German deonyms by alphabet
A deonym is a word derived from a proper name (e.g. the name of a person or a place). This proper name (namesake) is then called eponym .
This list includes both real eponyms in the sense of linguistics as well as various more well-known pseudo-eponyms (pure appraisals and designations according to inventor / discoverer and the like).
A.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Achilles heel | Achilles | Greek hero in the Iliad . His mother Thetis tried to make him invulnerable. The place on the heel where she held it in her hand remained the only vulnerable place. |
Adidas | Adi Dassler | Sports shoe manufacturer, after his nickname "Adi" and the first three letters of his family name |
academy | Academos | ancient Greek hero , whose grove Plato made the first "philosophical garden" |
algorithm | Al-Khwarizmi | Author of an Arabic textbook "About calculating with Indian numerals" |
Alwegbahn | Axel Leonard Wenner-Gren | First letter of the name of A xel L eonard We nner- G ren |
Alzheimer | Alois Alzheimer | Neurologist and neuropathologist |
America | Amerigo Vespucci | Named by a German geographer |
Amp | André-Marie Ampère | |
Archimedean principle | Archimedes | |
Apgar score | Virginia Apgar | today often understood as an acronym |
Eagle eyes | Argos | All-seer in Greek mythology, a monster with a hundred eyes all over his body |
Thread of ariadne | Ariadne | from Greek mythology |
Asperger's | Hans Asperger | Austrian child psychologist |
Audi | August Horch | Latin translation of the family name Horch |
August | Augustus | The Roman Emperor Augustus had his first 43 in this month of the year consulate begun |
Auerbach salto | Wilhelm Auerbach | (1835–1880), German gymnastics and fencing teacher |
Axel | Axel Paulsen | Jump in figure skating |
B.
C.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Cadillac | Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac | |
Casanova | Giacomo Girolamo Casanova | |
Celsius | Different Celsius | Swedish astronomer, mathematician and physicist, defined the temperature classification named after him in 1742 |
chauvinism | Nicolas Chauvin | exaggeratedly patriotic recruit who served in Napoléon Bonaparte's army and was wounded 17 times |
Chippendale furniture | Thomas Chippendale | |
Chrysler | Walter Percy Chrysler | |
Colt | Samuel Colt | |
cook | Thomas Cook | Travel agency named after the tourism pioneer who organized the first Nile cruises in Luxor, which are considered a milestone in the history of mass tourism |
Coriolis force | Gaspard Gustave de Coriolis | |
Coulomb | Charles Augustin de Coulomb | |
curie | Pierre Curie and Marie Curie |
D.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
dahlia | Andreas Dahl | |
Darwinism | Charles Darwin | |
David deer | Armand David | |
Daviscup | Dwight Filley Davis | |
Derby | Edward, Earl of Derby | |
diesel | Rudolf Diesel | |
Disneyland | Walt Disney | |
Doberman Pinscher | Friedrich Louis Dobermann | Dobermann worked as a night policeman, court clerk, skinner, dog tax collector and dog catcher and needed a sharp working dog for personal protection. |
Don juan | Juan de Tenorio | |
Doppler effect | Christian Doppler | |
Douglas fir | David Douglas | |
Draisine | Karl Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn | |
Draconic | Dracon | Law reformer, signed around the year 621 BC. All criminal provisions known in Athens |
Duden | Konrad Duden |
E.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Eduscho | Eduard Schopf | founded the coffee roaster Eduscho, which today Tchibo belongs |
Eiffel Tower | Gustave Eiffel | An ancestor from the 17th century comes from the Eifel. |
Awakening | Johannes Weck | Preservation through sterilization |
Elisen Gingerbread | Elise Haeberlein | Nuremberg town girl |
Euler's number | Leonhard Euler |
F.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Fahrenheit | Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit | |
farad | Michael Faraday | |
Faraday cage | Michael Faraday | |
Ferrari | Enzo Ferrari | |
ford | Henry Ford | American industrialist |
Fordism | Henry Ford | American industrialist |
Forsythia | William Forsyth | |
Fraunhofer Society | Joseph from Fraunhofer | German optician and physicist |
Pious | Julius Fromm | |
fuchsia | Leonhard Fuchs | |
Fürst Pückler ice cream | Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau | allowed his Branitz pastry chef to sell the ice cream to park visitors in order to generate income to finance the park |
G
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Gal | Galileo Galilei | Italian astronomer and physicist |
Gallup | George Gallup | |
Electroplate | Luigi Galvani | Italian physicist |
Gauss | Carl Friedrich Gauss | |
Geiger counter | Hans Geiger | German physicist |
Gervais | Charles Gervais | |
Gienger somersault | Eberhard Gienger | Flight element in apparatus gymnastics |
gobelin | Gilles tapestry | |
Gordian knot | Gordios | artfully knotted ropes that were attached to King Gordios' chariot by the gods |
Goretex | Wilbert Gore | |
Gregorian calendar | Gregory XIII. | Pope who had the calendar adjusted |
guillotine | Joseph-Ignace Guillotin | Opponent of the death penalty, suggested a form of execution as a temporary solution, in which a machine " painlessly decapitates " |
guppy | Lechmere Guppy |
H
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Halley's Comet | Edmund Halley | discovered in 1705 that the celestial body observed in 1682 must be identical to previous comet appearances, and correctly predicted a return for 1759 |
Hammond organ | Laurens Hammond | |
Haribo | Hans Riegel , Bonn | Confectionery manufacturer |
Hartz IV | Peter Hartz | Head of Commission "* Modern Services on the Labor Market *", former Volkswagen Board Member for Human Resources |
Harvard University | John Harvard | bequeathed his library, which contained 320 volumes, to the college in the neighboring town of Cambridge |
hertz | Heinrich Hertz | |
Hoffmann drops | Friedrich Hoffmann | |
Honda | Soichiro Honda | |
Humboldt Current | Alexander von Humboldt | German researcher |
I.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Immelmann | Max Immelmann | German fighter pilot in the First World War |
J
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Joules | James Prescott Joule | English physicist, early suspected the existence of an equivalence of mechanical work and heat (mechanical heat equivalent) |
July | Gaius Iulius Caesar | Caesar's month of birth |
K
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Emperor | Julius Caesar | originally a Latin family name |
Caesarean section | Julius Caesar | according to Pliny (nat. hist. 7, 47) the name Caesar is derived from the fact that the first bearer of this name was cut from the womb |
Kalashnikov | Mikhail Kalashnikov | |
propeller shaft | Gerolamo Cardano | |
Kelvin | William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin | |
Keynesianism | John Maynard Keynes | |
Kneipp cure | Sebastian Kneipp | |
Etiquette | Adolph Freiherr von Knigge | Author of the book " About dealing with people " |
Simmer directory | Ludwig Ritter von Köchel | wrote a " chronological-thematic directory of all music works by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart " |
Kolping Society | Adolph Kolping | |
Cyrillic script | Cyril of Salonica |
L.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Langerhans Islands | Paul Langerhans | |
hospital | Lazarus | Friend of Jesus Christ, raised from death by him |
Leitz folder | Louis Leitz | |
Leninism | Wladímir Iljítsch Uljánow, called Lenin | |
Levi's | Levi Strauss | |
Advertising pillar | Ernst Litfass | |
Ludolf number | Ludolf van Ceulen | |
sumptuous | Lucius Licinius Lucullus | |
Lumbar pelvis | Emil Lumbeck | Perfect binding in book production |
Lutz | Alois Lutz | Jump in figure skating |
Lynch | Charles Lynch | Judge who had both English loyalists and alleged criminals punished without due process in the American Revolutionary War |
Lyceum | Apollo Lykeios | a grove dedicated to Apollon Lykeios and a gymnasium near Athens |
M.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Maggi | Julius Maggi | |
magnolia | Pierre Magnol | |
Attic | François Mansart | |
Maoism | Mao Zedong | |
Marshall Plan | George Catlett Marshall | |
Marxism | Karl Marx | |
masochism | Leopold von Sacher-Masoch | |
mausoleum | Maussollos | Persian satrap in Asia Minor his tomb, the mausoleion, is one of the seven wonders of the world |
Maxwell's equations | James Clerk Maxwell | |
patron | Gaius Cilnius Maecenas | tried unsuccessfully in poetry and promoted young poets |
Melitta | Melitta Bentz | Inventor of the coffee filter |
Mendelian rules | Gregor Mendel | |
mentor | mentor | Friend of Odysseus and protector of his son Telemachos, experienced person who acts as an advisor |
Mercedes | Mercédès Jellinek | Patron saint of the automobile brand and the Hotel Mercedes in Paris. |
Molotow cocktail | Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov | Used by Finnish soldiers in 1939/40 based on the Soviet Foreign Minister at the time, who was held responsible for the invasion of Finland |
Morse code | Samuel Morse | |
Mössbauer effect | Rudolf Moessbauer | |
Mozartkugel | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
N
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Neanderthal | Joachim Neander | Valley of the Düssel river near Mettmann, where Neander often composed and held services |
Fog lights | Rudolf Nebel | |
Nescafé | Henri Nestlé | |
Nestor | Nestor | Hero of Greek mythology, united age wisdom, eloquence, honesty and serene art of living |
Newton | Isaac Newton | |
nicotine | Jean Nicot | introduced tobacco as a medicinal plant in France |
Nissenhütte | Peter Norman Nissen | Corrugated iron hut with a round roof developed for the British army by Peter Norman Nissen |
Nobel Prize | Alfred Nobel | |
Nordmann fir | Alexander von Nordmann | Finnish zoologist, botanist and paleontologist |
O
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Öchsle , Oechsle | Ferdinand Oechsle | Inventor of the must and wine scales |
ohm | Georg Simon Ohm | |
masturbation | Onan | biblical figure |
Gasoline engine | Nikolaus August Otto | Otto is not the inventor of the gasoline engine, but it has been named in his honor since 1940 |
P
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
panic | Pan | Shepherd god of Greek mythology |
Pappenheimer | Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim | Saying “ I know my Pappenheimer! “Was originally meant positively |
Parkinson's Disease | James Parkinson | |
Pasteurize | Louis Pasteur | |
Pavlovian reflex | Ivan Petrovich Pavlov | |
Porsche | Ferry Porsche | |
Potyomkin village | Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin | |
Praline | César de Choiseul du Plessis-Praslin | |
Pullman car | George Mortimer Pullman | |
Pyrrhic victory | Pyrrhus | King of the Molossians, after his victory over the Romans in 279 BC. To a confidante: " One more victory and we are lost! " |
Q
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
quisling | Vidkun Quisling | Norwegian fascist politician and officer, proclaimed a provisional government, hoping to be supported by the Germans |
R.
term | Surname | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|
Radetzky March | Josef Wenzel Radetzky from Radetz | important Austrian military leader in the first half of the 19th century | |
Raiffeisen | Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen | ||
Reuters | Paul Julius Reuter | ||
Richter scale | Charles Francis Richter | ||
Ricola | Emil Wilhelm Richterich | Ri chterich & Co . La ufen , confectionery and tea manufacturer | |
Rittberger | Werner Rittberger | Jump in figure skating | |
Black locust | Jean Robin | ||
roentgen | Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen | physicist |
S.
term | Surname | Remarks | |
---|---|---|---|
Sachertorte | Franz Sacher | ||
sadism | Donatien-Alphonse-François de Sade | French nobleman and author of partly pornographic, partly philosophical books | |
Salchow | Ulrich Salchow | Jump in figure skating | |
sandwich | John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich | English nobleman, invented the sandwich to be able to eat while working / gambling | |
saxophone | Adolphe Sax | ||
Schrammelmusik | Johann Schrammel | ||
shrapnel | Henry Shrapnel | ||
Allotment garden | Moritz Schreber | ||
Schroth cure | Johann Schroth | ||
Schwannoma | Theodor Schwann | ||
Gunpowder | Berthold Schwarz | ||
silhouette | Etienne de Silhouette | ||
Sorbonne | Robert de Sorbon | ||
Stalinism | Iosseb Bessarionis dze Jughashvili, known as Stalin | ||
Stepography | Helmut Stief | German press and parliamentary stenographer (1906–1977); published a very easy and quick to learn shorthand system in the 1960s | |
Stirling engine | Robert Stirling | Scottish clergyman and engineer | |
Stresemann | Gustav Stresemann | German politician | |
Sütterlin | Ludwig Sütterlin | Graphic artist |
T
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
teddy bear | Theodore Roosevelt | refused to shoot a tethered bear baby |
Tesla | Nikola Tesla | |
Tesla coil | Nikola Tesla | |
Thatcherism | Margaret Thatcher | former British Prime Minister |
Thomas flour | Sidney Gilchrist Thomas | |
Thomasstahl | Sidney Gilchrist Thomas | |
Thonet chair | Michael Thonet | |
Titoism | Josip Broz Tito |
U
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Uzi | Uzi Gal | Israeli weapons designer and army officer |
V
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Corruption | Johann Balhorn | Lübeck Buchdrucker, published an edition of the Lübeck city law, which contained errors that distorted the meaning |
volt | Alessandro Volta |
W.
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Wal-Mart | Sam Walton | The name is derived from the name of the founder (Walton's Mart). |
Rotary engine | Felix Wankel | |
watt | James Watt | Scottish inventor, improved the steam engine |
Y
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Yale University | Elihu Yale | donated the proceeds from the sale of nine bales of goods and 417 books to the Collegiate School in Saybrook, as well as school equipment and a painting of the British King George I. |
Z
term | Surname | Remarks |
---|---|---|
Zeppelin | Ferdinand Graf von Zeppelin | General and airship designer |
literature
- Roger Roessing: How the herring got Bismarck's name. 2003, ISBN 3-89836-348-1 .
Web links
- A. Spieß (wispor.de), lexical information service / Münster (Westf.): List of German eponyms (extensive)