Antonomasia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Antonomasie ( ancient Greek ἀντονομασία Antonomasia from ἀντ (ι) - ant (i) - "counter, different" and ὀνομασία Onomasía "name", or "other name") is a trope in which either a unique characteristic in the place of Personal name or vice versa. An example for the first case is the term “the American dream factory ” for the film studios in Hollywood , an example for the second case is the term “the Hollywood of the East ” for the film studios in Babelsberg . Antonomasia can be understood as a variant of the Synekdoche applied to proper names .

Uses and examples

Antiquity

Classic examples of Antonomasia are “the son of Aphrodite” instead of Eros , “the ruler of the sea” instead of Poseidon or Neptune and “the creator of the world” instead of God . Other examples are “the Holy Land” instead of Israel or “the Eternal City” instead of Rome .

present

Antonomasias are mainly used in journalism today to add variety to a text when a proper name would otherwise have to occur too often. This type of periphrase is an alternative to the (repeated) use of personal pronouns . Antonomasias are often used in various departments such as features and sports journalism . Antonomasias can be used not only as synonyms for people, but also for cities, countries or objects. Examples from modern journalism are “the former Federal Chancellor” instead of Helmut Kohl and “the Kerpener” instead of Michael Schumacher .

In a fictitious press report about Gerhard Schröder , the language columnist Bastian Sick tried to demonstrate that the accumulation of antonomasias, as can be observed in sports journalism, would be inappropriate in the political section of a newspaper:

“At the start of the conference, the 60-year-old SPD star answered questions from the press. 'I am very confident,' says the Hanoverian, 'that what we have set out to do will also be feasible.' The professional politician, who is currently struggling with a reform sprain, will start again in 2006. 'Joschka and I agree, and Doris is also for it', revealed the two-time election winner from 1998 and 2002. "

variants

The German Romanist Heinrich Lausberg distinguished two types of antonomasia in his rhetoric handbook from 1960: an "actual antonomasia" that works according to the genus pro specie type (genus for individual items) and a "Vossian antonomasia" which works according to the principle species per genere (individual for genus) is formed.

“Real antonomasia”: characteristic for name

Classical antonomasia, as it already occurs frequently in Homer , uses decorative epithets ( epitheta ornantia ), which could otherwise appear as a supplement to a name, as a substitute for this name. Instead of Zeus , the Olympic Lord of Lightning , it could say something like:

"The Olympic Lord of Lightning also went to the camp,

where he has always rested, a delicious slumber seized him. "

- Homer : Iliad , 1.609-610

"Vossian Antonomasie": name for property

Lausberg named the second type after the Dutch rhetorician Gerhard Johannes Vossius , who described it in his rhetoric from 1630. This usage, which is related to the Synekdoche , reduces a characteristic property, function or thing actually intended to its generally known representative. It must be clear that if someone is called “ Judas ”, for example, they should be called a traitor . Ancient examples can already be found for the figure. The Stoic Panaitios of Rhodes called Plato the "Homer of Philosophy", the Roman Emperor Severus Alexander called Virgil the "Plato of the Poets".

The figure is used particularly frequently in the features section today and was regularly collected by the feature section blog Der Umblätterer until 2014 . In 2015, the writer Tex Rubinowitz plagiarized some of the examples collected as well as the Wikipedia definition in a text in the magazine of the Süddeutsche Zeitung with the headline The Mozart among the texts . The standard then referred to it as the " Guttenberg des Feuilletons".

See also

literature

  • Frank Fischer, Joseph Wälzholz: Anyone can be Napoleon. What are we talking about when we talk about Justin Bieber of the CDU? From a Vossian Antonomasia. A style lore. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung , December 21, 2014, page 34

Web links

Wiktionary: Antonomasie  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. DER SPIEGEL: Hollywood as a Travel Destination: The American Dream Factory - DER SPIEGEL - Travel. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  2. ^ Hans-Jörg Schmidt: Barrandov Film Studios: The Havels built the Hollywood of the East . In: THE WORLD . January 31, 2012 ( welt.de [accessed July 16, 2020]).
  3. a b c Bastian Sick: The addiction to synonyms . In: Kolumnen.de , July 25, 2006.
  4. Kalivoda, Gregor / Robling, Franz-Hubert (ed.): Historical dictionary of rhetoric, Bd. A - Bib, Berlin a. a .: Walter de Gruyter, 2012, p. 753.
  5. Example metonymy . In: Basic concepts in literary studies online , accessed on December 14, 2010.
  6. ^ Lausberg, Heinrich: Handbook of literary rhetoric: a foundation of literary studies . Munich: Hueber, 1960.
  7. ^ Metonymy (with antonomasia) . In: Basic concepts in literary studies online , accessed on December 14, 2010.
  8. 03.02.2015 at 3:29 pm: Is Tex Rubinowitz the "Guttenberg des Feuilletons"? February 3, 2015, accessed July 15, 2020 .