A.W.A.D. - Words Coined from People Real or Fictitious

with Anu Garg

Winning even one Nobel Prize is a big deal. Marie Curie received two (in physics and chemistry). But then hers was a family of high achievers: her husband, their daughter, and their son-in-law were also Nobel laureates.

Similarly, having one's name turned into a word in the language is a rare feat. Yet there are some, both real and fictional characters, who have accomplished this more than once. This week we feature five such people.

And Marie, well, she too had had two words coined after her: Curie, a unit of radioactivity, and curium, a radioactive element.

ciceronian
PRONUNCIATION: (sis-uh-RO-nee-uhn)
MEANING: adjective: In the style of Cicero, marked by ornate language, expansive flow, forcefulness of expression, etc.

ETYMOLOGY: After Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman statesman, orator, and writer (106-43 BCE). Another eponym derived from Cicero's name is cicerone (a tour guide).

maudlin
PRONUNCIATION: (MAWD-lin)
MEANING: adjective: Overly sentimental

ETYMOLOGY: After Mary Magdalene, a Biblical character who was a follower of Jesus. In medieval art she was depicted as a penitent weeping for her sins (she washed the feet of Jesus with her tears) and her name became synonymous with tearful sentimentality.

The name Magdalene means "of Magdala" in Greek and is derived after a town on the Sea of Galilee. The name Magdala, in turn, means tower in Aramaic. So here we have a word coined after a person, who was named after a place, which was named after a thing. In an allusion to her earlier life, Mary Magdalene's name has sprouted another eponym, magdalene, meaning a reformed prostitute.

hermetic
PRONUNCIATION: (huhr-MET-ik)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Airtight
2. Not affected by outside influence
3. Relating to the occult sciences, especially alchemy; magical
4. Obscure or hard to understand

ETYMOLOGY: From the belief that Hermes Trismegistus invented a seal to keep a vessel airtight in alchemy. Who was Hermes Trismegistus? It was the name of a legendary figure that Greek neo-Platonists thought was a blend of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Trismegistos is Greek for thrice-greatest, from tris (thrice) + megistos (greatest), ultimately from the Indo-European root meg- (great) that's also the source of words such as magnificent, maharajah, mahatma, master, mayor, maestro, magnate, magistrate, maximum, and magnify. Another word coined after Hermes is hermeneutic meaning interpretive or explanatory.

Cadmean victory
PRONUNCIATION: (kad-MEE-uhn VIK-tuh-ree)
MEANING: noun: A victory won at as great a cost to the victor as to the vanquished

ETYMOLOGY: After Cadmus, a Phoenician prince in Greek mythology who introduced writing to the Greeks and founded the city of Thebes. Near the site where Cadmus was to build Thebes he encountered a dragon. Even though he managed to kill the dragon, only five of his comrades survived, with whom he founded the city. Other words coined after him are calamine (a pink powder used in skin lotions), from Latin calamina, from Greek kadmeia ge (Cadmean earth) and the name of the chemical element cadmium. A similar eponym is Pyrrhic victory.

Pickwickian
PRONUNCIATION: (pik-WIK-ee-uhn)
MEANING: adjective:
1. Marked by generosity, naivete, or innocence
2. Not intended to be taken in a literal sense

ETYMOLOGY: After Samuel Pickwick, a character in the novel Pickwick Papers (serialized 1836-1837) by Charles Dickens. Mr Pickwick is known for his simplicity and kindness. In the novel Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Blotton call each other names and it appears later that they were using the offensive words only in a Pickwickian sense and had the highest regard for each other.

Another term that arose from the book is Pickwickian syndrome, which refers to a combination of interlinked symptoms such as extreme obesity, shallow breathing, tiredness, sleepiness, etc. The character with these symptoms was not Mr. Pickwick, but Fat Joe, so the term is really coined after the book's title. The medical term for the condition is obesity-hypoventilation syndrome.