There are millions of words in the English language but little did you know that some words were invented not too long ago.
The English did not have words for a lot of things and events and so they named them after places. You might have also heard of some words which actually are names of people, these are the words we seek to look at.
Not every word you see is actually a word that comes with the language, some words were coined out of names and places and such words are known as Eponyms. They are either named after the person who invented or found a place or an event.
There are many of such words but let’s take a look at 30 of such common words in the English dictionary.
1. Algorithm
The word algorithm means a set of rules or formulae that produce the desired result. This word was derived from the name of al-Khwarizmi (circa 780-850), an Arabic mathematician born in Baghdad, who showed that any mathematical problem, no matter how difficult, could be solved if broken down into a series of smaller steps (an algorithm).
2. Aphrodisiac
An aphrodisiac is a potion that is meant to arouse lust or love in an individual. It was actually derived from Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.
3. Lesbian
We believe most of you have heard of this word and know it’s the name given to a female homosegxwal, but do you know how they came by the name? Well, it was derived from the island of Lesbos, where Sappho, a Greek woman poet presumed to be homosegxwal, lived from 612 BC to 570 BC.
4. Atlas
An atlas is a set of maps, and this word is derived from a Greek Mythology, a Titan named Atlas who was forced by Zeus to carry the world on his shoulders.
5. Biro
A biro is another name for a ball-point pen. It was derived from László Jozsef Biró (1900-1985), the Hungarian inventor of the ballpoint pen.
6. Friday
The sixth day of the week is a word derived from the name of Frig(ga), Norse goddess of marital affection.
7. Boycott
The word boycott as a noun means to withdraw from commercial or social relations (with a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest. As a verb, it means a punitive ban on relations with other bodies, cooperation with a policy, or the handling of goods, but do you know it was named after a person?
This word was borrowed from the name of Charles C. Boycott (1832-1897), an Irish absentee landlord who refused to bow to Irish land reforms of the 1880s and was shunned by members of the party supporting the reforms (the Irish Land League) who denied him servants, postal service, access to stores, etc.
8. Diesel
A diesel is a type of motor engine that runs on heating oil rather than gasoline or petrol. The word was derived from Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913), the German mechanical engineer who invented it.
9. Cereal
Cereal is simply grain or food made from grain and it is a word derived from the name of Ceres, the Roman goddess of grain and agriculture.
10. Rastafarian
A Rastafarian is a person who regards Ethiopia as the Promised Land and Haile Selassie as a messiah. The word was derived from the title assumed by Haile Selassie (1892-1975), Emperor of Ethiopia 1930; from Amharic ras “chief, prince” and täfäri “to be feared”.
11. Casanova
Casanova is an English word that means a philanderer, gigolo, an irresponsible lover who has many affairs with women, simply put, a womanizer. It is a word that was derived from the name of Giovanni Jacopo Casanova (1725-1798), an Italian charlatan and social climber who wrote several books, translated the Iliad but is most notorious for his History of my Life piece, which focuses on his many romantic conquests.
12. Erotic
The word erotic simply means segxwally stimulating, and it was derived from the name of Eros, the Greek god of love.
13. Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is a system of temperature measurement on which water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees. It was derived from Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit (1686-1736), the German instrument maker who made the first reliable thermometers, providing him with the scale that now bears his name.
14. Braille
This word is very important for the blind because it is the system of writing for the blind comprising raised bumps on a sheet of heavy paper. The word was derived from the name of the inventor, Louis Braille (1809-1852), a French teacher, writer, and musician.
15. Burke
To Burke means to strangle someone or suffocate someone intentionally. It was derived from the name of Irishman, William Burke, who was executed in Edinburgh in 1829 for suffocating 16 people in order to sell their bodies to the Edinburgh Medical School for dissection at 10/- each.
16. Chauvinism
This word means passionate, absolute, single-minded devotion to a cause. It was derived from the name of Nicolas Chauvin, a French soldier in Napoleon’s army famous for his fanatical devotion to the Emperor.
17. Bloomers
This word is another name for women underpants. It was derived from the name of Amelia Jenks Bloomer (1818-1894), a US social reformer and advocate of a new style of dress for women.
18. Hooligan
A hooligan is a person who is a ruffian, delinquent, mean person who does damage. It will interest you to know that this word is actually the name figured in a popular music-hall song of the 1890s, which described the doings of a rowdy Irish family by the name of Hooligan.
19. Jacuzzi
A jacuzzi is a swirling whirlpool bath used by most elite for luxury, but what most do not know is the sad story behind it and how the word came into existence. This word is actually the name of Candido Jacuzzi (1903-1986), the Italian-American who invented the whirlpool bath for his son who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis.
20. Axel
In skating, when someone jumps with one and a half turn it is known as an axel. This maneuver was invented and named after Axel Paulsen (1856 – 1938) a Norwegian skater.
21. Lynch
The act of hanging someone in a mob frenzy without trial is known as lynching.
William Lynch, the author of “Lynch’s Law”, an agreement with the Virginia General Assembly in 1782 that allowed Lynch to capture and punish criminals in Pittsylvania County without trial due to the lack of courts in that county. In his time, he burnt many black slaves at the slack and hanged their bodies on trees for other slaves to see. This is how the word came to existence.
22. Mesmerize
The word mesmerize means to fascinate someone to the point that they seem to be in a trance; to hypnotize. The word was coined out of the name of Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), an Austrian physician who argued that the condition of the body is controlled by “animal magnetism” (James Braid 1795-1860, a Scottish neurosurgeon, invented and named hypnotism).
23. Mogul
When we say someone is a mogul, it means the person is a very wealthy, powerful businessman. You will be surprised to know that it was actually derived from the name of Mogul, a member of the Muslim dynasty of rulers in 16th -17th century India.
24. Nicotine
Nicotine is the poisonous addictive chemical in tobacco. It is interestingly the name of Jean Nicot (1530-1600), the French ambassador to Portugal who promoted smoking by sending tobacco seeds and leaves to France in the mid 16th century.
25. Panic
The word panic simply means, to lose control of yourself in a state of nervous anxiety. It is the name of Pan, the Greek god of the forests, shepherds and flocks, represented as a human torso with a goat’s legs, horns, and ears.
26. Pants
Pants are clothing worn from the waist down and have a separate sleeve for each leg. This word was derived from a clipping of pantaloon from Italian Pantalone, a silly old buffoon in the Italian Comedia dell’Arte, who wore spectacles, baggy breeches and stockings. He was named after the patron saint of Venice, San Panteleone, 4th century Venetian physician, executed for his belief in Christ. Pantaloons originally referred to bloomers, baggy underwear worn by women. Later it came to refer to pants tied below the knees and worn by men, from there it went on to be shortened to simply pants and refers to any sort of trousers.
27. Quisling
When someone calls you a quisling, what they mean is that you’re a traitor or collaborator. The word was not something spoken by the English until Vidkun Abraham Quisling (1887-1945), made it so. He was a Norwegian collaborator with the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War II.
28. Caesarean
Caesarean is the delivery of a child by surgery rather than through natural birth. The word was derived from Gaius Julius Caesar, one of Rome’s greatest generals and politicians. According to legend, he is believed to be the first to be born by caesarean section.
29. Sandwich
This is food enjoyed by most people and it is usually prepared with vegetables and food on a slice of bread or between two slices, eaten with the hands. If you’ve ever enjoyed this meal and know the word, then you should also know this was derived from the name of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), an English aristocrat after whom Captain James Cook also named the Sandwich Islands.
30. Silhouette
The word silhouette means flat shadow-like figure without features other than a solid outline against a white background. This word was derived from Étienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), a French Controller-General of Finances under Louis XV, because the victims of his taxes were reduced to mere shadows of themselves.
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