Excerpt: The Saga of Proper Names / The Story of English - Mario Pei

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Baugh claims that there are in English over five hundred common nouns derived from proper ones. This is probably an understatement, when we consider the vast number of place-names, personal names and nicknames that appear today as names of objects. A few of the better known ones are macadam, derrick, hansom, shrapnel, silhouette, lynch, boycott, pasteurize, mercerize, mesmerize, fletcherize, spoonerism, pander, lilliputian, tabasco, and Charleston...

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