antonomasia

In rhetoric, antonomasia is a kind of metonymy in which an epithet or phrase takes the place of a proper name, such as "the little corporal" for Napoleon I; or, conversely, the use of a proper name as an archetypal name, to express a generic idea.

A frequent instance of antonomasia in the Late Middle Ages and early Renaissance was the use of the term "the Philosopher" to refer to Aristotle. A more recent example of the other form of antonomasia (usage of archetypes) was the use of "Solons" for "the legislators" in 1930s journalism, after the semi-legendary Solon, lawgiver of Athens.

Stylistically, such epithets may be used for elegant variation to reduce repetition of names in phrases.

The word comes from the Greek , ''antonomasia'', itself from the verb , ''antonomazein'' 'to name differently'.

Opposite examples

See " archetypal name" for examples of the opposite kind of antonomasia.

One common example in French is the word for ''fox:'' the Latin-derived french: goupil was replaced by french: renard, from ''Renart'', the fox hero of the Roman de Renart; originally German ''Reinhard''.

Examples

Persons

* "El Caudillo" for Francisco Franco
* "El Jefe" for Rafael Trujillo
* "Il Duce" for Benito Mussolini
* "La Divina" for Maria Callas
* "La Stupenda" for Joan Sutherland
* "Man of Steel" or simply "Steel" for Joseph Stalin
* "Mr. Soul" for Sam Cooke
* "Old Blue Eyes" or "The Chairman of the Board" for Frank Sinatra
* "Pelides" or "the son of Peleus" for Achilles
* "Son of Laertes" or "Man of Pain" for Odysseus
* "The (Great) Bambino" for Babe Ruth
* "The Bard" for William Shakespeare
* "The Big Bopper" for Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr
* "The Boss" for Bruce Springsteen
* "The Commentator" for Averroes (so named for his commentaries on "The Philosopher" Aristotle's works)
* "The Don" for Sir Donald Bradman
* "The Fab Four" for The Beatles
* "The First Lady of Song" for Ella Fitzgerald
* "The Führer" for Adolf Hitler
* "The Genius of the Carpathians" for Nicolae Ceausescu (note that this is only used ironically)
* "The Gipper" or "The Great Communicator" for Ronald Reagan
* "The Great Commoner" for Winston Churchill
* "The Great Emancipator" or "Honest Abe" for Abraham Lincoln
* "The Great Silent One" for Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
* "The Greatest" for Muhammad Ali
* "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business" or "Soul Brother Number 1" or “The Godfather of Soul” for James Brown
* "The High Priestess of Soul" for Nina Simone
* "The Iron Chancellor" for Otto von Bismarck
* "The Iron Lady" or "The Leaderene" for Margaret Thatcher
* "Radical Jack" for John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham
* "The King of Pop" for Michael Jackson
* "The King of Rock 'n Roll" for Elvis Presley
* "The Little Corporal" or "Corsican Ogre" for Napoleon
* "The Little Master" for Sachin Tendulkar
* "The Mahatma" for Mohandas Gandhi
* "The Master of Suspense" for Alfred Hitchcock
* "The Prince of Darkness" for William Francis Galvin
* "The Queen of Pop" or "The Material Girl" for Madonna
* "The Little Private" for Adolf Hitler before the Machtergreifung
* "The Queen of Soul" for Aretha Franklin
* "The Red Baron" for Manfred von Richthofen
* "The Shah" for Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
* "The Stagirite" or "The Philosopher" for Aristotle
* "The Steel Butterfly" for Imelda Marcos
* "The Tiger of Mysore" for Tipu Sultan
* “ El Libertador” for Simón Bolívar

Fictional characters

* "The Boy Who Lived" for Harry Potter
* "The Banshee Queen" for Sylvanas Windrunner
* "The Dark Knight" or "The Caped Crusader" for Batman (also referred as "The Dynamic Duo" when paired with fictional sidekick, Robin)
* "The Man of Steel" or the "Man of Tomorrow" for Superman
* "The Mother of Dragons" for Daenerys Targaryen
* "The Ring Bearer" for Frodo Baggins
* "The Master of Disguise" for Pistachio Disguisey
* "The Mad Titan" for Thanos

Works of art

* " The Scottish play" for ''Macbeth''

Places

* "The Athens of America" for Boston
* "Auld Reekie" for Edinburgh
* "The Big Apple" for New York City
* "The Big Easy" for New Orleans
* "The City of Brotherly Love" for Philadelphia
* "City of Dreams" for Mumbai
* "The City of Hundred Gates" for ancient Thebes, Egypt
* "The City of Kings" for Lima, Peru
* "The City of Light" for Paris
* "The City of Palaces" for Mexico City
* "The Eternal City" or "Urbe" for Rome
* "La Dominante," "La Serenissima," "Queen of the Adriatic," "City of Water," "City of Masks," "City of Bridges," "The Floating City," and "City of Canals" for Venice
* "La La Land" for Los Angeles
* "The Red Stick" for Baton Rouge
* "The Smoke" for London
* "The South American Athens" for Bogotá
* "The White City" for the World's Columbian Exposition
* "The Windy City" for Chicago
* "The Emerald City" for the fictional Land of Oz
* " :de:Elbflorenz" (Florence of the Elbe) for Dresden

See also

* Eponym
* Sobriquet
* Synecdoche
* Trademark erosion
* Honorific nicknames in popular music

References

External links

{{Cite EB1911, wstitle=Antonomasia

Rhetorical techniques