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). Over the last few weeks, we’ve looked at the words August, hoover, and echo. Our final word for the month is cardigan. A cardigan is a knitted jacket that is fastened up the front with buttons or a zip. The word dates to 1868 and is named for James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, who supposedly wore such...
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’. So far we’ve looked at the words August and hoover. This...
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’. Last week we looked at the word August and this week’s e...
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 ...
In a rush? Not sure what to have for lunch? You probably can’t go too wrong with a sandwich. We get the word for this convenient lunchtime staple from John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich. Said to be a keen gambler, the Earl of Sandwich supposedly ate slices of cold meat between bread at the gaming table instead of full meals. It's speculated that this was so that he didn’t have to stop to eat and so that that he didn’t get his playing cards dirty from the greasy meat. His friends then began ordering ‘the same as sandwich’ and from there the story of the sandwich as we know it now evolved. The word date backs to 1762 and the account ...
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