Our Word for Wednesday theme for August is eponymous words. An eponymous word is a word that is named after a person or fictional character. These people or characters are known as eponyms and examples include the Earl of Sandwich (sandwiches), the Duke of Wellington (wellington boots), and Don Quixote (quixotic). Eponym comes from the Greek epi- meaning ‘upon’ or ‘called after’ and the Aeolic dialect -onyma meaning ‘name’. ‘Onyma’ comes from the PIE root ‘no-men’ meaning ‘name’. Did you know that August is an eponymous word? What better choice to kick off this month’s theme than with the name ...
Following our post about words from Harry Potter, we will spend the next few weeks taking a look at words that originate in Literature. These words are often taken from the names of characters and are used to describe people with similar traits. First up: Quixotic. The word quixotic is an adjective used to describe someone (or something) so idealistic that their aspirations are unrealistic and impractical. It originates from the Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes. Fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, the book was published in two volumes – the first in 1605, and the second in 1615. It is regarded as the most influential work from the Spanish G...
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