A Study On The Eponyms And Their Applications

This thesis is concerned with eponyms, mainly with their sources, derivatives, influence on rhetoric, and applications to naming and advertising. The introduction is mainly about the definition of eponym, and emphasizing its development and synchrony with language. Chapter One is mainly about the origins of eponyms and the relationship with proper nouns. The main origins are the names from religion and mythology, scientists, inventors, educators, the names of places, trade names, and the names from characters and places in literature. Chapter Two is about the derivatives of eponyms. Eponyms, like common nouns, have their derivatives. Prefixes as pan-, un-, non-, anti-, pro-, counter-, co- and suffixes like -ite, -ian, -ese, -ism, -ist, -esque are usually added to eponyms; eponyms can also be shifted into verbs and adjectives and their meanings can be changed metaphorically and metonymically. Chapter Three is concerned with the semantic feature of eponyms. Eponyms are the most core-like nouns and can be used as semantic cores in all parts of speech. In Chapter Four, the application of eponyms is illustrated. Eponyms are widely used in rhetoric, such as simile, metaphor, metonymy, antithesis, antonomasia, personification, and allusion. In all of these figures eponyms are employed as source field (vehicles) to make target fields (tenors) understood more easily. In rhetoric, eponyms used as source field can make abstract concepts, thoughts, and ideas easier to be accepted and understood by mapping the meaning and structure of the known concrete source field onto a conceptual structure of a more abstract and unknown target field in order to facilitate understanding of the target domain in some way. Chapter Five is a study on the influence of eponyms on rhetoric. Usual metaphors consist of fixed mapping which is always unidirectional ?the source field is only projected onto the target; and the target is not at the same time mapped onto the source domain. But with theapplication of eponyms, simultaneous bi-directional projections may exist. This is also called blended metaphor.Chapter Six is about the special applications and influence of eponyms to naming. Names of characters in the Bible and old Greek, Roman, German, and Latin mythology are the main source of English names, which can also have many variants. It is an unregulated rule for naming.Chapter Seven is about the influence of eponyms on advertising. Since eponyms as the existed experience or knowledge have been widely used as source domains in metaphor and metonymy to make abstract scientific theories (target domain) understood, the popularity and frequency of eponyms are paid much more attention in media. Certain eponyms are applied to certain advertisements to help people accept certain concepts, and then accept the products. Trade names in advertising are particularly used as source field and mapped onto the products so as to enhance the familiarity of the products and then promote their sales.The last part is a conclusion, summarizing the whole thesis, restating the main ideas of this thesis. As cosmopolitian vocabulary, eponyms go across different cultures and nations and become the common wealth shared by the people all over the world. Although the number of eponyms is not very large in the whole English vocabulary, they spread widely in every field and daily life and are used frequently and are often considered as one of origins of word formation. Although existence and development of eponyms keep synchronous with language, up to now few effects on and applications to rhetoric have been studied. This thesis is just a try.