If the name of someone becomes an adjective (e.g. freudian, thatcherite) - should that adjective be capitalised (e.g. Freudian, Thatcherite)? Furthermore, do they have any specific name?

Thanks.

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Originally posted by mutualdesire:
If the name of someone becomes an adjective (e.g. freudian, thatcherite) - should that adjective be capitalised (e.g. Freudian, Thatcherite)?

According to this site:

"Capitalize words derived from proper nouns
Freudian slip, Swiss cheese, English muffin

Eventually such words lose their capitals
pasteurize, french fry, panama hat, scotch"

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Furthermore, do they have any specific name?

Thanks.

They may have, but I haven't been able to find that out yet .

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Furthermore, do they have any specific name?

Eponym.

In mathematics removal of the capital is a high honour, not accorded to all eponyms: Hermite is commemorated in the Hermitian, Jacobi in the Jacobian, Hamilton gets the Hamiltonian path; but euclidean space, boolean algebra, cartesian coordinates.

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Furthermore, do they have any specific name?
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Eponym.

Ah, yes - I should have known that (sound of head banging on wall) .

Thanks a lot! I find it fascinating that pasteurize has been decapitalised, but English muffins haven't... it seems like more than just time goes into the equation.

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I find it fascinating that pasteurize has been decapitalised, but English muffins haven't

I wouldn't consider that the expression "English muffins" was eponymous, any more than, say, China tea or Scotch Whisky. It is a description of a type of muffin (almost unknown in England, incidentally) and not an eponym.

I consider that an eponym is a new word created from a name associated with the thing the word describes. Pasteurise we have heard and there are many others including boycott, that have now become normal words and have lost their capital.

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and have lost their capital.

As happened to Monsieur Guillotine.

[French, after Étienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), French finance minister (( who lost his capital)) .]

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It is a description of a type of muffin (almost unknown in England, incidentally) and not an eponym.

I know we've talked about this before, but I just don't get why it's called "English muffin" then.

Have french fries just been around a lot longer than Swiss cheese? Is that why the former isn't capitalized, but the latter is? Oh...and I think, if I recall, France doesn't have french fries, just as England doesn't have English muffins.

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As happened to Monsieur Guillotine.

That is a brilliant double entendre!

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That is a brilliant double entendre!

Thanks, RE! I wondered if I was being too subtle!

Perhaps too subtle for me... explain the double entendre?

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Oh...and I think, if I recall, France doesn't have french fries, just as England doesn't have English muffins.

French fries aren't named for France. Rather, "to french" means "to cut into thin strips before cooking".

P.S. Yes, arnie, brilliant. A capital pun. (I missed it until Richard pointed it out.)

Okay...I get that capital pun now, too...finally!