Meanings
plural onomasticons · plural onomastica
- A book, list, or vocabulary of names, especially of people.
We looked up the origin of her name in an onomasticon.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*h₁nómn̥
- Proto-Hellenic*ónomə
- Ancient Greekὄνομᾰ (ónomă)
- Ancient Greekὀνομάζω (onomázō)
- Ancient Greekὀνομᾰστῐκός (onomăstĭkós)
- Ancient Greekὀνομᾰστῐκόν (onomăstĭkón)
- Englishonomasticon
From Ancient Greek ὀνομαστικόν (onomastikón), neuter form of ὀνομαστικός (onomastikós, “belonging to names”), from ὀνομάζω (onomázō, “I name”), from ὄνομα (ónoma, “name”). The term onomastikón (collection of names, from ὄνομα/ónoma, ‘name’) describes learned works that are not arranged alphabetically but juxtapose synonyms and terms relating to the same semantic field. This principle of ordering is very old (it was already known in Near Eastern culture in the 2nd millennium BC; Lists) and undoubtedly was the most common one up to the Augustan period. Source: Onomastikon — Brill
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan onomàsticon
- onomàsticonlexicon of personal names
Czech onomastikon
- onomastikonlexicon of personal names
Polish onomastykon
- onomastykonlexicon of personal names
Slovak onomastikon
- onomastikonlexicon of personal names
Cite this entry
onomasticon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/onomasticon
“onomasticon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/onomasticon. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “onomasticon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/onomasticon.
Source: onomasticon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.