In English language, when a word is named after somebody it is called an eponym. A lot of English words are unbeknownst to us eponyms. Sometimes, a persons contribution to a particular field of knowledge could be so immense that he gets his name plastered into the English vocabulary. Diesel for example is a word that was named after French-born German engineer Rudolf Diesel who is credited with inventing the diesel engine(also known simply as diesel). He patented the design for a new, more efficient internal-combustion engine in 1892. And in other instances, a man becomes known eternally for his negative or destructive contribution to the world. Remember that gun Kalashnikov? It was named after Russian lieutenant and small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov who created a sub-machine gun for the Soviet Army. The AK-47, short forAvtomat Kalashnikova model 1947, or simplyKalashnikov was a standard issue for the Russian army and has been used to mow down millions of people all over the world.
Many a word in English language have been named after people and their meanings could be a description of the characters or influences of the person they were named after in their life time. Machiavellian has come to be known as a means of using clever tricks or deception to gain advantage or something. Little do we know that this word came to being as a result of Nicolo Machiavelli's book the Prince which advocated the use of deception and cunning in politics. Marxism is another word named after Karl Marx to mean people who believe in the doctrine of socialism and a utopia.
In this list I have compiled five English words in no particular order, their dictionary meaning as well as the person they were named after. So next time you use your favorite word, hurl an insult or heap praises on somebody remember that that word was once a name belonging to someone. And you may care to watch your ways so in the next 100 years your grandchildren don't look up your name in the dictionary and with disguist say so "Grandpa or Grandma was a jerk while alive.
LYNCH ( William Lynch)
Meaning: To beat or put to death by mob action without legal sanction.
In the United States, lynchings became frequent in the South during the period after the Reconstruction era and especially around the decades on either side of the turn of the 20th century. credited with the art of lynching is captain william lynch, who led a vigilante group to dispense justice. Most lynchings were conducted by white mobs against black victims, often suspects taken from jail before they were tried by all-white juries. This was a time of promotion of white supremacy and black powerlessness. Lynchings were photographed and published as postcards, which were popular souvenirs in the U.S., to expand the intimidation of the acts. Victims were sometimes shot, burned alive or otherwise tortured and mutilated in the public events. In some cases the mutilated body parts were even taken as mementos by the spectators. Particularly in the West, other minorities: Native Americans, Latinos and Asians, were also lynched. So the next time you decide to participate in the public lynching of a thief be sure to know that the term has its in the united states.
- BOYCOTT ( Charles Boycott)
Meaning: To refuse to buy, use or participate in something as a way of protesting.
To Boycott is a common form of protest in Nigeria, as a university undergraduate we often participate in lecture boycott or examination boycott to voice our displeasure over things, while this term is commonly used. Boycott is also the rare word that we can trace to an exact origin, first appearing in the autumn of 1880, during the Irish Land War. At the time, the Irish Land League was advocating for better conditions on behalf of the tenant farmers in rural Ireland, pushing back against the wealthy landlords and agents who controlled the land. One particularly effective tactic the League developed was ostracizing the land agents and those who associated with them, which offered communities away to combat those in power that was both legal and nonviolent. The victim of this protest was a wealthy agent Charles boycott, as part of a protest, the farmers on the estate where Boycott worked demanded a reduction in their rents.Boycott refused their demands, and evicted some tenants. The Irish Land League advocated that people in the area not attack Boycott, but rather use a new tactic: refuse to do business with him at all.This new form of protest was effective, as Boycottwasn't able to get workers to harvest crops. And by the end of 1880 newspapers in Britain began using the word.
- Saxophone (Adolphe Sax)
Meaning: A musical instrument that has a curved metal tube and that is played by blowing into a mouth piece and pressing keys with the fingers.
Saxophone is a popular instrument for ardent music lovers and players, its use has been popularized by great players like Fela-Kuti, Mike Aremu amongst others. However it would be an injustice against this beautiful woodwind instrument if we don't know its history. Adolphe sax, was a Belgian musical instrument designer of the 19thcentury. An avid musician who played the flute and clarinet, he invented several other instruments such as the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba but only saxophone made it among the most famous instruments widely used in numerous music genres.
- Braille (Louis Braille)
Meaning: A system of writing for blind people which in which letters are represented by raised dots.
If you have visited a school for the blind and visually impared or if you are yourself are blind( you won't be seeing this) the you must have seen weird raised dot systems used to read by them. The braille system of writing was invented by Louis braille, as a result of an accident at his early childhood that made him lose his sight. He mastered his disability while still a boy and, in 1824 (at the age of just 15), he presented his system of tactile code that would eventually allow blind people to read and write.
- Ponzi Scheme (Charles Ponzi)
Meaning: An investment swindle in which some early investors are paid off with money put up by latter ones in order to encourage more and bigger risks.
Ponzi schemes gained popularity with the MMM venture which a lot of Nigerians put their money in some years back, at first it looked like a way of elevation from the grips of poverty but as the network grew the scheme crashed leaving people neck deep in debts, and some others homeless and with broken homes. Who started this whole greedy run? Meet Charles ponzi. An Italian swindler and con artist in the U.S. and Canada. His aliases include Charles Ponci,Carlo, and Charles P. Bianchi. Born and raised in Italy, he became known in the early 1920s as a swindler in North America for his money-making scheme. He promised clients a 50% profit within 45days, or 100% profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the United States as a form ofarbitrage. In reality, Ponzi was paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors. While this type of fraudlent investment scheme was not originally invented by Ponzi, it became so identified with him that it now is referred to as a Ponzi scheme. His scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his "investors" $20 million. So the next time a new ponzi scheme is in town, remember that it always collapses.
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