GetWiki

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}{{short description|Assumed or given nickname}}A sobriquet ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|oÊŠ|b|r|ɪ|ËŒ|k|eɪ|,_|-|ËŒ|k|É›|,_|ËŒ|s|oÊŠ|b|r|ɪ|ˈ|k|eɪ|,_|-|ˈ|k|É›}} {{respell|SOH|brih|kay|,_|-|KAY}}) is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another, that is descriptive. A sobriquet is distinct from a pseudonym in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may become more familiar than the original name.The term sobriquet is equally applicable as a moniker for a person, group of people, historical event, or place. Examples are “Emiye Menelik”, a name of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia, who was popularly and affectionately recognized for his kindness (“emiye” means “mother” in Amharic); “Genghis Khan”, who is rarely recognized by his name Temüjin (“Genghis Khan” means “universal ruler” in Mongolian); and Mohandas Gandhi, who is better known as “Mahatma Gandhi” (“mahatma” means “great soul” in Sanskrit). Well-known places often have sobriquets, such as New York City, often called as the “Big Apple”, or Rome, the “Eternal City”.

Etymology

The modern French and English spelling is . Two earlier variants are and . The first variant, “soubriquet” dates from the 15th century and is rarely used now, in English or French.WEB, sobriquet {{!, Etymology of sobriquet |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/sobriquet |website=www.etymonline.com |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=en}}The early 14th-century soubzsbriquez meant a “little blow under the chin”, also described as a chuck under the chin; this was derived from soubs, mod. sous (), under.

Usage

Sobriquets are “a form of identification that goes beyond a traditional name and offers insight into a person’s character, appearance, profession, or any other distinguishing feature”.WEB, Manaher, Shawn, How and When To Use “Sobriquet”, 2023,thecontentauthority.com/blog/how-to-use-sobriquet-in-a-sentence, The Content Authority, 24 February 2024, They are used in politics, music, literature and for royalty, celebrities, and athletes.WEB, Epithet: Definition and Examples {{!, LiteraryTerms.net |url=https://literaryterms.net/epithet/ |website=Literary Terms |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=en |date=9 September 2015}} Candidates for public office and political figures may be described with sobriquets, while living or posthumously. For example, president of the United States Abraham Lincoln was called “Honest Abe”.WEB, Howe, Daniel W, Honest Abe: Abraham Lincoln and the Moral Character,www.fpri.org/article/2008/06/honest-abe-abraham-lincoln-and-the-moral-character/, www.fpri.org, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 24 February 2024, Philadelphia, 1 June 2008, Lincoln won his nickname “Honest Abe” while practicing law in the circuit courts of Illinois during the 1850s. Colleagues ranked him “at the head of his profession in the state” in part because of their absolute confidence that he never told a lie., An affectionate contemporary sobriquet for Ulysses S. Grant was the “American Sphinx” as a man of deeds rather than for verbal self-promotion.WEB, Provenance of the Ulysses S. Grant Papers,www.loc.gov/collections/ulysses-s-grant-papers/articles-and-essays/provenance-of-the-ulysses-s-grant-papers/, www.loc.gov, Library of Congress, 24 February 2024, Washington, D.C., v, 1965, Early uses of sobriquets in writing and literature include the Dead Sea ScrollsJOURNAL, Fox, Harry, A New Understanding of the Sobriquet דורשי החלקות: Why Qumranites Rejected Pharisaic Traditions, Law, Literature, and Society in Legal Texts from Qumran, 24 January 2019, 128, 65–66, 10.1163/9789004393387_004,brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004393387/BP000010.xml, 24 February 2024, Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, Brill, Leuven, NL, en, and in Tang and Song (Southern Sung) dynasty poetry.BOOK, Pauline Yu, Voices of the Song Lyric in China, 1994, University of California Press, Berkeley, 84, 88,publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft129003tp;brand=ucpress, 24 February 2024, en, Digital collection, Song Lyrics and the Canon: A Look at Anthologies of Tz’u, Contemporary usage is common in the English and French languages.WEB, SOBRIQUET : Définition de SOBRIQUET,www.cnrtl.fr/definition/sobriquet, www.cnrtl.fr, Centre National de Resources Textuelles et Lexicales (National Center for Textual and Lexical Resources), 24 February 2024, Nancy, France, fr, 2002,

Examples

{{sources|date=February 2024}}

• The King (of rock and roll) – Elvis Presley, famous vocalist and musician
• The Lion City – Singapore, the city-state, also known as Little Red Dot, The Garden City
• The Big Yin – Billy Connolly, Glaswegian comedian commonly referred to as “The Big Yin”, meaning “The Big One” in ScotsWEB,www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/bbc-scotland-season-to-celebrate-billy-connolly, BBC Scotland season to celebrate Billy Connolly, BBC Media Centre, A big celebration of the Big Yin is kicking off on the BBC Scotland channel., 2 May 2020, 5 October 2020,
• The Big Smoke – London or Toronto
• The Land of the Rising Sun – Japan
• Columbia – The United States or the Americas, poetic name
• Dixie, Dixieland (from the Mason–Dixon line) – the eleven Southern states that seceded and fought against the U.S. in the American Civil War
• The Fourth Estate – the press
• Pearl of the Orient – the Philippines, referring to its location in the Southeast Asia (or the East, with “Orient” meaning “East“)
• Graveyard of Empires – Afghanistan
• Uncle Sam – the U.S. in general or specifically its government, likely from the initials “U.S.“WEB, Uncle Sam,www.etymonline.com/word/uncle%20sam, 8 October 2020,
• John Bull – the UK in general or specifically, its government (originally an attack against the Whigs, their foreign policy, and their financiers who were profiting from wars with other nations).
• Uncle Joe – Joseph Stalin
• The Sun King – Louis XIV of France
• Papa Doc – François Duvalier, 34th president of Haiti
• The Sage of Chelsea – Thomas Carlyle, Scots philosopher
• The War to End All Wars – World War I; since World War II, used ironically
• The Windy City – Chicago, Illinois
• The Motor City – Detroit, Michigan
• Man’s best friend – dogs, derived from the origins of dogs, it indicates the relationship that has developed between the two species as they have each evolved to form a symbiotic relationship that is unique among human relationships to domestic animals.

See also

• Elegant variation
• Moniker
• Epithet

References

{{reflist|30em}}

Sources

{{EB1911 |wstitle = Sobriquet }}{{Wiktionary-inline}}{{-}}{{Personal names}}