Xenonym
Encyclopedia
Xenonym is a term derived from the Greek
(xenonymon), literally "foreign name", from (xenos), "foreign" and (ónoma), "name". The meaning of this term depends on whether it applies to names or to relations between words:
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
(xenonymon), literally "foreign name", from (xenos), "foreign" and (ónoma), "name". The meaning of this term depends on whether it applies to names or to relations between words:
- In ethnolinguisticsEthnolinguisticsEthnolinguistics is a field of linguistics which studies the relationship between language and culture, and the way different ethnic groups perceive the world. It is the combination between ethnology and linguistics. The former refers to the way of life of an entire community i.e...
, a xenonym is a language name (glossonym) not native to this language, but deriving from a different (foreign) language. The opposite, a glossonym native to the language to which it refers, is termed an autonym. In ethnologyEthnologyEthnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
and social sciencesSocial sciencesSocial science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, the same distinction may apply also to names of ethnic or social groups (ethnonymEthnonymAn ethnonym is the name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms and autonyms or endonyms .As an example, the ethnonym for...
s or socionyms): in this case, a xenonym is a name originally given by foreigners to a certain ethnic or social group, whereas an autonym is a name originated within this group for naming itself. When applying to group names, the distinction may be based less on etymologicalEtymologyEtymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
facts but rather on aspects of usage and acceptance, i.e. whether or not a given group name is regarded by members of this group as a foreign name imposed by outsiders, or as their own name proper also for self-designation and internal communication. Equivalent terms are exonym ("outside name") and endonym ("inside name"), used especially in toponomasticsToponymyToponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
for place names (toponyms) deriving either from a local language (endonym) or from a distant/foreign language (exonym).
- In semanticsSemanticsSemantics is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for, their denotata....
, xenonymy is a term used, together with tautonymy and philonymy, for distinguishing various types of semantic relations between lexical units combined with each other within a phrase or syntagma. Xenonymy is defined as semantic dissonance between a given unit and its syntagmatic context, originating from conflicting presuppositions. It can be distinguished by degrees of dissonance as inappropriateness (e.g. "the plant kicked the bucket" instead of "died"), paradoxParadoxSimilar to Circular reasoning, A paradox is a seemingly true statement or group of statements that lead to a contradiction or a situation which seems to defy logic or intuition...
(e.g. "male aunt") or incongruity (e.g. "a lustful affixAffixAn affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
"). In such cases, the unfitting word or expression is termed a xenonym with regard to its context. Semantic xenonymy is opposed to tautnonymy (pleonasticPleonasmPleonasm is the use of more words or word-parts than is necessary for clear expression: examples are black darkness, or burning fire...
relation) and philonymy (normal case, harmony).