Etymology

autonym

A1U1T1O1N1Y4M3

Today it means: An infraspecific name in which the specific epithet is repeated. Full definition →

Ancient Greek ὄνυμα (ónuma) ← English auto- ← Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  2. Proto-Indo-European*tó-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*autós
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  5. Ancient Greekαὖ (aû)
  6. Ancient Greekτόν (tón)
  7. Ancient Greekαὐτός (autós)
  8. Ancient Greekαὐτο- (auto-)
  9. Englishauto-
  10. Ancient Greekὄνυμα (ónuma)
  11. English todayautonym

From auto- (“self”) + -onym (“name”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.