Culture · 6 pages · 12 min
How names work as words
A personal name is still a word: it has sounds, grammar, and often an old meaning.
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From the opening
A personal name works as a word because it is made of the sounds of a language, spelled with that language's habits, and put into sentences with ordinary grammar. Calling it a name does not lift it out of speech; it only gives that word the job of pointing at a person. The opening covers sounds and grammar still apply, a job or a saint underneath, and crossing a language reshapes the word.
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Inside
- Sounds and grammar still apply
- A job or a saint underneath
- Crossing a language reshapes the word
- Opacity is not exit from speech
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Onomastics, the study of names as words
- Personal names built from ordinary vocabulary