Words Derived

WORDS DERIVED FROM         

                                NAMES OF PEOPLE AND  PLACE

AMERICA - from the navigator Amerigo Vaspucci who made two trips to the New World and claimed to have discovered it; the two continents of North America and South America

AMPERE - from the French physicist Andre Ampere; unit of electric current one volt can send through one ohm

BOWDLERIZE - from Thomas Bowdler, English editor who published a cleaned-up Shakespeare, appropriate to be read aloud in a family; to make a book readable by deleting offensive portions

BOYCOTT - from Captain Charles Boycott of Ireland, the estate agent of an absentee landlord who refused to lower rents, evicted tenants and was ostracised by the community; ostracise; refusal to trade or deal with a person, an organisation or a country

BRAILLE - from Louis Braille,French musician and teacher, blind from the age of three, inventor of system of writing and printing for the sightless; a system of writing in which patterns of raised dots represent letters and numerals

CHAUVINISM - from Nicholas Chauvin, soldier of Napoleon's Grand Armee, notoriously attached to the Empire long after it ceased to be; exaggerated loyalty or patriotism; belief in superiority of men over women

COLOGNE - from the German city of Cologne; the French name "eau de Cologne" means water from the cologne; a lightly-scented liquid

DERRICK - from the surname of a hangman in London; a simple crane; a structure that facilitates lowering and raising of drill tubes over an oil well

FAHRENHEIT - from the German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit, inventor of the mercury thermometer; a nonmetric temperature scale

FRANKENSTEIN - from the monster created from parts of corpses by Baron Frankenstein in the novel by Mary Shelley; something that destroys or harms its creator

GALVANISE - from the Italian scientist Luigi Galvani who discovered the production of electricity by chemical action; to stimulate by administering a shock; to stir into action; to coat with zinc

GARGANTUAN - from the large-mouthed giant in the novels written by Francois Rabelais; anything on a large scale; massive

GUY - from Guy Fawkes, leader of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up British king and Parliament; an informal term for a youth or man; a rope or cable used to support something

HOBSON'S CHOICE - from Thomas Hobson who rented out horses and would let his customers take only the horse nearest the door; no real choice

JINGOISM - from the refrain of a music hall song supporting aggressive British policy toward Russia at a time of international tension ("WE DON'T WANT TO FIGHT, BUT BY JINGO! IF WE DO, WE'VE GOT THE SHIPS, WE'VE GOT THE MEN, WE'VE GOT THE MONEY TOO."); extreme, aggressive patriotism

LILLIPUTIAN - from Lilliput, the island inhabited by six-inch tall people, from the novel GULLIVER'S TRAVELS written by Jonathan Swift; very small, miniature, diminutive

LOTHARIO - from Lothario, the principal male character of Nicholas Rowe's tragedy THE FAIR PENITENT; a flirt; seducer of women

MACADAM - from John McAdam, Scottish civil engineer, inventor of road surfacing method; paved road surface having compressed layers of broken rocks held together with tar

MACHIAVELLIAN - from Niccole Machiavelli, Florentine statesman and author-, who advised rulers to place advantage above morality; cunning and unscrupulous

MALAPROPISM - from Mrs. Malaprop, character in Richard Sheridan's play THE RIVALS, noted for her ridiculous misuse of large words; unintentional misuse of a similar sounding word with amusing results. like saying "we have comprehended the thief" instead "we have apprehended the thief"

MARTINET - from the name of Col. Jean Martinet a drillmaster of the French army during the reign of Louis XIV; a person very strict about discipline; someone who demands exact conformity to rules and forms

MASOCHISM - from the German word MASOCHISMUS, coined by neurologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing from the name of the Austrian novelist Leopold von Sacher-Masoch; obtaining pleasure from receiving physical or psychological punishment

MAVERICK - from Samuel Maverick, Texas cattle owner who was negligent in branding his calves; independent thinker; unbranded animal

NEMESIS - from Nemesis, the Greek goddess of vengeance; unbeatable opponent; source of harm; avenger; deserved punishment

NICOTINE - from Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal, who sent tobacco seeds and powdered leaves back to France; poisonous alkaloid found in tobacco

OHM - from German physicist Georg Ohm, who determined the law of the flow of electricity; unit of electrical resistance

QUIXOTIC - from Don Quixote, hero of a novel by Miguel de Cervantes, who pursued hopeless causes; unrealistic visionary; impractical and impulsive; excessively romantic

ROBOT - from Czech "robotnik" meaning slave, "robota" meaning forced labour and "robotiti" meaning to work, drudge; word popularised by a machine or a totally mechanised human; programmable machine for performing tasks

RODOMONTADE - from King Rodomonte, the boastful king of Italian long poems; vain and empty boasting; pretentious, self-important

SOLECISM - from the people of Greek province Soloi whose dialect was considered barbarous; blunder in speech or writing; socially awkward or tactless act

SPOONERISM - from Reverend William Spooner, British educator, who was famous for such verbal accidents; an accidental transposition of initial consonant sounds or parts of words, especially in an amusing way like "well-boiled icicle" instead of "well-oiled bicycle"

THESPIAN - from Thespis, the father of Greek tragedy; an actor

UTOPIAN - from book titled UTOPIA written by Thornas Moore, about an imaginary island enjoying perfect legal, social, and political systems; idealistic but impractical; pertaining to a perfect society in which everyone works well with each other and is happy

VOLT - from Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, who perfected a chemical process used in batteries; a unit of electric potential

YAHOO - from a race of brutish human creatures called Yahoos in Jonathan Swift's book, GULLIVER'S TRAVELS; a degraded human specimen; rude, loud and unpleasant person especially one without education