Capitonym

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A capitonym is a word that changes its meaning (and sometimes pronunciation) when it is capitalized, and usually applies to capitalization due to proper nouns or eponyms. It is a compound word of the word capital with the suffix -onym. A capitonym is a form of homograph and – when the two forms are pronounced differently – also of heteronym.

[edit] Examples

Examples in English include:

• Ares: god of war; ares: plural of are, a metric unit of area.
• August: the eighth month of the year; august: inspiring awe or admiration.
• Degas: French painter and sculptor; degas: to remove gas.
• Job: subject of a book of the Bible; job: a form of employment.
• Lima: capital of Peru; lima: a kind of bean.
• Natal: region of South Africa; natal: relating to birth.
• Nice: city of France; nice: pleasant, agreeable.
• Polish: language of Poland, or other things thereof (Polish food); polish, to make shiny.
• Reading: a town name such as the one in England; reading: to examine and understand the meaning of written words.
• Rainier: a volcanic peak in Washington State and several princes of Monaco; rainier, the comparative of "rainy".
• Rodeo (Drive): famous high-end shopping strip in California;rodeo a competitive country western event.
• Scone: Scottish village famous for the Stone of Scone; scone: sweet pastry or savoury baked biscuit.
• SEAT: manufacturer of cars; seat: a chair.
• Slough: town in England, famous as the setting of The Office; slough: hollow filled with mud.

[edit] Examples in poems

The following poems, of unknown origin, are examples of the use of capitonyms:

Job's Job
In August, an august patriarch
Was reading an ad in Reading, Mass.
Long-suffering Job secured a job
To polish piles of Polish brass.

Herb's Herbs
A herb store owner, name of Herb,
Moved to a rainier Mount Rainier.
It would have been so nice in Nice,
And even tangier in Tangier.