onomato-, onoma-, onomo-, onom-, ono-
(Greek: name, word)
2. The expression of a proper name as a common noun to refer to someone or something with associated characteristics, e.g., in calling a handsome young man "an adonis".
2. Divination using proper names based on a subject's given name, popular in the Late Middle Ages.
2. The study of names or naming; also, a branch of semantics concerned with related words and their meanings; the study of nomenclature.
Onomasiology is central to human interest in language. Due to the rich quantity of modern linguistic working materials; such as, dialect dictionaries, minutely compiled corpora etc., onomasiological studies can and must investigate small dialect areas in a detailled way in order to gain valuable insights into the processes of naming and name-changing.
Onomasiologists need good bibliographies, encyclopaedias, and some type of coherent linguistic data base to come up with comprehensive results.
2. Pertaining to or consisting of names.
3. In law, designating a signature of an instrument the body of which is in another handwriting, or the instrument itself.
2. A collection of names and terms; a dictionary; specifically, a collection of Greek names, with explanatory notes, made by Julius Pollux about A.D.180.
2. The study of the origin, history, and use of proper names.
It further elaborates on when a sentence is meaningful, when it has a literal, direct sense, or when it is meaningful or has an indirect sense.
2. A morbid preoccupation with words and names or a mania for word-making.
3. A preoccupation with words and names.
4. An abnormal impulse to dwell upon certain words and their supposed significance or to frantically try to recall a particular word.
Related "name" units: nom-; -onym.
Related "word, words" units: etym-; legi-; lexico-; locu-; logo-; -onym; verbo-.