Talk:Eponym
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[edit] Fancy Word
It's a fancy word for people who want to seem more intelligent than they actually are as evidenced by the (too) many uses of the word in Wikipedia articles, many of which are incorrect. For example: "Dickie Roberts is an eponymous former child star on a TV sitcom " from the Wikipedia article on the movie Dickie Roberts Former Child Star. As written, this doesn't make much sense. Or how about this? Previously in the Wikipedia article about The Last Picture show this statement was made: "...Sam the Lion, owner of the eponymous movie theater..." The movie theater in the film was not named The Last Picture Show, so how could it be eponymous? When the word eponymous is correct, how about using "named after" or "named for" instead? Why use a fify cent word when a nickel word will do? Isn't the point of an encyclopedic article supposed to be to communicate clearly with the reader rather than confuse and aleinate them by using big words and using them incorrectly. I'm starting a petition to outlaw the use of the word eponymous in every Wikipedia article as well as outlawing the use of Family Guy episodes in the trivia section of every Wikipedia article. Sign below :-)
- Anonymous Wikipedia user here who figured there had to be something in the Talk section of "eponym" about this. What is this craziness? Every other article on Wikipedia now seems to have some variant of this word in it. Even if it's used correctly, it often seems forced. Therefore, I second your motion to eliminate it from Wiki entries. --205.129.12.253 17:43, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
- I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this. I see it used all over wikipedia, even in cases where a person's name is not used. "It's a fancy word for people who want to seem more intelligent than they actually are as evidenced by the (too) many uses of the word in Wikipedia articles, many of which are incorrect." is exactly what I have been thinking about this. Sahuagin (talk) 15:44, 22 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] List
I plan to move the list of eponyms to a new article where it can be made into categories. See the "Eponyms" section in the Lists of etymologies for an existing category-based listing. The list moved from this page could become the default alphabetically ordered list. Jay 17:48, 15 Feb 2004 (UTC)
- Done. Was waiting for Wikipedia to complain about the 32 KB limit. Jay 09:58, 20 Jun 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Medical
I added an Internet link to a very useful site on medical eponyms (i.e. what did Dr James Parkinson do for a living apart from describing the hypokinetic-rigid syndrome named after him) Jfdwolff 10:53, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Move
some discussions have been moved over to talk:list of eponyms
[edit] Eponymic vs. Eponymous
Are eponymic and eponymous synonyms? The article says to use "eponymic" as an adjective to describe the relationship of an object to its eponym, but I frequently use "eponymous". Am I wrong? - DropDeadGorgias (talk) 16:19, Jun 11, 2004 (UTC)
- Yes, they are synonyms. Not sure if there is the British English/American English divide here though. Jay 08:04, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)
[edit] Misunderstood usage?
"Some books, films, and TV shows are eponymous with their principal character(s): Beavis and Butt-head and Daria, for example." "Are eponymous with" is an ungainly construction that shows its unfamiliarity with the term. Isn't the better usage that these books have eponymous heroes? This text (I haven't moved it from the article) seems oblivious to the passage that directly precedes it. --Wetman 16:20, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- Yes, "eponymous" is an adjective that applies to the person, not to the named item. AxelBoldt 22:03, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Incorrect definition?
I'm not sure the definition of eponym is correct. MSN Encarta lists it as being the person named after or the thing being named.
http://ca.encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861608906/eponym.html
- The Oxford English Dictionary and Encyclopedia Britannica both agree with us that an eponym is the person, not the named thing. (Webster and WordNet both allow the named thing to be called an eponym as well.)
- It makes more sense if the eponym is the "named thing" because this is the way other -nym words are used. Examples: NATO is an acronym formed from North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is not the acronym. George Orwell is a pseudonym, the author's real name Eric Arthur Blair is not the pseudonym. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.73.3.203 (talk) 11:59, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
- However, I believe our definition is too narrow in that it requires the name of the person to be synonymous with the name of the item. With that strict definition, there are few eponyms. For instance, Alexander the Great would not qualify as an eponym of Alexandria, and neither would Avogadro be an eponym of Avogadro's constant. I think the definition given at list of eponyms is better. AxelBoldt 22:03, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- The eponym must be the name (its the name not the thing, but that is a subtle distinction). "Plimsoll" is the eponym (referencing a show), the person Samuel Plimsoll is an eponymist. I have never seen "eponym" used in this way, and indeed I have a dictionary of eponymists (sic) at home to which I refer frequently. To use the term for both the originator and the thing named after them seems exceptionally clumsy. OED and EB are not law, they describe usage. Clearly usage is muddled (as witnessed by this page) but can we not strive in the rest of the wikipedia to use eponym and eponymist as distinct terms and note the ditinctions here? Francis Davey 21:41, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
- Some google searching leaves me none the wiser as to "the truth". In particular the definition of the eponym as the eponymist seems identical everywhere, which may be an original mistake (yes they occurred, see old OED for aardvark). However "eponym archon" on this page appears to beg the question. Archons of Athens has the usage archon eponymous, can we not say "eponymous archon" since this (a) does not beg the question on usage; and (b) is a better borrowing from the Greek? I will change if no-one minds. Francis Davey 22:18, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
- I can't find anything like "eponym" when I do a search for epon- at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/resolveform. Are the quoted etymologies even vaguely right? Eponomazo just means to call something by a name. Francis Davey 22:30, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
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- I went to dictionary.com and there are both examples of eponymous being an adjective to describe the thing with the original name and the thing being named. I'm so confused --Gbleem 13:22, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] pronunciation
Could some one please add a useful pronunciation guide? I can find them online but they are confusing. How is this pronounced? hdstubbs
[edit] Definition
It seems to me that eponym is the name of a person, not the person itself. Since the name is then shared by the eponymous person and the thing named after him, eponym can also be used for the thing named after that person. Zwart 00:28, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
- I'd say eponym, where the same word is used, clearly refers to the *name* of the thing, but not to the thing itself. Hence eponymous should be used only for the giver of the name, not the recipient. The word is widely used in what I consider to be the wrong way, however - there has to come a point where usage defines meaning. -- Ian Dalziel 09:00, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
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- When I was changing planes at Heathrow I noticed the fuel trucks said inflamable. Most people would consider inflamable to mean the opposite of flamable. The question may be at what point do we switch from one definition to the other or can we have eponymous mean both? What about a person named after the city of Georgia. --Gbleem 13:26, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Removed phrase
I took out, "chanceries, especially at the court of a prince aspiring pivotal importance to his entire state's society, and was copied by minor dignitaries, even prelates", and substituted, "courts". The use of chancery here does not match the Wiktionary definition, and b/c this is too much detail for an article on names, not political movements. Maybe the whole parethetical comment should be removed, too. Mdotley 16:07, 12 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Edited "administration" eponyms
I've added a few examples to the governmental/administrative eponym list; as originally written, it sounded like the Americans are the only ones in the English-speaking world to use eponyms in this way. If anybody knows some good examples from other English-speaking countries.... --Charlene 12:26, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Is there a simple definition?
I read the whole page, I read thjis whole talk page, and I still don't quite understand what an eponym is. Could someone explain it, or give an example? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.111.167.39 (talk) 04:30, 10 April 2007 (UTC).
- A person's name which has also been given (transferred) to something else. "Bistro George", the name of an eatery started by George Godwin (fictitious example) -- the eponym is the name "George". The person and the eatery are each "eponymous with" the other. --204.97.183.31 19:14, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
- 1. a person, real or imaginary, from whom something, as a tribe, nation, or place, takes or is said to take its name: Brut, the supposed grandson of Aeneas, is the eponym of the Britons.
- 2. a word based on or derived from a person's name.
- IE: both the person and the word are eponyms. the thing named is not. Sahuagin (talk) 20:15, 8 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Criminal Overuse
This is possibly the most overused word anywhere in the whole of Wikipedia. Tomwhite56 (talk) 16:31, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
