An epithet (from Greek ἐπίθετον – epitheton, neut. of ἐπίθετος – epithetos, “attributed, added”) is a descriptive word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing, which has become a fixed formula. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and biological nomenclature.
Linguistics
In linguistics, an epithet can only be a metaphor, essentially a reduced or condensed appositive.
- Epithets are sometimes attached to a person’s name or appear in place of their name, such as
- glorified nickname
- An epithet is linked to its noun by long-established usage
- Not every adjective is an epithet, even if it is a clichés:
- an epithet is especially recognizable when its function is largely decorative
- The epithets are not decorative insofar as they are neither essential to the immediate context nor modelled especially for it.
Examples
Some epithets are known by the Latin term epitheton necessarium because they are required to distinguish the bearers, e.g. as an alternative to ordinals after their names, such as:
- Richard the Lionheart
- Charles the Fat
- Charles the Bald
- Alexander the Great
- Catherine the Great
Kenning
There are also specific types of epithets, such as the kenning which appears in works such as Beowulf.
An example of a kenning would be the term whale-road, meaning “sea”.