[HS] Lesson 7: Commonly used terms in onomastics

[Sara L Uckelman <liana@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings!

This lesson is going to be mostly a dictionary of terms.
First of all:

Onomastics - the study of names.  Practitioners of onomastics
are onomasticians, _not_ onomasichists. :)

Byname - The term 'byname' is a broad category covering any
part of the name which is not one of the given names.  There
are different types of bynames, and one more narrow category
is that of:

Surname - In the context of onomastics 'surname' is used with
the narrow meaning of a fixed byname which is inherited, i.e.,
passed down from father (or sometimes mother) to child, or
taken up marriage.  These surnames generally are *not* being used 
literally to describe the bearer.  For example, modern last names 
in the U.S. almost all fall under the category of 'surname'.  
For example, before I was married my name was <Sara Friedemann>;
I had this surname because my father was <Scott Friedemann>, and
not because I was a "peaceful friend".

Patronymic byname - A byname based on the bearer's father's given
name.  This is type of byname still used in Iceland today.  
Patronymic bynames were used literally.  I would have been known as
<Scottsdaughter>, not <Scottson>, because I'm a girl and cannot be
anyone's son.  Less common were matronymic bynames, i.e. ones based
on the bearer's mother's given name.

Locative byname - A byname based on the bearer's location, e.g.
<of London>.

Occupational byname - A byname based on the bearer's occupation,
e.g. <Baker>, <Cooper>, <Kaufman>, <Bauer>.  Sometimes also called
'metonymic' bynames (not to be confused with 'matronymic' above),
meaning "a figure of speech consisting of the use of the name of 
one thing for that of another of which it is an attribute or with 
which it is associated" (www.m-w.com).

Descriptive byname - This is a catch all term.  All literal bynames
are descriptive - they describe your occupation, your location,
your father's name, etc.  However, this category also covers things
like nicknames based on personal appearance, habits, or character.

Forename, baptismal name - These are synonyms for 'given name'.

Genitive case - Most medieval European languages had a case-
based grammar, where the endings of the word change depending
on what grammatical category the word is being used in.  In
names, the genitive case is what comes up the most frequently.
In English, the genitive case is formed by adding <'s> at the
end of a name, e.g. <John's> is the genitive case of <John>,
and it is used to indicate possession.  Other languages indicate
the genitive case in different ways, but it has the same
meaning: It indicates the possessive form of the name.  The
genitive case comes up most often when forming a patronymic
byname.  For example, you wouldn't say <John son>, you'd say
<John's son>.

Dative case - Rare, shows up primarily in the context of forming
locative bynames in Old English.  In Old English, the prepositions
for 'of', 'from', and 'at' generally require that the name of the
place be put into the dative case.

Lenition - Lenition is a phonetic term, and it has to do with 
a change to certain consonants, best described as a 'softening.'
For example, \s\ lenites to \sh\, \t\ lenites to \th\.  Lenition
comes up most commonly in the context of women's bynames in
Gaelic; Gaelic grammar requires that these bynames be lenited
(for more information on lenition, see "Lenition in Gaelic Naming
Step By Step" http://medievalscotland.org/scotnames/lenitionstepbystep.shtml)

Mutation - Mutation is the more general category under which 
lenition falls.  In Welsh, women's descriptive bynames were usually
the mutated form of the word; the mutation is again just a change
in the initial consonant.

I feel like I'm forgetting some, but I've mulled over this lesson for
a few days now without thinking of any more.  If I do, we'll just
have a part 2.

-Aryanhwy



-- 
vita sine literis mors est
http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/
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