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There are no rules!
Jan. 13th, 2006 04:12 pmApropos of nothing, I've spent a little chunk of my afternoon pondering an especially pretty little backwater of the English language, one in which there are no rules. Namely, the adjectival forms of proper names.
Consider the prevailing usage for these authors: Kafka / Kafkaesque, Hegel / Hegelian, Plato / Platonic, Homer / Homeric, Hemingway / Hemingwayesque, Byron / Byronic, Keats / Keatsian.
There are no rules. The only controlling factor seems to be euphony, which is an intriguingly subjective matter. Kafkaesque prevails, but that hasn't prevented people from using Kafkan or even Kafkian. Even Hemingwayian, which is practically impossible to pronounce, has been seen in print.
Certainly, there are notable trends, which seem mostly to be based on impulses toward euphony inherited from the multilingual parentage of English. "-Ian" seems to be the preferred default, and certain endings and suffixes become associated with their respective adjectival endings from the ancestral language, giving us common patterns like "-onic" and the frequent use of the French-derived "-esque" for words ending in vowel sounds (as so many French words do). Still, nothing is entirely firm: It's Homeric for Homer, but it's Mailerian for Mailer. Byronic for Byron, but Styronesque for Styron.
I find I'm rather fond of this little backwater. Anarchy prevails, and anything goes. In English, in which even the exceptions tend to get formalized into rules, that's a rare treat.
Yes, it's a pretty little place. Idyllic, you might say. Or is that idyllian? Idyllesque?
* * *
As a thought exercise for the comments, make your case for what you think is the best adjectival form of Van Matre.
(Bear in mind that it's pronounced "Van Mater" - which will come in ever so handy if I ever go into custom coach-building and specialize in transforming vans into stretch limousines)
Consider the prevailing usage for these authors: Kafka / Kafkaesque, Hegel / Hegelian, Plato / Platonic, Homer / Homeric, Hemingway / Hemingwayesque, Byron / Byronic, Keats / Keatsian.
There are no rules. The only controlling factor seems to be euphony, which is an intriguingly subjective matter. Kafkaesque prevails, but that hasn't prevented people from using Kafkan or even Kafkian. Even Hemingwayian, which is practically impossible to pronounce, has been seen in print.
Certainly, there are notable trends, which seem mostly to be based on impulses toward euphony inherited from the multilingual parentage of English. "-Ian" seems to be the preferred default, and certain endings and suffixes become associated with their respective adjectival endings from the ancestral language, giving us common patterns like "-onic" and the frequent use of the French-derived "-esque" for words ending in vowel sounds (as so many French words do). Still, nothing is entirely firm: It's Homeric for Homer, but it's Mailerian for Mailer. Byronic for Byron, but Styronesque for Styron.
I find I'm rather fond of this little backwater. Anarchy prevails, and anything goes. In English, in which even the exceptions tend to get formalized into rules, that's a rare treat.
Yes, it's a pretty little place. Idyllic, you might say. Or is that idyllian? Idyllesque?
* * *
As a thought exercise for the comments, make your case for what you think is the best adjectival form of Van Matre.
(Bear in mind that it's pronounced "Van Mater" - which will come in ever so handy if I ever go into custom coach-building and specialize in transforming vans into stretch limousines)
