(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Eponymous origins of English words [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-09-16 Welcome to the Street Prophets Coffee Hour cleverly hidden at the intersection of religion and politics. This is an open thread where we can share our thoughts and comments about the day. In English we find a number of words with eponymous origins--that is, things that have been named for people. The word eponymous came into English in 1833 with the meaning of “giving one’s name to.” It is from the Greek eponymos. Let’s look at a few words with eponymous origins. Macadamia The macadamia nut is a prized tropical nut from a tree that was originally indigenous to Australia. The nut was named for John Macadam (1827-1865) who began his career as a chemist and teacher in Scotland. In Australia he worked as a medical teacher. There he became friends with the famed botanist Ferdinand von Mueller. In the 1857, von Mueller discovered a unique species of nut which he named for his friend Macadam. According to some stories, John Macadam never actually tasted the macadamia nut. Filbert Since we are discussing nuts, we should also mention the filbert (also known as the hazelnut). The name filbert comes from a seventh-century Frankish abbot, St. Philibert. While we would expect that Philibert must have some association with the nut, perhaps as a grower or, at least, a connoisseur of the nuts, this is not actually the case. The peak of the filbert nutting season in France and Britain is on August 20 which just happens to be the feast day of St. Philibert, and hence the nuts became filberts. Cinchona Since we’ve been talking about plants, let’s mention cinchona, the South American bark that yields quinine and other alkaloids. It was named by the famous Swedish biologist Linnaeus, the scientist who gave the Latin naming system that all modern students of biology and biological scientists must learn. Cinchona was named by Linnaeus in honor of the Countess of Chinchón, the wife of a seventeenth-century viceroy of the Spanish colony of Peru. Unfortunately, he misspelled her name and thus the bark is known as cinchona rather than chinchona. Macadam Humans have been building roads for a very long time and have devised many different ways of surfacing the roads. In 1820, the Scottish engineer John MacAdam (1756-1836) came up with the idea of using single-sized crushed stone layers of small angular stones. This is the basis of the roadway known as the macadam. Chauvinism Nicolas Chauvin was a French soldier who served under Napoleon Bonaparte. Born in Rochefort about 1780 (or July 4, 1776 according to some stories), he enlisted in the First Army of the French Republic at the age of 18. He subsequently served in La Grande Armée of Napoleon. During the Napoleonic Wars he was wounded 17 times. His wounds resulted in severe disfigurement and maiming. Napoleon presented Chauvin with a Sabre of Honor and a pension. In later Restoration France, when Napoleon was not particularly popular, this outspoken devotion to his hero was at odds with popular opinion. Chauvin came to typify the glorification of all things military. In the reported opinions and actions of Nicolas Chauvin, with his blind devotion to a discredited leader, the nineteenth century French playwrights had a humorous character which could be easily stereotyped in their comedies. The exaggerated patriotism and blind optimism of the character of Nicolas Chauvin resulted in the French word chavinisme. From the French, English acquired the word chauvinism in 1870 where it was generalized to mean “an exaggerated devotion to one’s own group or place.” In the twentieth century, chauvinism became a part of the phrase male chauvinism and in the twenty-first century the modifier male is often dropped, and chauvinism is used to mean “the denigration, disparagement, and patronization of either sex based on the belief that one sex is inferior to the other and thus deserving of less than equal treatment or benefit.” There are some who feel that chauvinism is today simply a synonym for Republican. Dunce In English, the word dunce is used to describe “a person who is slow at learning; a stupid person.” The etymological origins of dunce are not found in Proto-Indio-European, but in the name of a philosopher and theologian. John Duns Scotus (1266-1308) is generally considered one of the three most important philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages. In Medieval times people were called by their Christian name—Johannes or John—followed by their place of origin—Duns, which was in Scotland (Scotus). Scotus wrote a number of works which laid the foundation for a philosophical and theological school of thought known as Scotism. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: His language is frequently obscure; a maze of terms, definitions, distinctions, and objections through which it is by no means easy to thread one's way. For these reasons the study of Scotus's works was difficult; when undertaken at all, it was not carried on with the requisite thoroughness. Regarding theology, Scotus is perhaps best known for his defense of the concept of immaculate conception by Mary and his theology on the absolute kingship of Jesus Christ. For 200 years following his death in 1308, Scotus continued to be a major influence on philosophical and theological thought. The “Dunsmen” read and taught his doctrines and philosophies at some of the most prestigious universities in Europe. Rigidly adhering to his teachings, the Dunsmen became known for their resistance to change. During the Renaissance, an era known for new thoughts and ideas, the Dunsmen came to be called “old barking curs.” The new thinkers of the Renaissance accused them of philosophic hair-splitting. Thus, the Dunsmen became known as Dunces—philosophical slaves, lacking the powers of reasoning and argument. Dunce came to be synonymous for a person who is incapable of scholarship. Lynch Lynching refers to the unlawful killing of a person by a mob. Lynching is generally associated with hanging and with vigilante justice and racial violence. In terms of etymology, it is generally assumed that “lynching” derives from a man named Lynch. The problem is that there are two possible Lynches who may have lent their name to this concept. Charles Lynch (1736-1796), the founder of Lynchburg, Virginia, is one candidate for the origin of “lynching.” Charles Lynch was an eighteenth-century judge. He had a reputation for dispensing injustice, particularly by flogging the accused, without the benefit of a trial. As an American revolutionary, he was particularly fond of punishing those accused of loyalty to the British Crown. In 1764, Charles Lynch, then a wealthy plantation owner and slave-owner, was asked to become a candidate for the Virginia Assembly. He refused on the grounds that as a Quaker he could not swear the necessary oath of office. In 1767, he became a justice of the peace of Bedford County, Virginia. He had to take an oath of office for this position and for this reason was disowned by the Quakers. In 1778, Charles Lynch became a militia colonel and in 1780, he and other militia officers began rounding up people who were suspected of being British Loyalists. Lynch then tried them in an informal court, handing out sentences which included flogging, property seizures, and conscription into the military. While these actions were extralegal at the time, in 1782 the Virginia General Assembly retroactively legitimized his rulings. Another Revolutionary War officer, Captain William Lynch, has been touted by some etymologists as the source of “lynching.” In 1780, Lynch and his followers appear to have founded the first lynching organization. According to one of Lynch’s men: “The person…was placed on a horse with his hands tied behind him and a rope around his neck which was fastened to the limb of a tree…When the horse in pursuit of food or any other cause moved from his position the unfortunate person was left suspended by the neck—this was called aiding the civil authority.’” “Lynch’s Law” was used in reference to actions of this organization in upholding their own brand of law without any actual legal authority. The story of William Lynch was uncovered in 1836, sixteen years after his death, by the writer Edgar Allen Poe who was doing some research on hanging for his stories. Poe discovered a dated execution pact signed by Captain Lynch and his followers. Thus, according to Poe, William Lynch gave birth to “lynching.” There are many scholars, however, who feel that Poe was perpetuating a hoax. Therblig I suspect that many people don’t have any idea what a therblig is, but it has an interesting eponymous origin. First, therbligs are elemental motions used in the study of motion economy in the workplace. These were discovered by the industrial engineer Frank Gilbreth, who named them after himself. In case you haven’t guessed, therblig is simply Gilbreth spelled backwards (treating the “th” as if they were one letter). Open Thread This is an open thread—all topics are welcome. 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