antonomasia

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The Word of the Day for October 16 is:

antonomasia   \an-tuh-noh-MAY-zhuh\   noun
     : the use of a proper name to designate a member of a class (as a Solomon 
for a wise ruler); also : the use of an epithet or title in place of a proper 
name (as the Bard for Shakespeare)

Example sentence:
     "It's antonomasia when you refer to the mayor as His Honor or to Babe Ruth 
as the Sultan of Swat." (Michael Gartner, _Newsday_ [New York], July 3, 1988)

Did you know? 
     What's in a name? When it comes to "antonomasia," quite a bit. English 
speakers picked up that appellative term from Latin, but it traces back to 
Greek, descending from the verb "antonomazein," meaning "to call by a new 
name," which itself developed from the Greek noun "onoma," meaning "name." You 
may already be familiar with some other English "onoma" descendants, such as 
"onomatopoeia" (the naming of something in imitation of the sound associated 
with it), "polyonymous" (having multiple names), and "toponymy" (the 
place-names of a region). "Antonomasia" has been naming names in English since 
the mid-16th century.





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