Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 12:53:09 -0400

From: David Muschell dmuschel[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU

Subject: Re: names to nouns



burger' rather than the latter being eponyms? I think of 'eponym' as being

kin

to 'namesake' rather than to its converse, which is what we need here. Larry



Machiavelli would by the eponym as the source for "Machiavellian," but

"hamburger" would be a toponym, derived _from_ the name of a place.

David



Is there also a converse for "namesake"? I've wondered about that before.

--Natalie (maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ra.msstate.edu)



I'm not sure what you mean by "converse." When someone or something is

given a name for "the name's sake," even when that name is an eponym or

toponym, it is still a "namesake" naming: Nevada Smith, "in a New York

minute," Pecos Bill, Tex Ritter.