An encyclopedia of linguistic biographies: the witty, illustrated stories
of the Earl of Sandwich, Charles Boycott, and other historical figures better
known as words than people.

Eponymous, adj. Giving one.s name to a person, place, or thing.

Anonymous, adj. Anonymous.

Anonyponymous, adj. Anonymous and eponymous.

The Earl of Sandwich, fond of salted beef and paired slices of toast, found
a novel way to eat them all together. Etienne de Silhouette, a former French
finance minister, was so notoriously cheap that his name became a byword for
chintzy practices.such as substituting a darkened outline for a proper painted
portrait. Both bequeathed their names to the language, but neither man is
remembered.

In this clever and funny book, John Bemelmans Marciano illuminates the lives
of these anonyponymous persons. A kind of encyclopedia of linguistic biographies,
the book is arranged alphabetically, giving the stories of everyone from Abu
.algorithm. Al-Khwarizmi to Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Along with them you'll
find the likes of Harry Shrapnel, Joseph-Ignace Guillotine, and many other people
whose vernacular legacies have long outlived their memory.

Accented by amusing line portraits and short etymological essays on subjects
like .superhero eponyms,. Anonyponymous is both a compendium of trivia and
a window into the fascinating world of etymology. Carefully curated and
unfailingly witty, this book is both a fantastic gift for language lovers
and a true pleasure to read.

Download File Size:10.62 MB

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