I've collected eponyms myself for a while, never thinking to search the web for others' collections until today. Had a lot of fun browsing Wordcraft's page, at: https://wordcraft.infopop.cc/eponyms

There's one word in particular that I noticed missing in my first glance over the list though: "samaritan".

Also, in the same vein, though more debatable perhaps, "frank" (from the Germanic tribe, not some guy named Frank).

Aren't these eponyms, being taken from the perceived quality of an actual group of people? Is the eponyms list still maintained?

Cheers!
Jeremy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jmd,

Welcome, Jeremy!

I'd certainly agree about samaritan. About frank I'm not so sure. The Online Etymology Dictionary does indeed trace the word back to the ancient Franks, but goes on to say:

quote:

The origin of the ethnic name is uncertain; it traditionally is said to be from the old Gmc. word *frankon "javelin, lance" (cf. O.E. franca; also Saxon, traditionally from root of O.E. seax "knife"), their preferred weapon, but the opposite may be the case.

Welcome, jmd!

Absolutely the eponym list is being updated, and I will alert Wordcrafter. Thanks!

BTW, we hope you continue with us!

Thanks for the welcomes!

Only have a moment, as I'm working on an English paper due tomorrow (which is not so coincidentally loosely related to my eponym collection). I came across another listing of mine and a preliminary comparison turned up a few other eponym candidates--"candidates," as I'd been collecting more than just strict eponyms, and frankly I'm confused exactly what's what at this point--that aren't listed on Wordcraft's page:

lolita - from the fictional character
spartan - from the people, cf samaritan
leviathan - from a particular biblical sea monster, cf Frankenstein, who is listed

More later, perhaps.
-Jeremy

Lolita is of course from Nobokov.

Another eponym like Spartan is sparse, which comes from Sparta, I'm not sure how directly.

Stick with us, Jeremy; you're just the sort we like around here!

I'd agree completely with you about Lolita. But I'd think leviathan and Frankenstein are not parallel cases, because Frankenstein ultimately derives from the name of a person (Dr. Frankenstein, who created the monster), while there was no person named 'leviathan'.

Spartan is an interesting case, because the Spartans were a group of people, not an individual person. Would words of that sort count as eponyms? Perhaps not, but if not they are certainly an interesting class, worth collecting. Similar words are vandal, hun, gothic and philistine, off the top of my head, and there are surely many more.

Samaritan is partly of that sort, for the Samaritans were a national/ethnic group. But on the other hand, our use of the term comes from a specific Samaritan, the "good" one.