English for Students

Eponyms

Called Eponyms, many words tell interesting tales about their origins.Wittingly or unwittingly, few people and places have left their names for posterity through words that were coined after them. These words are derived from the names of real, fictional, mythical or spurious persons, places or characters, although many of these Eponyms come from the persons surnames.


Here is The List of Eponyms beginning with D.

Don Juan: Noun

A seducer of woman, a philanderer

The word came from Don Juan, a legendary Spanish nobleman notorious for his dissolute life and philandering ways.


Draconian: Adjective

(Of laws – excessively harsh and severe)

Athenian legislator Draco compiled the first written code of laws in ancient Athens. For almost all crimes, even petty ones, he assigned the death penalty. Soon, people began saying that his laws were written in blood, not in ink, with a lot of justification.


Dumdum: Noun

A kind of soft-nosed bullet that expands on impact and inflicts severe lacerations

Also termed Dumdum Bullet, the word comes from Dum Dum, the name of a town and ordinance depot near Kolkata, where these bullets were first made.


Dunce: Noun

A person who is slow at learning

The word was originally an epithet for followers of the 13th century Scottish theologian John Duns Scotus, who was intelligent and learned. However, humanists ridiculed his followers as enemies of learning and deliberately referred to them as Dunces.

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