μετωνυμία

Forms

μετωνῠμίᾱ (metōnumíā) f (genitive μετωνῠμίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek μετώνυμος (metṓnumos), “connected with a change of name”, with the abstract suffix -ία (-ía).^[1][2] The adjective is a compound from Ancient Greek μετα- (meta-) + ὄνομα (ónoma), “change” and “name”, in the form ὄνυμα (ónuma) (Aeolic and other dialects), whose first vowel is lengthened in compounds, hence -ώνυμος (-ṓnumos).^[1][3][4] Etymonline relates it to μετονομάζω (metonomázō), “to call by a new name”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the rhetorical writers of the 1st century BC, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the grammarian Tryphon, whose treatise on tropes defines it.^[6][3] Cicero, writing in Latin, uses the Greek term in the same period.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The grammarians and rhetoricians used it for the figure in which one word stands for another closely associated with it, such as the name of a god for the thing he governs.^[2][7][8] The pseudo-Plutarchan Life of Homer and Quintilian treat it among the tropes.^[2] Aelian uses it in the plain sense of calling something by another name, and Origen in his commentary on John.^[8][6]

It passed into Latin metonymia.^[9] English metonymy, first recorded in the 1560s, comes from French métonymie and Late Latin.^[5] The Modern Greek grammatical term μετωνυμία (metonymía) is a learned revival of the Hellenistic word.^[10]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Tryphon use it as a rhetorical term.^[6][3][11]
• 1st century BC – Cicero uses the Greek term in his Orator.^[2][11]
• 1st century AD – Quintilian lists it among the tropes.^[2][11]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian uses it of calling a thing by another name.^[8][11]
• 1560s – English first records metonymy.^[5]
• Modern Greek – It survives as a learned grammatical term.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A change of name; the use of one name for another.^[2][8][1]
2. (rhetoric) Metonymy, the use of a word for something closely associated with what it means.^[2][8][12]

Word family

• μετωνυμικός (metōnumikós)

Related words

• μετώνυμος (metṓnumos)
• μετονομάζω (metonomázō)
• ὄνομα (ónoma)
• Latin metonymia
• English metonymy

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
8. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
9. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
12. ^ Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg