What is the meaning of ‘eponymous’?
(S. Deepak, Chennai)
First, let’s deal with the pronunciation of the word. The ‘e’ and the ‘y’ are pronounced like the ‘i’ in ‘it’, ‘bit’, and ‘hit’, while the ‘o’ is like the ‘o’ in ‘cot’, ‘hot’, and ‘dot’. The final ‘ou’ is like the ‘a’ in china. The word is pronounced ‘iponimes’ with the stress on the second syllable ‘pon’.
‘Othello’, ‘King Lear’ and ‘Macbeth’ are some of the well-known tragedies written by Shakespeare. The title is also the name of the lead character in the play. Similarly, we have novels like ‘Winnie the Pooh’, ‘Robinson Crusoe’ and ‘Emma’; once again, the title is based on the name of the hero or heroine in the novel. An eponymous character in a book or play is one whose name also happens to be the title of the book or play.
“My uncle Sammy was an angry man. He printed on his tombstone: What are you looking at?” — Margaret Smith
S. UPENDRAN
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