List of eponymous adjectives in English explained
An eponymous adjective is an adjective which has been derived from the name of a person, real or fictional. Persons from whose name the adjectives have been derived are called eponyms.[1]
Following is a list of eponymous adjectives in English.
A–C
- Aaronic – Aaron (as in Aaronic Priesthood)
- Abbasid – Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (as in Abbasid dynasty)
- abelian – Niels Henrik Abel (as in Abelian group)
- Abrahamic – Abraham (as in Abrahamic religions)
- Adamic – Adam (as in Adamic language); also Adamite (as in pre-Adamite race)
- Addisonian – Thomas Addison (as in Addisonian crisis)
- Adlerian – Alfred Adler (as in Classical Adlerian psychology)
- Aegean – Aegeus, of Greek mythology (as in Aegean Sea)
- Aeolian – Aeolus, of Greek mythology (as in Aeolian Islands); also Eolian (as in Eolian processes)
- Aeschylean – Aeschylus (as in Aeschylean silence)
- Aesopian – Aesop the Ancient Greek fabulist. (Also, conveying an innocent meaning to an outsider but a hidden meaning to a member of a conspiracy or underground movement.)
- Ahmadiyya – Ahmad (as in Ahmadiyya)
- Aldine – Aldus Manutius (as in Aldine Press)
- Alexandrine – Alexander the Great (as in Alexandrine verse); also Alexandrian (as in Alexandrian period)
- American – Amerigo Vespucci
- Amish – Jakob Ammann
- Ampèrian – André-Marie Ampère (as in Ampèrian loop)
- Anacreontic – Anacreon
- Andrean – Andrew the Apostle (as in Andrean High School)
- Antonian – St. Anthony the Great (as in Antonian monasticism); Antoninus Pius (as in Nervan-Antonian dynasty)
- Antonine – Antoninus Pius (as in Antonine Wall); Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (as in Antonine Plague)
- Apollonian – Apollo, of Greek mythology (as in Apollonian Oracle); Apollonius of Perga (as in Apollonian gasket)
- Archimedean – Archimedes (as in Archimedean screw)
- Arian – Arius
- Aristotelian – Aristotle (as in Aristotelian logic)
- Arminian – Jacobus Arminius
- Arsacid – Arsaces I of Parthia (as in Arsacid dynasty)
- Arthurian – King Arthur (as in Arthurian legend)
- Artinian – Emil Artin (as in Artinian ring)
- Ashmolean – Elias Ashmole (as in Ashmolean Museum)
- Asimovian – Isaac Asimov (as in Asimovian robot)
- Athanasian – St. Athanasius (as in Athanasian Creed)
- Athenian – Athena, of Greek mythology
- Atlantean – Atlas; also Atlantic
- Augustan – Caesar Augustus (as in Augustan drama)
- Augustinian – St. Augustine (as in Augustinian Order)
- bacchanal – Bacchus, of Roman mythology; also "bacchanalian"
- Bachian – Johann Sebastian Bach
- Baconian – Francis Bacon (as in Baconian cipher)
- Baháʼí – Bahá'u'lláh (as in Baháʼí Faith)
- Bakerian – Henry Baker (as in Bakerian Lecture)
- Bakhtinian – Mikhail Bakhtin
- Ballardian – J. G. Ballard
- Bangsian – John Kendrick Bangs (as in Bangsian fantasy)
- Barthesian – Roland Barthes
- Batesian – Henry Walter Bates (as in Batesian mimicry)
- Bayesian – Thomas Bayes (as in Bayesian probability)
- Beethovenian – Ludwig van Beethoven
- Benedictine – Benedict of Nursia (as in Benedictine Rule)
- Benthamite – Jeremy Bentham (as in Benthamite Utilitarianism)
- Berkeleyan – George Berkeley (as in Berkeleyan idealism)
- Blairite – Tony Blair
- Bodleian – Thomas Bodley (as in Bodleian Library)
- Bohmian – David Bohm (as in Bohmian mechanics)
- Bolivarian – Simón Bolívar (as in Bolivarian Revolution)
- Boolean – George Boole (as in Boolean algebra, Boolean logic)
- Borgesian – Jorge Luis Borges
- Boulléesque – Etienne-Louis Boullée
- Bradmanesque – Donald Bradman
- Brahmsian – Johannes Brahms
- Brechtian – Bertolt Brecht (as in Brechtian acting)
- Brownian – Robert Brown (as in Brownian motion)
- Brunonian – John Brown, the doctor (as in Brunonian system of medicine)
- Buddhist – Gautama Buddha (as in Buddhist rosary)
- Burkean – Edmund Burke (as in Burkean conservatism)
- Byronic – Lord Byron (as in Byronic hero)
- Caesarean – often incorrectly attributed to Julius Caesar (as in Caesarean section)
- Calvinist – John Calvin (as in Calvinist Church)
- Capetian – Hugh Capet (as in Capetian dynasty, Direct Capetians)
- Capraesque – Frank Capra
- Carolean – Charles II of England (as in Carolean style)
- Carolean – Charles XI of Sweden and Charles XII of Sweden (as in Carolean soldiers)
- Caroline – Charles I of England (as in Caroline era); also Carolinian
- Carolingian – Charlemagne (as in Carolingian dynasty)
- Carrollian – Lewis Carroll, pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
- Carterian – James Carter (as in In Carterian Fashion)
- Cartesian – René Descartes (as in Cartesian coordinate)
- Catilinarian – Catiline (as in Catilinarian conspiracy)
- Chandleresque – Raymond Chandler
- Chaucerian – Geoffrey Chaucer (as in Chaucerian stanza)
- chauvinistic – Nicolas Chauvin
- Chekhovian – Anton Chekhov
- Chestertonian – G. K. Chesterton
- Chomskyan – Noam Chomsky; also Chomskian
- Chopinesque – Frédéric Chopin
- Chretienite - Jean Chrétien
- Christian – Jesus Christ
- Churchillian – Winston Churchill
- Churrigueresque – José Benito de Churriguera
- Ciceronian – Cicero
- Clarissine – Clare of Assisi
- Claudian – Claudius (as in Julio-Claudian dynasty)
- Clintonian – Bill Clinton
- Columbian – Christopher Columbus (as in Columbian Exchange)
- Confucianist – Confucius
- Constantinian – Constantine I (as in Constantinian dynasty)
- Coolidgean – Calvin Coolidge
- Copernican – Nicolaus Copernicus (as in Copernican heliocentrism)
- Cronenbergian – David Cronenberg
- Cromwellian – Oliver Cromwell
- Croonian – William Croone (as in Croonian Lecture)
- Cushingoid – Harvey Cushing – American physician
- Cyrillic – St. Cyril (as in Cyrillic)
D–F
G–J
- Galilean – Galileo Galilei (as in Galilean moons)
- Galvanic – Luigi Galvani (as in Galvanic cell)
- Gandhian – Mahatma Gandhi (as in Gandhian economics)
- gargantuan – Gargantua, Rabelais's fictional character
- Gaullist – Charles de Gaulle
- Gaussian – Carl Friedrich Gauss (as in Gaussian function)
- Genghisid – Genghis Khan Georgian – any of the first 4 Hanoverian kings of England (all named George)
- Georgist – Henry George (as in Georgism)
- Gilliamesque – Terry Gilliam (similar to Kafkaesque and Pythonesque, said of films, animations, and scenarios)
- Gladstonian – William Ewart Gladstone (as in Gladstonian Liberalism)
- Gödelian – Kurt Gödel (as in Gödelian incompleteness)
- Goulstonian – Theodore Goulston (as in Goulstonian Lecture)
- Gregorian – Pope Gregory I (as in Gregorian chant); Pope Gregory XIII (as in Gregorian calendar)
- Gricean – Paul Grice (as in Gricean maxims)
- Grundtvigian – N. F. S. Grundtvig (as in Grundtvigian Lutheranism)
- Hadrianic – Roman emperor Hadrian
- Handelian – George Frideric Handel
- Hamiltonian – Sir William Rowan Hamilton (as in Hamiltonian path); Alexander Hamilton (as in Hamiltonian economic program)
- Hamitic – Ham (as in Hamitic languages)
- Harperite - Stephen Harper
- Harveian – William Harvey (as in Harveian Oration)
- Haydnesque – Joseph Haydn
- Hayekian – Friedrich Hayek (as in Hayekian triangle)
- Hegelian – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (as in Hegelian dialectic)
- Heideggerian - Martin Heidegger
- Henrician – King Henry VIII (as in Henrician Reformation); Henry III of France (as in Henrician Articles)
- herculean – Hercules, of Greek mythology (as in herculean task)
- hermaphroditic – Hermaphroditus, of Greek mythology
- hermetic – Hermes Trismegistus, a mythological alchemist (as in hermetic seal)
- Hermitian – Charles Hermite (as in Hermitian matrix)
- Herodian – Herod the Great (as in Herodian dynasty)
- Heronian – Hero of Alexandria (as in Heronian triangle)
- Hilbertian – David Hilbert (as in Hilbertian field)
- Hippocratic – Hippocrates (as in Hippocratic Oath)
- Hitchcockian – Alfred Hitchcock
- Hitlerian – Adolf Hitler
- Hobbesian – Thomas Hobbes
- Holmesian – Sherlock Holmes, Conan Doyle's fictional character; also Sherlockian
- Homeric – Homer
- Horatian – Horace (as in Horatian satire)
- Humean – David Hume
- Hunterian – William Hunter (anatomist) (as in Hunterian Museum)
- Hussite – Jan Hus (as in Hussite Wars)
- Hutterite – Jacob Hutter
- Ignatian – Ignatius of Loyola (as in Ignatian spirituality)
- Imeldific – Imelda Marcos (meaning ostentatious; extravagant)
- Irenic – Eirene (of Greek mythology; meaning peaceable)
- Jacksonian – Andrew Jackson (as in Jacksonian democracy); John Hughlings Jackson (as in Jacksonian seizure)
- Jacobean – King James I (as in Jacobean era)
- Jacobian – Carl Gustav Jacobi (as in Jacobian matrix)
- Jacobite – King James II (as in Jacobitism)
- Jagiellonian – Władysław II Jagiełło (as in Jagiellonian dynasty)
- Jamesian – Henry James
- Japhetic – Japheth (as in Japhetic theory)
- Jeffersonian – Thomas Jefferson (as in Jeffersonian democracy)
- Johannine – Saint John the Evangelist (as in Johannine literature)
- Johnsonian – Samuel Johnson
- Jordanesque – Michael Jordan (usually denotes remarkable athletic achievement or dominance)
- Josephite – Saint Joseph (as in Josephite Marriage or Josephite Fathers)
- jovial – Jove/Jupiter, of Roman mythology; also Jovian
- Joycean – James Joyce (as in Pre-Joycean Fellowship)
- Julian – Julius Caesar (as in Julian calendar)
- Jungian – Carl Jung (as in Jungian psychology)
- Junoesque – Juno, of Roman mythology
- Justinianic – Justinian I
- Juvenalian – Juvenal (as in Juvenalian satire)
K–M
N–Q
- Napierian – John Napier (as in Napierian logarithm)
- Napoleonic – Napoléon Bonaparte (as in Napoleonic code)
- narcissistic – Narcissus, of Greek mythology (as in Narcissistic personality disorder)
- Nasserist – Gamal Abdel Nasser
- Nehruvian – Jawaharlal Nehru
- Neronian – Nero
- Nervan – Nerva (as in Nervan-Antonian dynasty)
- Nestorian – Nestorius (as in Nestorian Schism)
- Newtonian – Isaac Newton (as in Newtonian telescope)
- Nietzschean – Friedrich Nietzsche (as in Nietzschean affirmation)
- Nixonian – Richard Nixon
- Noachian – Noah (as in Noachian deluge)
- Noetherian – Emmy Noether (as in Noetherian ring)
- Norquistian – Grover Norquist
- Odinic – Odin
- Odyssean – Odysseus
- Oedipal – Oedipus, of Greek mythology (as in Oedipal complex)
- ohmic – Georg Ohm (as in ohmic device)
- onanistic – Onan
- Orbanist – Victor Orban
- Orphic – Orpheus, of Greek mythology (as in Orphic Mysteries)
- Orwellian – George Orwell
- Osirian – Osiris, of Egyptian mythology
- Ottoman – Osman I (as in Ottoman Empire)
- Ottonian – Otto I the Great (as in Ottonian dynasty)
- Ovidian – Ovid
- Oxfordian – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (as in Oxfordian theory)
- Palinian – Michael Palin (as in Palinian wit)
- Palladian – Andrea Palladio (as in Palladian architecture)
- Panglossian – Pangloss, Voltaire's fictional character
- pappian – Pappus of Alexandria (as in pappian plane)
- Paracelsian – Paracelsus
- parkinsonian – James Parkinson (as in parkinsonian syndrome)
- pasteurized – Louis Pasteur (as in pasteurized milk)
- Pauline – Paul of Tarsus (as in Pauline epistles)
- Pavlovian – Ivan Pavlov (as in Pavlovian conditioning)
- Pecksniffian – Seth Pecksniff, Dickens' fictional character
- Pelagian – Pelagius (as in Pelagian heresy)
- Pepysian – Samuel Pepys
- Periclean – Pericles (as in Periclean Athens)
- Petersonian – Jordan Peterson
- Petrine – Saint Peter (as in Petrine primacy); also Peter the Great (as in Petrine baroque)
- Piagetian – Jean Piaget (as in Piagetian theory)
- Pickwickian – Samuel Pickwick, Dickens' fictional character
- Pigouvian – Arthur Cecil Pigou (as in Pigouvian Tax)
- Pinteresque – Harold Pinter
- Platonic – Plato (as in Platonic love)
- Plinian – Pliny (as in Plinian eruption)
- Plutarchian – Plutarch
- plutonic – Pluto, of Greek & Roman mythology (as in Plutonic theory); also plutonian
- Pollyannish – Pollyanna, fictional character
- Pombaline – Marquis of Pombal (as in Pombaline Downtown)
- Popperian – Karl Popper (as in Popperian falsification)
- Procrustean – Procrustes, of Greek mythology (as in Pombaline Downtown)
- Promethean – Prometheus, of Greek mythology
- protean – Proteus, of Greek mythology
- Proustian – Marcel Proust (as in Proustian memory)
- Ptolemaic – Ptolemy (as in Ptolemaic system); Ptolemy I Soter (as in Ptolemaic dynasty)
- Putinist – Vladimir Putin (as in Putinist Russia)
- Pyrrhic – Pyrrhus of Epirus (as in Pyrrhic victory)
- Pyrrhonian – Pyrrho (as in Pyrrhonian skepticism)
- Pythagorean – Pythagoras (as in Pythagorean theorem)
- Pythonic – Monty Python, a more correct eponym, used by Terry Jones, for the more commonly used Pythonesque (as in Pythonic sketches)
- Pythonesque – Monty Python, fictional character name from television comedy (as in Pythonesque humour)
- Quirinal – Quirinus, of Roman mythology (as in Quirinal Hill)
- quixotic – Don Quixote, Cervantes' fictional character
R–U
V–Z
See also
Notes and References
- Book: Lobeck. Anne. Anne Lobeck . Denham. Kristin. Navigating English Grammar: A Guide to Analyzing Real Language. 2014. Wiley-Blackwell. Chichester, West Sussex. 978-1-118-34030-1. 151. https://books.google.com/books?id=2aIRAAAAQBAJ&dq=eponymous%20adjective%20esque&pg=PA151. Adjective Morphology.
- Book: Plotnik. Arthur. Better Than Great: A Plenitudinous Compendium of Wallopingly Fresh Superlatives. 2011. Viva Editions. Berkeley, California. 978-1-57344-660-0. 209–215. 1st. registration. eponymous adjectives.. Appendix 3: An Alphabet of Eponymous Acclaim.
