pseudonym English · revision 1563

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing, back-formation|attested=1817}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈs(j)uː.də(ʊ).nɪm/ ''(UK)''; /ˈsu.də.nɪm/, /ˈsu.doʊ.nɪm/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is partly a back-formation from [[pseudonymous]] (1706), partly [[bor|fr|pseudonyme]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate) from [[grc|ψευδώνυμον|tr=pseudṓnumon]], neuter of [[m|grc|ψευδώνυμος|tr=pseudṓnumos|t=falsely named, under a false name]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) from [[m|grc|ψευδής|tr=pseudḗs|t=false]] (see [[pseudo-]]) and [[m|grc|ὄνυμα|tr=ónuma|t=name]], an Aeolic dialect form of [[m|grc|ὄνομα|tr=ónoma]].^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Klein 1966) The root is [[ine-pro|*nō-men-|t=name]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD) also the source of [[name]].^(Klein 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A false or fictitious name, especially one assumed by an author (1817 in Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Historical Thesaurus; 1828 in Etymonline; 1833 in the OED and Merriam-Webster; 1846 in Barnhart).^(MWU 2024)^(HTOED)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Barnhart suggests that the word may at first have been only a dictionary word.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) Fowler called it “a queer out-of-the-way term for an everyday thing”.^(Etymonline) Properly it refers to a made-up name: the name of a real person put to a work they did not write is an ''allonym'', and an author's real name on their own work an ''autonym'' (1867).^(Etymonline) In natural history it was used of a name wrongly applied to a species other than the one it belongs to (1884).^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1706 – ''pseudonymous''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1817 – a fictitious name.^(MWU 2024)^(HTOED)

+ * 1833 – recorded in the OED and Merriam-Webster.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1884 – a name wrongly applied to a species.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A fictitious name, especially one taken by an author to hide their identity; a [[pen name]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pseudonymous]]

+ * [[pseudonymously]]

+ * [[pseudonymousness]]

+ * [[pseudonymity]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[pseudo-]]

+ * [[anonymous]]

+ * [[synonym]]

+ * [[alias]]

+ * [[name]]

+ * [[nom de plume]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}