ETYMOLOGY AND PRECEDENCE OF GENERAL NAMES OF ANTHROPONYMIC ORIGIN (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze and illustrate the use of anthroponyms not only as means of address, but as words that contain coded semantic and socio-cultural meanings. The treatment of anthroponyms often indicates that they have a meaning that may depend on what a particular speaker has an idea or knowledge about them, according to the context or his/her background knowledge. This is how we reveal such feature as allusiveness. Therefore, we distinguish individual proper names, or proper names with individual connotations (Trump, Napoleon), and general proper names, or proper names without individual connotations (John, Michelle). There are many words that we use all the time that actually come from the name of the person who invented it or denote the phenomenon. In this case, the noun is completely separated from the proper name from which it was formed. This is the source of most scientific terms and phenomena (amp, watt). There are also names of objects and phenomena that received them thanks to the initiative or social phenomenon that this person personified in one way or another (guillotine, boycott). An allusive name is an individual name connected either 1) with a widely known text, 2) with a situation widely known to native speakers and which acts as a precedent; or 3) is a symbolic name indicating some reference set of certain qualities. As a result, the analysis shows that some of the anthroponyms have a positive connotation, others have a negative connotation, and some are devoid of any emotional color. Examples of the use of anthroponyms as precedent names indicate their vivid connotational and expressive function and appear to be a promising direction for further research, in particular on the lexicon of languages of unrelated language groups.