ἐπώνυμος

Forms

ἐπώνῠμος (epṓnumos) m or f (neuter ἐπώνῠμον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἐπί (epí, “upon”) + ὄνυμα (ónuma, “name”), with the Aeolic and Doric form of ὄνομα (ónoma).^[1][2][3] The ⟨ο⟩ of the name is lengthened to ⟨ω⟩ in the compound, as in ἀνώνυμος (anṓnumos, “nameless”) and ὁμώνυμος (homṓnumos, “having the same name”).^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Homer it is said of a name given for a reason: Alcyone was named so because of her mother's grief, and Odysseus's name recalls his grandfather's anger.^[2][4] Arete's name, “the Prayed-for”, is called epōnumon in the Odyssey without a reason being given.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Hesiod uses it the same way of the Cyclopes.^[4][5] In tragedy a god or person is epōnumos when true to their name, as Aeschylus says of Hermes the escort and Euripides of Polynices.^[4][5] From Pindar and Herodotus on it means “named after” someone or something, and Herodotus also uses it for a further name, a surname.^[4][5] Sophocles, Euripides and the orators use it of the one who gives a name to a land or people.^[5] At Athens the eponymous heroes gave their names to the ten tribes and to the year-groups of men liable for service; official notices were posted at their statues in the agora.^[5]

Modern Greek επώνυμος (epónymos) is the ancient word revived, and its neuter επώνυμο (epónymo) is the word for a surname.^[6][3] English eponym (1833) comes from the Greek word.^[7]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it of names given for a reason.^[2][4]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod explains the name of the Cyclopes in the same way.^[4][5]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar and Aeschylus use it of a thing named after another and of a god true to his name.^[4][5]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of a goddess with a further name.^[4][5]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle and the orators speak of the eponymous heroes of the Attic tribes.^[5]
• 1833 – English forms eponym from the Greek word.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (of a name) Given for a reason, significant.^[4][5][2]
2. (of a person or place) Named so for a reason; true to one's name.^[5][4]
3. Surnamed, also called.^[4][5]
4. Named after someone or something (with the genitive).^[4][5]
5. Giving one's name to a land, people or thing.^[5]
6. (as a noun, at Athens) An eponymous hero, after whom a tribe or a year-group was named; in the plural, their statues in the agora.^[5]

Word family

• ἐπωνυμία (epōnumíā)

Related words

• ὄνομα (ónoma)
• ἀνώνυμος (anṓnumos)
• ὁμώνυμος (homṓnumos)
• English eponym

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
3. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
6. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com