different sources, and just happen to have evolved into the same
spelling and pronunciation.z ,Q DQ HDUOLHU OHFWXUH ZH HQFRXQWHUHG D VSHFL¿F FDWHJRU\ RI
homonyms—Janus words, or contronyms; as you recall, these are
homonym pairs in which one word is the antonym for the other.
Our earlier target word was cleave, which can mean both “to split
or divide by cutting” or “to cling closely to.”
ż Sanction is another Janus word, which can mean both “to
permit to do something” and “to punish or penalize.” For
example, someone can be sanctioned to do something, as in:
“The town sanctioned the use of motor scooters on sidewalks.”
Or sanction can carry the meaning of a penalty or punishment,
as in: “The United States imposed economic sanctions
against Russia.”ż Even the simple word dust is a Janus word. This word can
mean both “to remove dust,” as in “dusting the house,” or “to
add dust,” as in “dusting a cake with sugar.”Eponym (noun)
A word derived from a person’s name.z In our earlier lecture on eponyms, we saw that the word draconian
came from the harsh Greek lawgiver Draco and quixotic came from
the romantically idealistic Don Quixote.z The word eponym seems to be undergoing a change in meaning.
Originally, eponymZDVGH¿QHGDVRQHZKRVHQDPHLVRULVWKRXJKW
to be the source of a word.
ż As you recall, bowdlerize means to change a text by modifying
or deleting parts that might be considered vulgar. It came from
the name of Thomas Bowdler, a physician who published a
sanitized version of Shakespeare’s works. Under the original
GH¿QLWLRQ RI eponym, Bowdler—the source—would be
considered the eponym for the derived word bowdlerize.