The Study of Names: A Guide to the Principles and Topics

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

An introduction and research guide to onomastics, this book covers the major areas of name study in individual chapters on personal names (anthroponyms), place names (toponyms), acronyms, brand names and trade names. A final chapter treats special areas such as designations for athletic teams, musical groups, and tropical storms, names of awards and alcoholic beverages, animal names, code names, and scientific nomenclature. Included are such subjects as pseudonyms and personalized license plates, names for retirement communities and airports, racist and ethnic slurs, eponyms, and names of diseases and syndromes. Every topic comprises a discussion of underlying principles as well as numerous illustrative examples. Infused with linguistic interpretation, the study provides explanations based on phonetics (sounds of speech), morphology (shapes of names), syntax (place in sentence structure) and semantics (meaning). Throughout, special attention is given to classification and methodologies. The introduction clearly articulates theoretical aspects of onomastics, and a glossary of linguistic and onomastic terms appears as an appendix. Additional appendixes provide information on organizations and journals related to the field and a list of onomastic bibliographies. An extensive reference list and index complete the work. Useful as a text or reference book, "The Study of Names" is explicit enough to inform students of linguistics, yet clear and lively enough to be a "good read" for anyone interested in names and naming.

Reviews

. . . does not produce a theory of names either, but it is a delightful tour of the field . . . almost all of Nuessel's information is correct, and his style is readable. For anyone who wants to know more about why things are called what they are, The Study of Names is worthwhile.-Chicago Tribune
For those interested in onomastics, this is a useful introduction to the field and should be asset to any collection dealing with names. General: advanced undergraduate through professional.-Choice
The book is knowledgeable, thorough, and reliable. It makes a worthy contribution to the continuing fine scholarship in onomastics.-Language and Society
"For those interested in onomastics, this is a useful introduction to the field and should be asset to any collection dealing with names. General: advanced undergraduate through professional."-Choice
"The book is knowledgeable, thorough, and reliable. It makes a worthy contribution to the continuing fine scholarship in onomastics."-Language and Society
." . . does not produce a theory of names either, but it is a delightful tour of the field . . . almost all of Nuessel's information is correct, and his style is readable. For anyone who wants to know more about why things are called what they are, The Study of Names is worthwhile."-Chicago Tribune

Author Bio

FRANK NUESSEL is Professor of Modern Languages at the University of Louisville. A specialist in Hispanic Linguistics and Italian Studies, he has published Linguistic Approaches to the Romance Lexicon, Contemporary Studies in Romance Languages, Theoretical Studies in Hispanic Linguistics, and numerous articles in academic journals such as Hispanic Linguistics, Italica, and the Journal of Literary Semantics. The Image of Older Adults in the Media: An Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood, 1992) represents another area of academic specialization, Humanistics Perspectives on Aging.