Editor's Corner

Hello folks!

Last week I promised to send you part two of this article on words ending with -nym, translated from Greek as “name.” Let’s get right back to it!

eponym

A name from which another word is derived. Romulus (twin brother of Remus) gave us the name for Rome.

Examples from The Wordpoint

• Caesar Salad: Restaurateur Caesar Cardini created the salad that now bears his name.
• Boycott: This word is named for an Irish land agent, Captain Charles C. Boycott.
• Fahrenheit: Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit is the physicist for whom this temperature measurement is named.
• Cardigan: This is named after the 7th Earl of Cardigan. He led troops who wore this garment into battle.
• Sandwich: While some of the backstories may be lore, it is true that the word sandwich is named for the Earl of Sandwich.
• Nicotine: Jean Nicot sent powdered tobacco leaves and seeds back to France when he visited Portugal as an ambassador.

endonyms and exonyms

endonym (Greek: endo [inside] + nym [name])

The name a group of people use to refer to themselves.

exonym (Greek: exo [outside] + nym [name])

A name for a place or group of people that is only used outside that place or group.

A Few Examples from Omniglot:

In the following list, the exonyms are what we call countries in English; the endonyms are how each country refers to themselves.

日本 (Nihon)

I hope you’ve enjoyed our tour of -nym words!

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