西方文学中的人物姓名对英语词汇的影响Word格式文档下载.docx

西方文学中的人物姓名对英语词汇的影响Word格式文档下载.docx

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names;

westernliterature;

Englishvocabulary

摘要：

语言随着社会的发展而不断演变。

在英语发展过程中。

许多专有名词经过长期、广泛的使用最终转化为普通词语。

而在这部分专有名词中，人名占据了很大比例。

在西方的文学作品中，描写精彩，刻画细致而在人们心中留下深刻难忘印象的人物数之不尽。

他们的名字也就因此而长久地留在了人们心中。

这些名字，逐渐地根据原人物形象而被赋予了一个特定意义。

于是一部分影响了英语词汇的形成，一部分直接成为了英语词汇列入了辞典。

本文通过汇总一部分影响了英语词汇的文学作品人物，从而让我们对这两者关系有更深刻的认识，也能因此而对西方文学作品有更多了解，并能帮助我们理解某些词汇的构成，对我们扩大词汇量也是有所裨益的。

关键词：

普通化；

人物姓名；

西方文学；

英语词汇

Contents

Abstract……………….............................................................................................................1

摘要…………………………………………………………………………………………..2

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...4

1WhatIsAntonamasia……………………………………………………………………..….4

1.1BriefIntoroductionofAntonomasia…………………………………………………...4

1.2TwoCategoriesofAntonomasia….………………………………………………...…4

2TheProcessofCommonization………………………………………………………….….5

2.1ReasonsforCommonization……………………………………………………..……5

2.2PrinciplesofCommonization……………………………………………………….…5

3CharactersinDifferentLiteraryWorks……………………………………………….…….6

3.1Bible….......................................................................................................................…6

3.2Mythology………………………………………………………………………….…7

3.2.1GreekMythology…………………………………………………………………7

3.2.2RomanMythology………………………………………………………………10

3.3OtherWesternLiterature……………………………………………………….....…11

3.3.1BritishLiterature…………………………………………………………………11

3.3.2AmericanLiterature……………………………………………………….……..12

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………13

References…………………………………………………………………………………....14

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………..15

Introduction

InEnglishvocabulary,itisnotdifficulttofindoutthattherearethousandsofwordswhicharerelatedtopeople’snames.Someofthesenamesarefromtherealpeopleinhistory.Somearethecharactersinliterature.Andthesenamesaregraduallyendowedwithnewmeanings.

Themeaningofthewordsoftenrelatesdirectlytotheirorigin.Allthewordscommonizedfrompropernounscanbeinterpretedintermsoftheirorigin.Therefore,tounderstandtherelationshipbetweenthecharactersinwesternliteratureandEnglishvocabularywillbenefitourEnglishlearninginseveralways.InthispapersomecharacterswhosenamesinfluencedtheEnglishvocabularywerecollectedinthehopethatitmayenableustolearnmoreaboutliteraryworks.Besides,knowingtheoriginsofsomewordscanmakeitmoreeffectivetoenlargeourEnglishvocabulary.

1.WhatIsAntonomasia

1.1BriefIntoroductionofAntonomasia

AhugenumberofwordsinEnglishvocabularycomefrompeople’snames.Basedontheorigin,thosenamescanbedividedintothreecategories,thenameofscientistsorinventors,thenameofpublicpeople,andthenameofcharactersinliterature.Asthosenamesacquiredanextendingmeaninggradually.Theyarenotonlyanameanymorebuthavebecomeoneofthewordsinourdailyuse.Thisphenomenoniswhatwecall“antonomasia”.AsanimportantpartofEnglishvocabulary,mostofthepropernounsareintheprocessofantonomasia.Itispositiveandusefultoenlargeandvisualizethevocabulary.Andinthiscasewecanalsoconsiderantonomasiaascommunization.

AccordingtoQuirketal（1985）,thenamesofpeoplebelongtopropernouns.Thismeanstheydon’tneedarticle,numeralorothermodifiers.Forexample,whenwecallsomeoneweask“isitJohn”insteadof“isitaJohn”.ButonceanamebecameacommonnounsuchasShakespeare,wemaysay“heisamodernShakespeare”.AndbecauseShakespeareissofamousforhisliterarycareer,thereisnoneedtoexplainwhat“amodernShakespeare”means.

UsingthenamesofrealpeopleascommonnounsseemsmorefamiliarinEnglishvocabulary.Oneofthemainreasonsisthattheyareeasiertorecognize,suchas“Joule”and“Hertz”.However,therearemorewordswhichareevolvedfromthecharacters’namesinliteraryworks.Thecharactersandimagescreatedintheliteraryworkswereimaginary.Andtheirnameswerepropernouns.However,becauseoftheirrepresentativenessandtypification,theyfinallybecamecommonnounsusedinourcommunication.

1.2TwoCategoriesofAntonomasia

Asmentionedabove,thewordsofantonomasiahaveseveralresources.First,theymaycomefromthescientistswhodidagreatjobinsomefield,suchas“Curie”and“Newton”.Peopleusuallynametechnicaltermsintheirworkingfieldafterthescientistsinmemoryoftheircontribution.Similarly,aninventormaybememorizedfortheirinventionslikeBrailleandCondom.Thereisanoldballadwhichindicatesthissituation:

Twonobleearls,whom,ifIquote,

Somefolksmightcallmesinner;

Theoneinventedhalfacoat,

Theotherhalfadinner.

（ErnestWeekley,TheRomanceofWords,P.118）

OneofthetwoearlisSpencer（1782－1845）.HewasfamousforinventingastyleofjacketwhichisnownamedasSpencer.AndtheotheroneisSandwich（1718－1792）,whoseinventionisknownbyall.

Anotherkindofpeoplewhosenameisusuallyusedascommonnounisthepublicpeople.Theynotonlyleavetheirnamesinthehistorybooksbutalsoleavetheminthedictionaries.Forexample,asaleaderofAmericanindependencerevolution,JohnHancockwasthefirstpersonwhosignedtheDeclarationofIndependence.Thereforehisnamewasalwaysrelatedtosigningnames.IfyouaskanAmericantosign“JohnHancock”onapaper,he/shewillsignhis/herownnamewithoutanymisunderstanding.

ButthenamesappearinginliteraryworkstakethegreatestpercentageinAntonomasia.ThosenamesinfluencetheEnglishvocabularymost.Now,therearethousandsofhundredsofEnglishwordsareevolvedfromthenamesinBiblicalstories,Mythologyorotherwesternliteraryworks.Thiskindofantonomasiahasthelongesthistory.Anditisthemaintopicdiscussedinthisthesis.

2.TheProcessofCommonization

Howcansuchkindofcommonizationhappen?

Whatmadethosepeople’snameschangeintocommonnounsfrompropernouns?

Howdoesthisprocedurework?

2.1ReasonsforCommonization

Therearemanyreasons.Butthemostimportantreasonisbecauseofthecharacteranamerepresents.Whenaperson,whetherhe/sheisrealorfabled,isfamiliartoeverybodyenough,his/hernamewillbespokenfromtimetotime.Thisisthefirststep.Andthenpeoplemayuseittodescribetheotherpeoplewhohasthesimilarpersonalityordoesthesimilarthings.Itwillbecomeawordinourdailyuseinchbyinch.Finally,thisnameisusedsofrequentlythatpeoplewillacceptitasacommonnounanditwillberecordedinthedictionaries.Thatistosay,tomakeanameprintedinthedictionaryasacommonnoun,theownerofthisnamemustbefamousenough.He/shecanbefamousforhis/herpersonalityordeeds,buteitherofthesehastobeknownbyall.Thenhis/hernamewillbeatypicalwordtodescribesuchkindofpersonalityordeeds.Inwesternliterature,therearenumerouscharacterswhicharesodelicatelyandvividlydescribedthattheyleaveadeepimpressiontothereaders.Theirnamesarealsokeptinmindandgraduallygaintheirspecialmeaning.Therefore,someofthesenameseffectedtheEnglishwordformation.Theothersbecamecommonwordsdirectly.Butbothkindsofthenameshavesomethingincommon,whichis,theownersofthosenamesweresofamousforsomethingthattheybecametherepresentativesofsuchthings.

2.2ThePrinciplesofCommonization

Theprincipleofcommonizationistoensurethateveryonewillunderstandthemeaninganamerepresentswhenpeopleuseittodescribeotherthings.Whenwesay“HeisamodernShakespeare”,weexpectthatthelistenersknowswhat“Shakespeare”represents.Indeedtheydo.ButifthelistenershavenoideawhoShakespeareis,thissentenceismeaningless.Andthiscommonizationisfail.Sonowwecanseethatallthepeoplewhosenamehasevolvedintoawordareveryfamousone.Whenspeakingtheirnames,weallknowwhotheywereorwhattheydid.Thosearesuccessfulexamplesofcommonization.

Basically,commonizationistouseafamiliarnametodescribeanotherthing.Becausetheownerofthisnameissofamous,theimageofthispersonissoimpressive,thelistenercangetabetterviewofthedescribedthings.Propernouns,especiallypeople’snames,takeagreatproportioninEnglishlanguage.Whentheybecomecommonwords,theyareevenmoreimportant.Asaresult,itisnecessaryandusefultoknowmoreaboutthiscategoryofwords.Inthefollowingpart,sometypicalcharactersinwesternliteraturethatinfluencedtheEnglishvocabularyarecollected.Fromtheirstorywemayhaveachancetodigintotheoriginofsomewords.

3.CharactersinDifferentLiteraryWorks

Fromthebiblicaltimestomythologicaltimestillmoderntimes,thewesternliteraturehascreatednumerouscharacters.Manyofthemaresovividandclassi