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stranger
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OP
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So. "An eponym is the name of a person ... after which a particular place, tribe, etc. is named or thought to be named. One who is referred to as eponymous is someone who gives his or her name to something, e.g., Julian, the eponymous owner of the famous restaurant Julian's Castle."
What do you call it when a general name for a group of things or a thing is used to name another thing. For example: a hybrid human/horse is named a centaur (yes, yes they're mythological) and a sort of small planet that's a hybrid asteroid/comet is named a centaur in their honor. So what is that second use of centaur called as a part of speech? Anyone? anyone?
Yes I really want to know: NOT a rhetorical question.
Thanks.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I like your question allisondbl and will look forward to seeing the answer too. It was the word eponymous that bought me here.... to this forum!
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old hand
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old hand
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stranger
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OP
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No. Nice try though: that's when a thing is actually the equivalent to another thing in a different realm, e.g. x in biology is the analogue of y in chemistry, or a similarity.
I'm looking for the equivalent of an eponym for objects or types of objects, see example I gave.
But thank you for trying!
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old hand
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old hand
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Sorry, you lost me. How is that a hybrid in mythology and a hybrid in astronomy are not equivalent, and therefore analogous? It depends on what characteristics are being considered, does it not, to determine what things are or are not analogs?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think what allisondbl is looking for is the name you would apply to the words that are used to indicate that analogy. Example: Resistance is analogous to drag in an equation that is modeled on an analog computer but the resistance isn't named 'drag'. You could call the hybrid asteroid/comet anything, e.g., HAC. What do you call it when you name it for the thing it is an analog of?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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----please, draw me a sheep----
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stranger
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OP
stranger
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Exactly!
As I noted as an example: we use the term centaur to refer to a human/horse hybrid in mythology/fantasy. (Unless the biologists have been hiding something ...) In astronomy there is a group of stellar bodies that act like asteroid/comet hybrids and they're called Centaurs, the first found being named Chiron after the most famous and respected of centaurs.
So the query is: what is the rhetorical figure of speech equivalent to eponym or alliteration or metaphor for when you have used a name for one class of objects (yes, technically a centaur is sentient but think of it in the way human or chair is a class of object) as the given name for a wholly different group of objects.
Closest I've come is 'namesake' which I am convinced is NOT le mot juste.
Still looking! Thanks
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old hand
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old hand
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For example: a hybrid human/horse is named a centaur (yes, yes they're mythological) and a sort of small planet that's a hybrid asteroid/comet is named a centaur in their honor. So what is that second use of centaur called as a part of speech? So when you say "named a centaur in their honor" you mean a particular body is given the name of a particular centaur; that is, "named after a centaur"? I read it as a general case: human/horse creatures are called centaurs, and asteroid/comet bodies are called centaurs in their honor. Now I understand my confusion. This was discussed here to no avail. Better luck this time.
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stranger
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OP
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*Bonks head on desk and laughs* Now I see why MORE 411 is as confusing as too little.
All I mean is: the name for ALL human/horse hybrids is centaur. The 'kind of thing' name for ALL asteroid/comet hybrids is Centaur - as in "We found a new Centaur in the sky last night!"
They were going for a halfX/halfY thing. When a type of thing is named after another type of thing what is the term of rhetoric for that. OR IS THERE ONE!!! I'd bet there is.
Thanks for link, but NO there are NO personal names involved in my question.
Last edited by allisondbl; 06/06/11 03:06 AM.
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