People With Their Names in the Dictionary

[Aschenbach]

Does anyone know any of the people who have had the honour of having their names immortalized in the dictionary with the loss of the capital letter eg.

Mr. Derrick - derrick (crane)

[betty-nugs]

How about quisling??

"A word Norwegians are not very proud of having given to the world: it derives from Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945), a Norwegian politician who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. He established his name as a synonym for "traitor", someone who collaborates with the invaders of his country, especially by serving in a puppet government."

from:  http://www.cyberclip.com/Katrine/NorwayInfo/words/Quisling.html

:D

 

[flaming]

I'm too lazy to get up and refer but I can think of ohm, ampere, hoover.   Tarmac is cheating a bit (MacAdam). I'll bet you'll get a lot of other posters answering.  If I think of more I'll come back.

[betty-nugs]

... and boycott...

"The term boycott or refusing to purchase certain products or do business with specific companies comes from Charles Boycott. He was an Irish landowner in 1880 who refused to lower the rents he charged in compliance with a new land reform law. He was boycotted and soon found himself isolated, unable to keep his servants or even buy food."

from:  http://www.con-suming.com/importance_of_boycotts.htm

:D

[charliep88]

righto along with dopey,  sneezy   happy   grumpy bashful  dancer  prancer  cupid and vixen..

[kempie]

I must admit that I do not know, nor have been introduced to, any of these people.

[jno]

Mr Derrick was actually a hangman, in Elizabethan times; we never met. There's a book called Batty, Bloomers and Boycott by (of course) Rosie Boycott dealing with this; doubtless many others too. They're called eponyms.

[Aschenbach]

Thanks jno. I was reading The Wrench by Primo Levi where he discussed this hangman (p.31) and hinted at a 'dozen or so illustrious men'  who share the distinction which inspired the question. I can see there are much more of these eponyms.

Thanks all

[Grunty]

One of my favourites is Adolphe Sax, who invented a musical instrument.  Sir Robert Peel gave his name to bobbies and peelers.

[pjm007]

Rudolf Diesel was the inventor of the diesel fueled engine.

[brionon]

Dr. Spooner who said such things as ''The queer old Dean'' for The dear old Queen and ''You've hissed my mystery lessons'' for 'You've missed my History lessons'', has his name in the Dictionary in ''spoonerisms''.

[woofgang]

Lazlo Biro!

[Gnu]

I think maverick is derived from unbranded cattle owned by one Maverick.

Silhouette is similar (not derived from a cattle owner, though).

[davver]

Be aware that words like Tarmac and Biro, although used as generic terms, are actually trademarks and only refer to the products of the companies that own the trademarks. You would have to say 'ball-point pen' instead, and I believe the road construction industry use the term 'black top' instead of 'Tarmac'. 'Hoover' is another one - it's 'vacuum cleaner', actually!

[Peter Pedant]

errrr......Roger?

[Aschenbach]

Yes davver it's a good distinction between true eponyms and product names that replace the original word like hoover and vacuum cleaner. However, under s1(1) Trademarks Act 1994 TMs must 'distinguish the owner's goods or services' and when they become generic they no longer do this. So biro, blu-tac, sellotape etc have ceased to be re-registered as TMs in the UK precisely because they have become generic terms.

[ludwig]

jaccuzzi (sp?) ,

or how about the adjectives dickensian, and runyonesque

[jno]

yes ludwig, I remember a New Yorker cartoon years ago of some renaissance French gentlemen laughing their heads off and saying 'You know, there's really no adjective to describe your sense of humour, Monsieur Rabelais'.

[xmanfe1999]

Hi everybody, this is Xman the French !

We've got a few eponyms too, that have become generic terms, as well as trademarks ("frigo" for refrigerator, after Frigidaire; "scotch" for sellotape; "typex", etc) that have evolved into generic terms : some are really funny : Mr Poubelle,  "pr�fet" of the Seine French "d�partement" in  the1890s, gave his name to the "poubelle" (the litter-bin); as for Mr Godillot, he was an army contractor and thus the shoes that soldiers wore were called godillots, as any kind of plain shoes are now. Speaking of shoes, several types of shoes are called after famous people like "richelieus', "Charles X" or "salom�s"... The list is open.

[kempie]

Dr. Joseph Guillotine,  Jules L�otard... the list goes on.

[THECORBYLOON]

Aschenbach There's 100's here