|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
If somebody has just one name in a culture where everybody has just one name, for example Javanese culture, is it still a mononym?
I remember when I was teaching a group of Javanese who were going off to the US to study. Of course all the forms wanted given name and surname, but they only had one name. In the end we just told them to put that name down for both, so that they ended up as Suhendra Suhendra or Dewi Dewi, or whatever.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
... not to mention Brazilian soccer players.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
is it still a mononym?
Of course it's still a mononym but the native language may well not have any special word for it. We might refer to the culture as a mononymic culture.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189 |
And Amerindian names...Sacagawea, Geronimo, etc. (and, of course, their English translations...i.e. Sitting Bull. But, if a native language mononym is translated into two words, like Sitting Bull, does it still qualify as a mononym?)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
fwiw, amerindian (or american indian) mononym(s) turns up zero (0) google hits.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
zero (0) google hits
Mononym all by its lonesome only gets 38 hits. mononym soccer gets one hit and that only because the word "soccer" was a hotlink on a page about sports (in this case basketball) stars keeping feuds in the family.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
I would think that Sitting Bull would qualify as a compound word in the form of a proper noun, therefore being a mononym.
There are three types of compound words (i.e., closed form, hyphenated form and open form), and Sitting Bull would be an open form of a proper noun and compound word. And, if a word, then a mononym.
Just my opinion.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I agree. It's not like his name was Sitting and he was a member of the Bull family.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
William the Conquerer awarded Anglo-Saxons last names for tax purposes.
I wonder how the Javanese government manages its tax records.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
"Just gimme the tax, ma'am."
Joe Payday
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
381
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
