From sandwiches to wellington boots to the Nobel Prize, many words take their names from people or fictional characters, and these people and characters are known as eponyms. You might remember some examples of these eponymous figures from our past posts, such as Don Quixote and Mrs Malaprop from our ‘Words from Literature’ series, or Julius and Augustus Caesar from our post on where the months of the year originate from. A few years ago we looked at five words and their eponyms, here are five more: Achilles heel This figurative expression is used to describe someone or something’s weakness or vulnerable point. The phrase was first used in the early 19th cent...
Can you believe December starts tomorrow? We're going to be sharing Advent Anagrams next month, so if you enjoy a good puzzle, make sure you stay tuned! In the meantime, here's a round-up of this month's posts! I've spent November exploring the influences of Latin on the English language. I finally know what 'ad hoc' means, and have developed a (perhaps unhealthy) habit of telling every new person I meet where 'Thursday' got its name from. You can find the links to my posts below. Latin expressions in English - Part One Latin expressions in English - Part Two Where the months get their names from Where the days of the week get their names fr...
From sandwiches to wellington boots to the Nobel Prize, many words take their names from people or fictional characters, and these people and characters are known as eponyms. You might remember some examples of these eponymous figures from our past posts, such as Don Quixote and Mrs Malaprop from our ‘Words from Literature’ series, or Julius and Augustus Caesar from our post on where the months of the year originate from. Today we’ll take a look at five words which derive from the names of people or characters – perhaps one or two of them will surprise you! Adam’s Apple There are two theories as to why this feature of the human neck (the laryngeal promi...
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