“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” ~William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette.
I would not consider myself an obsessive type, but I must admit that I am fascinated with origins and meanings of words and names. There’s a name for it you know, but I’ll save that topic for another day…Already thirsty for more? Check out this link on “obsession” to wet your whistle.
For the next 30 days I’ll be writing about the meaning of names and some words. While I will be focusing a great deal on myself and the characters I’ve created, I’ll be relating it all to everyday life and things that I find interesting, and hopefully you will too.
This is Day 1 so I figured I’d explain my button in case anyone hadn’t yet quite figured out what I was thinking when I made it.
The image is a visual remark on the complexity of the English language. In it we see a bow, a bow, a bow, and two people bowing. Then there is the mention of Beau, not someone’s lover or boyfriend, but he could be.
You see, the spelling of each of these words is the same, but the meanings and even the pronunciations can be very different. Am I a total geek or is this really cool?
Well, that’s all I have for today. Please see below for a preview of what I’ll be sharing all month-long. Links will not be active until the posts go live, but go ahead and peruse them anyway. They are all active now.
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Day1– The Button | Day 2– Onomastics | Day 3– Etymology| Day 4– Nomenclature
Day 5– Namesake | Day 6– Character | Day 7– Branding | Day 8– Blessing
Day 9– Curse | Day 10– Alias | Day 11– Nicknames | Day 12– Identity
Day 13– Meaning | Day 14– Function | Day 15– Description | Day 16– Calling
Day 17– Titles | Day 18– Suffix | Day 19– Prefix | Day 20– Affix
Day 21– Label | Day 22– Personality | Day 23– Signature | Day 24– Voice
Day 25– Language | Day 26– Orthography| Day 27– Moniker
Day 28– Spiritual/Religious Names | Day 29– First Name
Day 30– Surname | Day 31– Names
Outside of my own personal search throughout the years, basic meanings and definitions of the terms used here can be found at the following websites: http://www.meaning-of-names.com/, Google search http://en.wikipedia.org/, and http://dictionary.reference.com/.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords
4 replies on “Day 1- The Button: What’s in a Name? #write31days 2014”
The history of words is always a fascinating subject
Thanks for saying that. I was afraid I’d be boring people for a month.
What a fun and interesting topic! As someone who has an unusual name that has brought me both grief and joy, I suppose I’m a little partial to your choice of topic.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope I’m able to keep your interest should you decide to check out more of this topic.