Archetypal name
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archetypal names are proper names or real, mythological, or fictional characters which have become designations for archetypes of certain personal traits.[1]
Archetypal names are a literary device used to allude to a certain traits of a character or a plot.[1]
Literary critic Egil Törnqvist mentions possible risks in choosing certain names for literary characters. For example, if a person is named Abraham, it is unclear whether the reader is hinted of the biblical or Abraham Lincoln, and only the context provides the proper understanding.[1]
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[edit] Archetypal names for persons
- Bruce, a male hairdresser or interior designer[2]
- Destiny, potential future[3]
- Nanook, an Eskimo[4]
- Tex, a cowboy[2]
- Hanako, an archetypal Japanese name for girls.[5]
- Jean Houston mentions that sachems of the Iroquois Confederacy always acquired the name of one of the first signatories of the confederacy and asks rhetorically what if the President of the United States were referred to with the archetypal name George Washington. [6]
[edit] Archetypal names for groups
A name may also be an identifier of a social group, an ethnicity, nationality, or geographical locality.[1]
Some of the names below may also be used as ethnic slurs.
- Irishmen: Paddy, from Saint Patrick, the patron of Ireland[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Egil Törnqvist (2004) "Eugene O'Neill: A Playwright's Theatre", ISBN 0786417137, Chapter 8: "Personal Names and Words of Address"
- ^ a b Handy, B. (2003-08-18), The Summer of Bruce, Time Magazine, <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1005441,00.html?promoid=googlep>. Retrieved on 10 March 2008
- ^ Adams, M.V. (2001), The mythological unconscious, New York: Karnac Books, pp. 406, ISBN 1892746964, <http://books.google.com/books?id=trOCpekqjpIC&pg=PA406&lpg=PA406&dq=archetypal+name+-wiki&source=web&ots=4Lh5bNpNLK&sig=wUuZCKco-AqEC3ztjMIEwmtFCNM&hl=en>. Retrieved on 10 March 2008
- ^ Don't Eat The Yellow Snow. arf.ru. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
- ^ Takeda Hiroko (2004) "The Political Economy of Reproduction in Japan", ISBN 0415321905
- ^ Jean Houston (1997) "Manual for the Peacemaker: An Iroquois Legend to Heal Self & Society", ISBN 0835607356, p. 143
