic nuns to put their slant on it...
That lord baltimore named it Maryland, and Henriettaland, might be because he had a dual purpose..




#101333 04/29/03 11:40 AM
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Anna, do you know? I don't think georgia is especially proud of being a penal colony, but the natural resources history might be better known by some one.

I remember learning something about the natural resources thang in the 8th grade. Meanwhile, Oglethorpe managed to turn Georgia into a little bit of Oz (although *they over and down there talk funny).


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