ANTONOMASIA AND CONVERSION

Antonomasia

Antonomasia (pronounced an-tuh-nuh–mey-zhuh) is a literary term in which a descriptive phrase replaces a person’s name.  Antonomasia can range from lighthearted nicknames to epic names.

The phrase antonomasia is derived from the Greek phrase antonomazein meaning “to name differently.” 

Examples of Antonomasia

Oftentimes, antonomasia is used to call attention to a certain characteristic.

Example 1

Imagine that you have a friend who is a fantastic chef, and you want to say hello.
Normal sentence:

“Oh, look! Sam’s arrived!”

Sentence with Antonomasia:

“Oh, look! The great chef has arrived!”

Here, the use of antonomasia allows you to greet your friend with a nickname which also reveals something about his character: he’s a great chef.

Example 2

For another example, consider that you have a grumpy teacher:

Normal sentence:

“He’s grumpy, boring, doesn’t want to listen to anyone, and definitely doesn’t want to help anyone.”

Sentence with Antonomasia:

“Mr. Grumps doesn’t want to listen to anyone, and definitely doesn’t want to help anyone.”

Replacing the teacher’s actual name with his defining characteristic, grumpiness, serves to highlight just how much the mood is associated with the man.

Example 3

For a commonly use example of antonomasia, consider two women discussing men:
Normal sentence:

“He’s such a good guy. I enjoy his company so much! I just hope he’s the right guy for me.”

With the addition of antonomasia, we can emphasize the quality she hopes to find in this man:
Sentence with Antonomasia:

“He’s such a good guy. I enjoy his company so much! I just hope he’s Mr. Right.“

Giving a man the title “Mr. Right” is an everyday example of antonomasia in conversation. 

The importance of using Antonomasia

Antonomasia can provide someone with a strong epithet which further celebrates and memorializes their great deeds. In advertising and pop culture, such wording can also further celebrate the famous, such as The Beatles as “The Fab Four.”
Uses for antonomasia vary slightly depending on the time period. In the past, antonomasia would be used to designate class members, as oftentimes people’s names were linked to their professions. Antonomasia was also used in the past to give positive names to strong warriors and negative names to weak or nasty people.

Here are a few examples of antonomasia in the past:

• Aristotle as “The Philosopher”
• Winston Churchill as “The Great Commoner”
• William Shakespeare as “The Bard”

In this way, the past is similar to the present, as we tend to use antonomasia purely for enjoyment and fun with nicknames. 

Examples of Antonomasia in Literature

Antonomasia is important in literature, as it can tell more about characters just by their titles. Consider a few examples:

Example 1

One instance of antonomasia is the treatment of Voldemort in J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter Series. Rather than calling the dangerous man by name, all must call him “You-Know-Who” or “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” This usage of antonomasia emphasizes just how dangerous the man is, as most wizards and witches are too afraid to say his actual name aloud.

Example 2

Another example of antonomasia is in Mary Shelley’s Victor Frankenstein’s inability to give the monster a true name is apparent in his constant use of antonomasia:

• “I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created”
• “the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life”
• “Devil, do you dare approach me?”
• “Begone, vile insect!”

Frankenstein’s creation is never given a name, and instead is given countless instances of antonomasia which show Frankenstein’s inability to accept his creation.

Conversion

            Conversion is the process in which a word of one grammatical form becomes a word of another grammatical form without any changes to spelling or pronunciation. Conversion is also referred to as zero derivation or null derivation with the assumption that the formal change between words results in the addition of an invisible morpheme. However, linguistics argue for a clear distinction between the word formation processes of derivation and conversion. Here are some examples:

1.    Noun to verb conversion

access              –     to access

bottle               –     to bottle

can                  –     to can

closet               –     to closet

email               –     to email

eye                  –     to eye

fiddle              –     to fiddle

fool                 –     to fool

Google            –     to google

host                 –     to host

knife                –     to knife

microwave      –     to microwave

name               –     to name

pocket             –     to pocket

salt                  –     to salt

shape               –     to shape

ship                 –     to ship

spear                –     to spear

torch                –     to torch

verb                 –     to verb

For example:

My grandmother bottled (verb) the juice and canned (verb) the pickles.

My grandmother put the juice in a bottle (noun) and the pickles in a can (noun).

She microwaved (verb) her lunch.

She heated her lunch in the microwave (noun).

The doctor eyed (verb) my swollen eye (noun).

2.    Verb to noun conversion

to alert – alert

to attack – attack

to call – call

to clone – clone

to command – command

to cover – cover

to cry – cry

to experience – experience

to fear – fear

to feel – feel

to hope – hope

to increase – increase

to judge – judge

to laugh – laugh

to rise – rise

to run – run

to sleep – sleep

to start – start

to turn – turn

to visit – visit

For example:

The guard alerted (verb) the general to the attack (noun).

The enemy attacked (verb) before an alert (noun) could be sounded.

Sometimes one just needs a good cry (noun).

The baby cried (verb) all night.

We need to increase (verb) our productivity to see an increase (noun) in profits.

Other Conversions

Conversion also occurs, although less frequently, to and from other grammatical forms. For examples:

adjective to verb: green → to green (to make environmentally friendly)

preposition to noun: up, down → the ups and downs of life

conjunction to noun: if, and, but → no ifs, ands, or buts

interjection to noun: ho ho ho → I love the ho ho hos of Christmastime.