Publications
Publication details [#6262]
Jäkel, Olaf. 1999. Metonymy in onomastics In Panther, Klaus-Uwe and Günter Radden. Metonymy in Language and Thought (Human Cognitive Processing series LC 99-23468). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 211–289. 79 pp. 
Publication type
Article in book
Publication language
English
Keywords
cognitive semantics | IMPORTANT UTENSIL FOR PERSON | location metonymy | metonymic naming strategy | naming | onomastics | pattern of naming: genealogy | PLACE OF ORIGIN FOR PERSON | profession and metonymy | quality metonymy | RESIDENCE FOR PERSON | SALIENT QUALITY FOR PERSON | types of metonymy | utensil metonymy
Place, Publisher
Amsterdam: John Benjamins
Abstract
The metonymic approach to historical linguistics is also relevant to the discipline of onomastics. Jäkel investigates the cognitive motivation underlying naming patterns as evidenced in the etymologies of German surnames. Apart from a number of surnames which are not motivated or whose motivation is obscure, surnames are coined by means of three principal patterns of naming: genealogy, profession and metonymy. Metonymic naming strategies make use of three types of metonymy: utensil metonymy (IMPORTANT UTENSIL FOR PERSON) as in 'Bohnsack' "beanbag," quality metonymy (SALIENT QUALITY FOR PERSON) as in 'Wunderlich' "strange" and location metonymy (PLACE OF ORIGIN OR RESIDENCE FOR PERSON) as in 'Langacker' "long field".
(Klaus-Uwe Panther and Günter Radden)