Word of the Day

[CajunCenturion]

There are several "Word of the Day" sites and I'm aware that a number of you subscribe to one or another. I don't want to replicate that function in this forum, but today's WOD from alphaDictionary is particularly noteworthy as it deals with the evolution of language.

Commonization - The process of converting a proper noun into a common noun.

The proper noun is known as the eponym (another -nym word) of the common noun.

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[tsdragon]

An example would be useful. Do you mean words like:

Xerox
Kleenex
Coke


Tracy Dryden

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For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[MakeItSo]

Interesting. I had to first do a Google search to find out what proper/common nouns are.

So a "commonization" would be
sun (any fixed star) --> Sun (our fixed star)
earth (material) --> Earth (planet)
or moon (like Phobos/Deimos) --> Moon (our moon)?


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[Dimandja]

MakeItSo, I think "commonization" is the reverse of your examples.

Although I have reservations for Earth -> earth.

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[MakeItSo]

Yes, of course, Dimandja. You're right.
e.g.
Marquis des Silhouette--->silhouette
Marquis de Sade...
)

[blue]An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]
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[RCorrigan]

Marquis de Sade...

....... some people's Week-end

<Do I need A Signature or will an X do?>

 

[CajunCenturion]

You bring up an interesting question MakeItSo.

Certainly the term 'sadist' was named after the Marquis de Sade, but is it a commonization since both spelling and form have changed?

I think for the fun of it, I will start a thread in Wordplay (Forum1322) to see how many commonizations can be identified. Of course, I will have to determine the correct answer to the above question.

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[Dimandja]

>Certainly the term 'sadist' was named after the Marquis de Sade, but is it a commonization since both spelling and form have changed?

What changed? Sade -> sadist is good isn't it?


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[CajunCenturion]

Perhaps Dimandja, but I'm not sure.

If the common noun were 'sade' and similarly pronounced, then there would be no doubt of it being a commonization. However in this case, the noun is 'sadist' and the eponym 'Sade', with different pronunciations of the 'a' vowel. The question is not if the Marquis is the eponym, but whether sadist is a commonization of Sade.

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[Stella740pl]

Well, but it isn't a commonization of the name, or transformation proper noun into a common noun as such.

It's just that suffix -ism was used to create a name for characteristic behavior or quality, doctrine, theory, or system of principles; and suffix -ist was used to name an adherent or advocate of a specified doctrine, theory, or school of thought. One of the usual uses for these suffixes. Other examples of using these suffixes for similar purposes would be marxism/marxsist, maoism/maoist, buddhism/buddhist. I wouldn't call it commonization, though I don't know if this particular process has a specific name.

 

[CajunCenturion]

While the system was down, I was able to do a little more research. Provided that normal word construction rules are applied, variations such as this are forms of commonizations. It is normal to add the suffix -ist to a root word when forming the noun form of a verb. Another similar example comes from the Frenchman John Nicot, who experimented with tobacco in the 1500's. To his name is added the common chemical suffix -ine to get nicotine. From this, it makes sense that sadist is a commonization. It also implies that there might have been a verb 'to sade' which did not catch on -- probably just as well.

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[Stella740pl]

Oh, and does deliberately naming something after someone's/something's proper name constitute commonization?

Say, chemical elements (which many sources consider common, not proper names), with names such as mendelevium, americium, europium, and francium, and so on.

Or even nicotine, as in CC example.

Was there commonization? I don't think so. (But wouldn't mind to stand corrected, if you can provide some good links.)

 

[CajunCenturion]

My previous post came as a summary from several different sites, including the following:

These first two come from Linguistics 105 from Bucknell University.
Lexical Stock Expansion and Performance

III. F. Commonization. Often proper nouns are converted into common nouns (often to the exasperation of the company whose profits depend on name recognition). Some examples of 'commonization' are: aspirin, (a) kleenex, elevator, escalator, bunk (Buncombe county), quisling; Marxist, Freudian, a Hitler.

Tracking Linguistic Drift: The Comparative Method

I. F. 5. a. Commonization: a watt, an ohm, a quisling, malapropism

Also, from Concordia College, Minnesota
Words, Words, Words

5. Commonization (Words from Proper Names): (CEEL 154-55)
From brand names: e.g., kleenex, xerox, hoover, coke
From place names: e.g., tabasco, limousine, canter, charleston
From specific names: e.g., sandwich, shrapnel, quisling, boycott, crapper, platonic
From general names: John (e.g., john for toilet), Jack (e.g., lumberjack, jack-of-all-trades, jackass), Tom (e.g., tomcat, tomboy, tomfool)

In the following paper, Metaphoricity Signals: A Corpus-Based Investigation, is a section on commonization.

L) Commonization of Proper Names
the/a/an/another [((adjectives))] ((proper name))
{e.g.: he's a modern Disraeli; the Beethoven of the twentieth century}
a kind/type/sort of ((proper name)) ((genitive phrase)) ((proper name))
{e.g.: she is this country's Picasso}
((proper name or variant of one))ian
{e.g.: a Lakovian theory}

The nicotine example came from this page: FAQ: Questions about Language. See question 15.

Although none of these directly state what I posted, they all use either proper suffixes and or common variations to their examples of commonizations.

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[snuv]

Hhow about to 'google' meaning to search on the internet or can you only google using the Google search engine?

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