Literary Eponyms

A discussion of word histories and origins.
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Slava
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Literary Eponyms

Postby Slava » Fri Aug 01, 2014 2:17 am

We have many words that have come to us from the names of characters in various books. Here is a list of some of them, to which I hope many will find additions:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/j ... ge-eponyms
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

bnjtokyo

Re: Literary Eponyms

Postby bnjtokyo » Thu Aug 14, 2014 10:32 am

I first thought of "panglossian" (unrealistically optimistic) from Candide - Votaire but it was mentioned in the comments on the Guardian site. Then I thought of Oedipal from Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles. Then there is the word that cannot be printed here but that refers to somewhat different parts of the anatomy in British and American English and is thought to derive from the name of the title character in "Fanny Hill or Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" by John Cleland (1748)


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