Very interesting origin stories have words associated with real historical figures, for example, scientists, writers, or entrepreneurs who did not leave the public of their time indifferent. It is for this reason that their names have become household names. Words-eponyms, and that’s what they are called in etymology, are found often, we just don’t know or don’t think about their existence.

Boycott- British manager in Ireland Charles Boycott (1832–1897). The Irish refused to cultivate his land and began a campaign to isolate Boycott from local society.

Cardigan- this piece of clothing was named in honor of General James Thomas Brudnell, the seventh head of the county of Cardigan. It is he who is credited with the invention of this item of clothing, intended to insulate a uniform.

Chauvinism- Nicolas Chauvin, a French soldier who expressed his love for France and Napoleon Bonaparte in particular in his speeches. Extremely pretentious.

Whatman- This is high quality white thick paper. It got its name from the English paper manufacturer James Whatman, who in the mid-1750s introduced a new paper form that made it possible to produce sheets of paper without traces of the grid.

Breeches- the name of this cut of trousers is given by the name of the French general Gaston Galifet (1830–1909), who introduced them for cavalrymen. Then breeches were borrowed by other armies, and even later they entered the daily wardrobe of men and women.

Guppy- Robert John Lemcher Guppy, an English priest and scientist, gave a report to members of the Royal Society in 1886, in which he spoke about fish that do not spawn, but give birth to live young. And, by the way, he was laughed at.

Sweatshirt- this popular type of clothing is named after the great Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, although the writer himself wore a shirt of a different cut.

Guillotine- French doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, although he did not invent this means of execution, in 1789 he first proposed cutting off heads using this mechanism. This was considered “more humane.”

Tapestry- the word originated in France in the 17th century, after the royal Gobelin manufactory opened. Their products were very popular, and in some countries everything made using the tapestry weaving technique was called a tapestry.

Olivier- everyone’s favorite salad got its name in honor of its creator, chef Lucien Olivier, who ran the Hermitage restaurant of Parisian cuisine in Moscow in the early 60s of the 19th century. True, the original recipe is completely different from the modern, familiar version.
Olivier took:
meat of two boiled hazel grouse,
one boiled veal tongue,
added about 100 grams of black pressed caviar,
200 grams of fresh salad,
25 boiled crayfish or 1 can of lobster,
half a jar of very small pickled cucumbers (pickles),
half a jar of Kabul soybeans is a kind of soybean paste sauce produced at that time (similar to the “Yuzhny” and “Moskovsky” sauces later produced in the USSR, which also contained soy hydrolysate),
two chopped fresh cucumbers,
100 grams of capers (a prickly vegetable whose flower buds are pickled),
finely chopped five hard-boiled eggs.
This delicacy was seasoned with Provencal sauce, which was supposed to be prepared with “French vinegar, two fresh egg yolks and a pound (400 grams) of Provençal olive oil.”

Begonia- named after the French nobleman Michel Begon (1638-1710). He was the intendant of the French colonies in the Caribbean and organized a scientific expedition to the Antilles to collect plants.

Masochism- Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836–1895) described in his novels “The Divorced Woman” and “Venus in Fur” how despotic women mocked weak men. That’s where the term came from.

Maecenas- the name comes from the name of the Roman Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, who patronized the arts under Emperor Augustus.

Lovelace- Sir Robert Lovelace is a character in Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, written in 1748. According to the plot of this work, a handsome aristocrat insidiously seduces the 16-year-old main character.

Saxophone- the instrument is named after the Belgian inventor of musical instruments, Adolphe Sax (1814–1894).

Sandwich- John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718–1792), an English minister and avid gambler, is said to have invented this sandwich while playing cribbage. The game had already lasted for several hours, and the minister could not be distracted to eat. John Montague asked to be served meat sandwiched between two slices of bread. His fellow players really liked this way of eating, because he didn’t have to take time off from the game, and they also ordered sandwich bread.

Silhouette- Etienne de Silhouette (1709–1767) was the Comptroller General of Finance in France under Louis XV and imposed taxes on the outward signs of wealth (doors and windows, farms, luxury goods, servants, profits). In retaliation, his name was associated with the so-called “cheap painting” ", when instead of an expensive portrait you can simply outline a person’s shadow - cheaper and faster.

Mausoleum- this type of burial structure is named after the magnificent tomb of the Carian king Mausolus in the city of Halicarnassus in the territory of modern Turkey.

Quite often, students ask: “What is a common noun and a proper name?” Despite the simplicity of the question, not everyone knows the definition of these terms and the rules for writing such words. Let's figure it out. After all, in fact, everything is extremely simple and clear.

Common noun

The most significant layer of nouns consists of They denote the names of a class of objects or phenomena that have a number of characteristics by which they can be attributed to the specified class. For example, common nouns are: cat, table, corner, river, girl. They do not name a specific object or person or animal, but designate a whole class. Using these words, we mean any cat or dog, any table. Such nouns are written with a small letter.

In linguistics, common nouns are also called appellatives.

Proper name

Unlike common nouns, they constitute an insignificant layer of nouns. These words or phrases denote a specific and specific object that exists in a single copy. Proper names include names of people, names of animals, names of cities, rivers, streets, and countries. For example: Volga, Olga, Russia, Danube. They are always written with a capital letter and indicate a specific person or single object.

The science of onomastics deals with the study of proper names.

Onomastics

So, we have figured out what a common noun and a proper name are. Now let's talk about onomastics - the science that deals with the study of proper names. At the same time, not only names are considered, but also the history of their origin, how they changed over time.

Onomastologists identify several directions in this science. Thus, anthroponymy studies the names of people, and ethnonymy studies the names of peoples. Cosmonymics and astronomy study the names of stars and planets. Zoonymics studies animal names. Theonymics deals with the names of gods.

This is one of the most promising areas in linguistics. Research on onomastics is still being conducted, articles are being published, and conferences are being held.

Transition of common nouns into proper nouns and vice versa

A common noun and a proper noun can move from one group to another. Quite often it happens that a common noun becomes a proper one.

For example, if a person is called by a name that was previously part of the class of common nouns, it becomes a proper name. A striking example of such a transformation is the names Vera, Lyubov, Nadezhda. They used to be household names.

Surnames formed from common nouns also become anthroponyms. So, we can highlight the surnames Cat, Cabbage and many others.

As for proper names, they quite often move into another category. This often concerns people's last names. Many inventions bear the names of their authors; sometimes the names of scientists are assigned to the quantities or phenomena they discovered. So, we know the units of measurement ampere and newton.

The names of the heroes of the works can become household names. Thus, the names Don Quixote, Oblomov, Uncle Styopa came to designate certain traits of appearance or character characteristic of people. The names of historical figures and celebrities can also be used as common nouns, for example, Schumacher and Napoleon.

In such cases, it is necessary to clarify what exactly the addresser means in order to avoid mistakes when writing the word. But often it is possible from the context. We think you understand what a common and proper name is. The examples we have given show this quite clearly.

Rules for writing proper names

As you know, all parts of speech are subject to spelling rules. Nouns - common and proper - were also no exception. Remember a few simple rules that will help you avoid making annoying mistakes in the future.

1. Proper names are always written with a capital letter, for example: Ivan, Gogol, Catherine the Great.
2. People's nicknames are also written with a capital letter, but without the use of quotation marks.
3. Proper names used in the meaning of common nouns are written with a small letter: Don Quixote, Don Juan.
4. If next to a proper name there are function words or generic names (cape, city), then they are written with a small letter: Volga River, Lake Baikal, Gorky Street.
5. If a proper name is the name of a newspaper, cafe, book, then it is placed in quotation marks. In this case, the first word is written with a capital letter, the rest, if they do not refer to proper names, are written with a small letter: “The Master and Margarita”, “Russian Truth”.
6. Common nouns are written with a small letter.

As you can see, the rules are quite simple. Many of them have been known to us since childhood.

Let's sum it up

All nouns are divided into two large classes - proper nouns and common nouns. There are much fewer of the former than the latter. Words can move from one class to another, acquiring a new meaning. Proper names are always written with a capital letter. Common nouns - with a small one.

The Russian term "common noun" is derived from the Old Church Slavonic word name- "to call". In the first grammar of the 17th century, Meletius Smotritsky used it to designate “nominal, ordinary, ordinary” nouns. The word “naritsati”, in turn, comes from “ritsati” - to speak, and this word was formed from the ancient Slavic word “speech”. Very often in old scrolls the phrase “I am a river” appears, i.e. "I speak". Common nouns are generalized names of homogeneous objects. For example: student, teacher, ghost, entity, flower, tree etc.

The word "own" comes from Old Church Slavonic property, which means “one’s own”, “personal”, “belonging to oneself”, as well as “peculiarity, person”. A proper name is a second name that is used to name an object in order to distinguish it from another similar object.

1. August- the eighth month of the Gregorian calendar. It received its real name in honor of the Roman emperor Octavian Augustus (63 BC - 14 AD), after whom the Roman Senate named a month that was especially happy in the life of the emperor (Cleopatra died in this month).

2. Accordion- music The instrument received its name from the Slavic storyteller Bayan (Boyan).

3. Boycott- on behalf of the governor of an Irish principality, Charles Boycott, who was particularly harsh; for this everyone turned away from him.

4. Bolivar- wide-brimmed hat from the 19th century. Named in honor of Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), leader of the struggle for independence of the Spanish colonies in the South. America. Liberated Venezuela from Spanish rule, New. Granada. “Wearing a wide bolivar, Onegin goes to the boulevard...”(A.S. Pushkin, “Eugene Onegin”).

5. Whatman- the type of paper is named after the English industrialist of the 18th century. J. Whatman.

6. Watt- a unit of measurement of power, named after the Scottish-Irish mechanical inventor James Watt (Watt), creator of the universal steam engine.

7. Breeches- trousers of a special cut were named after the French cavalry general Breeches.

8. Guillotine- On January 21, 1790, the French doctor J. Guillotin presented his main invention - the guillotine - an instrument for carrying out executions (beheading convicts), introduced during the French Revolution.

25. Pullman - (Pullman), George, inventor of sleeping cars, 1831-1897, founder of the Chicago Carriage Society. Pullman built carriages that were featured in Westerns and were considered palaces on wheels. Thanks to this, the word “Pullman” itself acquired its meaning - the car is extremely comfortable.

26.X-ray - a common spelling variant in Russian for the name of the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered X-ray radiation.

27. Saxophone- the Belgian master Sax gave the name to the popular wind instrument.

28. French- military jacket at the waist, with four large pockets on the chest and sides and a tab at the back. John Denton French, who commanded the British expeditionary forces in France during the First World War, wore such a jacket.

29. Celsius- degree Celsius is named after the Swedish scientist Anders Celsius, who proposed a new scale for measuring temperature in 1742.

There are words that we use in our speech automatically, without thinking that some of them owe their origin to specific people. Of course, everyone knows that months July And August named after emperors, salad Olivier bears the name of its creator. Some units of measurement can also be included in this category of words, for example: volt, ampere etc.

There are many such words. For example, a shirt sweatshirt has the most direct relation to the great writer - in many photographs Lev Nikolaevich is depicted in a thick shirt untucked. Many followers who called themselves students of the writer and were called Tolstoyans, wanting to emphasize their closeness to him, often appeared in shirts similar to those worn by Leo Tolstoy. This is how the untucked shirt came to be called sweatshirt.

Word hooligan- English origin. It is believed that the surname Houlihan once worn by a famous London brawler who caused a lot of trouble for city residents and the police. The Oxford Dictionary dates the frequent appearance of this Mr.'s name in police reports to 1898. The surname has become a common noun, and the word is international, characterizing a person who grossly violates public order.

But what, according to some sources, is the history of the origin of the word academy. The philosopher Plato often expounded his teachings in a shady grove near Athens. According to legend, the Attic hero Academus was buried in this grove. That's why the grove was called Academy. First the word academy became the name of Plato's school, and later - a certain type of educational institution and community of scientists.

Interesting origin of the word boycott. In the 19th century, an English earl hired a manager named Charles Cunningham Boycott for his estate in Ireland. Boycott was a harsh man, often punishing peasants and farmers, which aroused hatred on their part. People, having heard about his cruelty, refused to have anything to do with him and avoided communicating with him. Since then, punishing a person with complete isolation has come to be called boycott.

Word mausoleum also has its own history. In 352 BC. King Mausolus died in the city of Halicarnassus (Asia Minor). According to the custom of those times, the king's corpse was burned and the ashes were placed in a funeral urn. According to one of the legends that has reached us, his widow Artemisia decided to build a huge tomb and thereby perpetuate the memory of her husband, whom she loved very much. Famous craftsmen were involved in the construction and decoration of the structure, including the court sculptor of Alexander the Great, Leocharus. The tomb was the height of a ten-story building. At the top stood a giant statue of the Mausoleum. The Halicarnassus tomb was named mausoleum and is ranked among the seven ancient wonders of the world. ( From various etymological dictionaries and reference books).

Sometimes objects get their names from the place from which they were taken: coffee(from the name of the country Kaffa, located in Africa), peach(from the name Persia - modern Iran), orange(The Dutch word appelsien literally translates to "Chinese apple"). Word trousers comes from the name of the Dutch city of Bruges.

One of the ancient legends tells about a handsome young man Narcissus, who was so in love with himself that he did not notice anyone or anything around him, but all the time looked at his reflection in the water. The gods, angry, turned him into a plant. White flower narcissus leans to one side and seems to look down at his reflection with his yellow eye. Plant names such as cypress And hyacinth.

One day, the son of King Keos and friend of Apollo, Cypress, accidentally killed a deer while hunting - his favorite and the favorite of all the inhabitants. The inconsolable young man asked Apollo to give him eternal sadness, and God turned him into a slender tree cypress(since then the Greeks began to hang a cypress branch at the door of the house where there was a deceased person). A beautiful (usually bright red) flower hyacinth named after the son of the king of Sparta, Hyacinth, who died during a discus throwing competition. Flower of Sorrow hyacinth grew from the blood of Hyacinth.

One of the Slavic alphabet is called Cyrillic(named after one of its creators, Kirill); many names of literary movements go back to proper names: Byron - Byronism, Karamzin - Karamzinism, Petrarch - Petrarchism... We call adventure-rich journeys or sorrowful wanderings odyssey(Odysseus - the mythical king of Ithaca, hero of the Trojan War), the adventures of a hero-traveler deprived of human society - Robinsonade(Robinson is the hero of Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe).

Quite often, common nouns go back to the names of famous scientists and inventors. Here are some: ampere(named after the French physicist Ampere), watt(named after the English physicist Watt), volt(named after the Italian physicist Volta)… The French cavalry general Galliffet invented trousers of a special cut - riding breeches, Scottish chemist Mackintosh - waterproof raincoat mac. Colt, Maxim, Mauser, Nagant- famous inventors of weapons. The Belgian master Sax gave the name to the popular wind instrument - saxophone.

The word "bully" was once the surname of an Irish family who lived in the London borough of Southwark. Its members were distinguished by their violent disposition: they were rowdy, took part in pogroms and robberies. The Hooligan Gang is mentioned in police reports from 1894 and newspaper accounts of late 19th century London. Some sources mention the leader of the gang, a young Irishman, Patrick Hooligan: he worked as a bouncer, and in his free time, together with his brothers, he robbed and beat people on the streets.

Hooligan Photo: Yuri Melnikov

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the image of Hooligans acquired humorous shades: in England, a funny song was written about an Irish family; in the USA, a representative of the family became the hero of newspaper comics, which were published in the New York Journal from 1900 to 1932, and then a film. The image of the “happy hooligan” became the most popular work of the artist Frederick Burr Opper.

In 1904, the phrase “hooligan acts” was used in his story by Arthur Conan Doyle (“The Six Napoleons”). The Hooligan Family is long gone, but the word has firmly entered the lexicon of many languages ​​around the world.[

Pizza Margherita

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Her Majesty Margaret of Savoy, wife of King Umberto I of Italy, took an active part in the cultural life of Italy and strongly supported charitable institutions - especially the Red Cross. With her help, exhibitions were opened and new names were announced. But her own name soon began to sound in an unexpected context. The story passed down from mouth to mouth is as follows.

In 1889, King Umberto and his wife, while relaxing at their summer residence near Naples, suddenly expressed a desire to try what the people were eating. And the most common food of the poor was pizza. The court chef knew the secrets of more refined cuisine, but here he was powerless - he had to urgently bring in an outside magician.

It turned out to be the owner of the best pizzeria in Naples, Raffaello Esposito. He came to the royal couple with three pizzas: two traditional and a third made especially for the occasion - with red cherry tomatoes, green basil and white mozzarella, which corresponded to the colors of the Italian flag. The Queen liked this pizza the most and was named after Her Majesty.

Brutus

An ironic nickname for treacherous friends. Often used as part of the expression: “And you, Brutus!” Derived from the name of the Roman senator Marcus Junius Brutus Caepio, who, being a close associate and friend of Caesar, took part in a conspiracy against him and participated in the murder. When the attack began, Caesar tried to resist, but when he saw Brutus, according to legend, he said: “And you, Brutus!”, fell silent and no longer resisted. This plot became famous thanks to Shakespeare and his tragedy “Julius Caesar” - the name Brutus began to be perceived as synonymous with betrayal and deceit of loved ones.

Uncle Sam

The image of Uncle Sam is associated with both the US government and the United States as a whole. He is portrayed either as a kind, cheerful fellow, or as an evil old man - depending on his attitude towards America.

The prototype of this image, according to legend, was the meat supplier Samuel Wilson, who brought beef to American soldiers at the base during the Anglo-American War of 1812-1815. He signed barrels of meat U.S., meaning United States. Once, when an Irish watchman was asked what these letters meant, he deciphered it by the name of the supplier: Uncle Sam. The soldiers really liked this answer and first became an army joke, and then, thanks to newspapers, it spread both in the United States and around the world.

The image of Uncle Sam depicted on a propaganda poster is especially famous. “I need you in the U.S. Army,” says the angry man, pointing his finger at the onlooker. The image was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg in 1917 and was used to recruit recruits during the First and Second World Wars. Subsequently, the author admitted that he drew Uncle Sam from himself. In 1961, the US Congress passed a resolution officially recognizing Samuel Wilson as the inspiration for Uncle Sam.

Grog

This drink, like its name, appeared in the 18th century thanks to the British admiral Edward Vernon, whom sailors behind his back called Old Grog because of his cloak made of thick material - grogram. In those days, the daily ration of sailors of the British Royal Navy included a portion of undiluted rum - half a pint, which is slightly less than 300 ml. Rum was used as a preventative against scurvy and other diseases, and also served as an alternative to water supplies that quickly spoiled at sea.

Edward-Vernon

However, Admiral Vernon considered the legal half-pint to be too large a portion, especially since the British were losing the war with the Spaniards. In 1740, Old Grog decided to put an end to drunkenness and brawls on board and ordered the sailors to be served half-diluted rum with the addition of heated or cold water and squeezed lemon juice. The drink was nicknamed “grog”, or “rum on three waters”. At first, the sailors were unhappy with the changes, but it soon became clear that grog helps prevent scurvy, which was scientifically proven by Scottish doctor James Lind in 1947. Soon after, Edward Vernon's drink officially became part of the diet of all sailors in the British Royal Navy.

Chauvinism

The word "chauvinism" comes from the name of the Napoleonic soldier Nicolas Chauvin, who served Napoleon and France especially zealously and had a habit of expressing his patriotism in pathetic, popular speeches. He became the hero of the 1821 play “The Soldier-Tiller”, the 1831 vaudeville “The Tricolor Cockade” and engravings by the draftsman Charlet. And in the 1840s, the word “chauvinism” was already firmly established as a common noun. In 1945, geographer, traveler and playwright Jacques Arago, the author of the article “Chauvinism,” wrote about him this way: “Nicholas Chauvin, the one to whom the French language owes the appearance of the word in the title of this article, was born in Rochefort. At the age of 18 he became a soldier and has participated in every campaign since then. He was wounded 17 times, and wounded only in the chest and never in the back; amputated three fingers, a broken arm, a terrible scar on his forehead, a saber presented as a reward for courage, a red order ribbon, a 200-franc pension - this is what this old warrior earned during his long life... It would be difficult to find a more noble patron for chauvinism "

The private's surname comes from the word "bald" (Calvinus) and is common in France, nowadays it has become synonymous with nationalism, while the comic component has been almost forgotten.

Guppy

A small viviparous fish from South America is named after the British Robert John Lechmere Guppy. This man lived an amazing life: at the age of 18 he left England and went on a sea voyage. However, the ship on which he sailed was shipwrecked off the coast of New Zealand. After this, the young man spent two years among the Maori and did not waste time: he made a map of the area. He then moved to Trinidad and Tobago, where he studied wildlife and paleontology, published several scientific papers and became president of the local scientific society, although he had no formal education. The Briton was extremely interested in the small fish that lived in the fresh waters of Trinidad. In 1866, a naturalist sent one of these individuals to London for cataloging and scientific description. The then curator of zoology at the British Museum, Karl Gunther, named the fish Girardinus guppii in honor of its discoverer. And although it soon became clear that Robert Guppy was not the discoverer of fish and they had already been described a little earlier by the German ichthyologist Wilhelm Peters, the name “guppy” had already taken hold and became international.

In 1886, Robert Guppy returned to England to report to members of the Royal Society. He also spoke about amazing fish, which, according to the residents of Trinidad, do not spawn, but give birth to live young. This caused ridicule from the scientific community - they considered Guppy a naive amateur who bought into the invention of the Trinidadians. But soon guppy fish were brought to England, and scientists could no longer deny the obvious.

Saxophone

The name of the Belgian music master Adolphe Sax is immortalized in the musical instrument saxophone. He invented it in the mid-19th century in Paris, converting it from a clarinet. But Sax did not come up with the name “saxophone” himself: at the Brussels Industrial Exhibition in 1841, he presented his development under the name “mouthpiece ophicleide.” The instrument was called a saxophone by a friend of the inventor, the French composer Hector Berlioz, in an article dedicated to the invention, and the word immediately became popular.

Sachs' competitors gave him no rest and, before he had time to patent the instrument and his name, they were already suing him, accusing him of fraud and falsification. The judges made an absurd decision: “a musical instrument called the saxophone does not exist and cannot exist,” and five months later Sachs managed to prove the opposite and received a patent in August 1846. However, attacks on the talented inventor of musical instruments did not stop: competitors, provoking trials and accusations of plagiarism, brought Adolphe Sax to ruin. Having lived to the age of 80, the author of saxophones and saxhorns died in poverty long before the invention of jazz.

Masochism

The word “masochism” was formed on behalf of the Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, who in his novels described oppressive women and weak men who take pleasure in humiliation and punishment (“The Divorced Woman,” “Venus in Fur”). The term was coined and proposed to be used in the emerging science of sexology by the German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in 1866. By the way, an interesting fact: Sacher-Masoch comes from Lvov, which during the writer’s lifetime was Lemberg and belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 2008, two attractions appeared in Lviv in honor of the writer: “Masoch Cafe” and a monument.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

The cafe recreates the atmosphere of the masochistic works of Sacher-Masoch: the dominant color is red and objects of violence - chains, handcuffs, whips, etc. The monument to the writer, installed at the entrance to this establishment, has “piquant” details: a magnifying glass is mounted on the chest of the statue, which you can see changing erotic pictures. And hidden inside is a “secret”: if you put your hand in the pocket of the monument, you can touch his manhood... and rub it “for good luck.”

Sandwich

A sandwich with two slices of bread and a filling inside was named after the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu (1718-1792). According to one version, which is more reminiscent of an anecdote than a true story, the count was an avid gambler and during one of the long games in 1762 he asked the cook to fry a couple of pieces of bread and put roast beef between them - so he could hold a sandwich and play cards without getting them dirty. However, given the high position of John Montagu, who was an English diplomat and First Lord of the Admiralty, another legend seems more convincing.

In the 1770s, James Cook's expedition around the world took place, and it was the Earl of Sandwich who was involved in preparing this voyage. He probably had no time to be distracted by food, and hesimple and convenient fast food - sandwich. By the way, James Cook highly appreciated Montagu's contribution to the organization of the circumnavigation of the world, giving his name to three open geographical objects at once: the South Sandwich Islands, the main island of this archipelago - Montagu, as well as the Hawaiian Islands, which Cook initially dubbed the Sandwich Islands (this name was used until the middle of the 20th century).

Boycott

The word "boycott" owes its appearance to the British Charles Boycott, who worked as a steward for Lord Erne, a landowner in the west of Ireland. In 1880, workers refused to harvest the crops and went on strike under the leadership of the local trade union, the Land League of Ireland. Residents of County Mayo, where Boycott worked, sought fair rents, the right to remain on the land and the right to buy land freely. When the manager tried to stop their protests, the Irish began to ignore the Englishman in every possible way: they stopped greeting him, sat down from him in church, and local sellers refused to serve him in stores. The British press gave wide coverage to the campaign against Boycott, and although he soon left Ireland, his name had already become a household name, spread throughout the world and lived its own separate life. By the way, that harvest cost the government dearly: it was necessary to spend ten times more on protecting the fields and the workers sent than the cost of the harvest itself.

Stroganov

Among the generous people who donated their names are Russian heroes. Thus, in the word “beef Stroganoff” you can hear the name of Count Alexander Stroganov. The invention of this dish of beef and tomato-sour cream sauce belongs not to the count himself, but to his French cook - hence the word formation in the French manner: bœuf Stroganoff, that is, “beef Stroganoff style.” According to one legend, the cook came up with the dish personally for the count when he was old and had difficulty chewing food due to lack of teeth.

Alexander Grigorievich Stroganov

According to another, beef Stroganoff was invented in Odessa for those who dined at Stroganov’s. In the middle of the 19th century, the count became the Novorossiysk and Bessarabian governor-general, after which he received the title of honorary citizen of Odessa. Being such an important person, he organized an “open table”: any educated person in a decent suit could come to his dinners. At the order of the count, the cook came up with a convenient and quick way to prepare meat, which, due to the fine cutting into pieces, was easy to divide into portions.

Carpaccio

Vittore Carpaccio was an Early Renaissance painter who lived and worked in the most independent of Italian cities - Venice. His cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of Saint Ursula is considered the most successful. In it, the master immortalized his hometown: gondolas, high arcades of bridges, majestic palazzos, squares filled with a motley crowd...

More than four centuries later, in 1950, a large exhibition of the artist was held in Venice. At this very time, in the famous Venetian "Harry's Bar" a new dish was served for the first time: beef fillet, seasoned with a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice, accompanied by Parmesan, arugula and cherry tomatoes. The recipe was invented by the owner of the establishment, Giuseppe Cipriani, especially for Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo, who was forbidden by doctors to eat cooked meat. Remembering the many shades of red that Vittore Carpaccio used in his palette, Giuseppe decided to name the new dish in his honor. And so they were reunited - the artist and the beef fillet.

Attic

The son of carpenter François Mansart did not receive a systematic education, but his love for architecture and talent allowed him to become one of the greatest masters of the French Baroque. His professional reputation was undermined, oddly enough, by the desire for perfection: if Mansar was not satisfied with what had been done, he could demolish what had already been built and start doing it again, which is why he was accused of wastefulness and neglect of the interests of the customer. Thus, he lost the order to rebuild the Louvre and the royal tomb in Saint-Denis, and Louis XIV entrusted the construction of the famous palace at Versailles to his rival Louis Levo. Nevertheless, the name Mansar has been on everyone’s lips for four centuries.

Architect Francois Mansart

In most of his projects, the architect used the traditional French steep roof with a break, equipping it with windows for the first time in history. In this way, a double effect was achieved: decorative and practical. The rooms built under the rafters were transformed from dark closets into quite livable apartments. Having a residential attic (as the French called the premises) became not only fashionable, but also profitable: taxes were not taken from homeowners from the attic, which was not considered a full floor.

Nicotine

The French diplomat Jean Villeman Nicot was ambassador to Portugal from 1559 to 1561, where he had a mission to promote the marriage of Princess Margaret of Valois and the infant King Sebastian of Portugal. He did not succeed in his task, but he brought tobacco to his homeland and introduced the fashion of sniffing it at court. The novelty pleased the Queen Mother Catherine de Medici and the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Jean Parisot de la Valette. Soon the fashion spread throughout Paris, and the plant was named Nicotiana.

Subsequently, tobacco was repeatedly studied. The substances obtained by distillation were used for skin diseases, asthma and epilepsy. Nicotine itself was discovered in 1828 by German chemists Christian Posselot and Karl Reimann. The alkaloid was named after the enthusiastic ambassador who got the whole of Paris hooked on tobacco in the 16th century.

Cardigan

James Thomas Bradnell, aka the 7th Earl of Cardigan, was famous for his impeccable taste and was known as a fashionista. He did not lose these properties in military service, where he led a cavalry brigade that took part in the Battle of Balaklava in 1854. Believing that you need to look elegant even in battle, Lord Cardigan purchased a new uniform for the 11th Hussars at his own expense. And in case of frost, he came up with a jacket without a collar or lapels, in a large knit, with buttons down to the very bottom, which was to be worn under a uniform. The innovation, which grateful warriors named after the commander, quickly gained fans in civilian life.

Later, the excitement died down, but a century later the fashion for cardigans was revived - now they have become a sign of belonging to bohemia. Their position was especially strengthened by Marilyn Monroe's photo shoot, where she poses on the beach in a rough knit cardigan over her naked body. And now these cozy clothes have not lost their relevance and are in almost everyone’s wardrobe.

Shrapnel

From a certain point on, the affairs of Lieutenant of the Royal Artillery of the British Army Henry Shrapnel quickly went uphill: in 1803 he was promoted to major, the next to lieutenant colonel, and ten years later he was assigned a salary of £1,200 by the British government. A little later, he was given the rank of general. This was preceded by some event.

In 1784, Henry invented a new type of projectile. The grenade was a strong, hollow sphere containing lead shot and a charge of gunpowder. What distinguished it from other similar ones was the presence of a hole in the body for the ignition tube. When fired, the gunpowder in the tube ignited. When it burned out during the flight, the fire transferred to the powder charge located in the grenade itself. An explosion occurred and the body shattered into fragments, which, along with the bullets, struck the enemy. Of interest was the ignition tube, the length of which could be changed immediately before the shot, thereby adjusting the range of the projectile. The invention quickly demonstrated its effectiveness - it won’t kill, it will maim - and was named shrapnel in honor of the inventor.

The noun is one of the most important parts of speech both in Russian and in many other Indo-European languages. In most languages, nouns are divided into proper and common nouns. This division is very important because these categories have different spelling rules.

The study of nouns in Russian schools begins in the second grade. Already at this age, children are able to understand the difference between proper names and common nouns.

Students usually learn this material easily. The main thing is to choose interesting exercises in which the rules are well remembered. In order to correctly distinguish nouns, a child must be able to generalize and assign familiar objects to a specific group (for example: “dishes”, “animals”, “toys”).

Own

Towards proper names in modern Russian language It is traditionally customary to include names and nicknames of people, names of animals and geographical names.

Here are typical examples:

A proper name can answer the question “who?” if we are talking about people and animals, as well as the question “what?” if we are talking about geographical names.

Common nouns

Unlike proper names, common nouns denote not the name of a specific person or the name of a specific locality, but the generalized name of a large group of objects. Here are classic examples:

• Boy, girl, man, woman;
• River, village, village, town, aul, kishlak, city, capital, country;
• Animal, insect, bird;
• Writer, poet, doctor, teacher.

Common nouns can answer both the question “who?” and the question “what?”. Typically, in discrimination exercises, primary schoolchildren are asked to choose suitable common noun for a group of proper names, For example:

You can build a task and vice versa: match proper names to common nouns.

1. What dog names do you know?
2. What are your favorite girl names?
3. What is a cow's name?
4. What are the names of the villages you visited?

Such exercises help children quickly learn the difference. When students have learned to distinguish one noun from another quickly and correctly, they can move on to learning spelling rules. These rules are simple, and elementary school students learn them well. For example, a simple and memorable rhyme can help children with this: “First names, last names, nicknames, cities - everything is always written with a capital letter!”

Spelling Rules

In accordance with the rules of the modern Russian language, all proper names are written only with a capital letter. This rule is typical not only for Russian, but also for most other languages ​​of Eastern and Western Europe. Capital letter at the beginning names, surnames, nicknames and geographical names are used to emphasize respectful attitude towards each person, animal, and locality.

Common nouns, on the contrary, are written with a lowercase letter. However, exceptions to this rule are possible. This usually happens in fiction. For example, when Boris Zakhoder translated Alan Milne’s book “Winnie the Pooh and All-All-All,” the Russian writer deliberately used capital letters in the spelling of some common nouns, for example: “Big Forest”, “Great Expedition”, “Farewell Evening”. Zakhoder did this in order to emphasize the importance of certain phenomena and events for fairy-tale heroes.

This often occurs both in Russian and translated literature. This phenomenon can be seen especially often in adapted folklore - legends, fairy tales, epics. For example: “Magic Bird”, “Rejuvenating Apple”, “Dense Forest”, “Gray Wolf”.

In some languages, capitalization is capitalization- in the writing of names can be used in different cases. For example, in Russian and some European languages ​​(French, Spanish) it is traditional to write the names of months and days of the week with a small letter. However, in English these common nouns are always capitalized. Capitalization of common nouns is also found in German.

When proper names become common nouns

In modern Russian there are situations when proper names can become common nouns. This happens quite often. Here's a classic example. Zoilus is the name of an ancient Greek critic who was very skeptical about many works of contemporary art and frightened authors with his caustic negative reviews. When antiquity became a thing of the past, his name was forgotten.

Once Pushkin noticed that one of his works was received very ambiguously by literary critics. And in one of his poems, he ironically called these critics “my zoiles,” implying that they were bile and sarcastic. Since then, the proper name “Zoil” has become a common noun and is used when talking about a person who unfairly criticizes or scolds something.

Many proper names from the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol have become household names. For example, stingy people are often called “pluskins”, and elderly women of narrow minds are often called “boxes”. And those who like to have their head in the clouds and are not at all interested in reality are often called “Manila”. All these names came into the Russian language from the famous work “Dead Souls,” where the writer brilliantly showed a whole gallery of landowner characters.

Proper names become common nouns quite often. However, the opposite also happens. A common noun can become a proper noun if it turns into an animal's name or a person's nickname. For example, a black cat may be called “Gypsy”, and a faithful dog may be called “Friend”.

Naturally, these words will be written with a capital letter, according to the rules for writing proper names. This usually happens if a nickname or nickname is given because a person (animal) has some pronounced qualities. For example, Donut was nicknamed so because he was overweight and looked like a donut, and Syrup because he really loved drinking sweet water with syrup.

It is very important to distinguish proper names from common nouns. If younger students do not learn this, they will not be able to correctly use capitalization when writing proper names. In this regard, the study of common and proper nouns should occupy an important place in the school curriculum of Russian as a native language and as a foreign language.