Britannica 11th · 11th edition

Antonomasi A

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OCR text aligned to scanned pagesVol. 2, pp. 151-1511910–1911

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This entry is linked to Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition. The cited range is Vol. 2, pp. 151-151.

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ANTONOMASI A, in rhetoric, the Greek term for a substitution of any epithet or phrase for a proper name; as " Pelides," or " the son of Peleus," for Achilles; " the Stagirite " for Aristotle; " the author of Paradise Lost " for Milton; " the little corporal " for Napoleon I. ; " Macedonia's madman " for Alexander the Great, &c. &c. The opposite substitution of a proper name for some generic term is also sometimes called antonomasia; as " a Cicero " for an orator.