Лекции по лексикологии английского языка. Гусева Г.В. - 13 стр.

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d) the name of some person may become a common noun, e.g. boycott was

originally the name of an Irish family who were so much disliked by their

neighbours that they did not mix with them.

e) names of inventors very often become terms to denote things they

invented, e.g. watt, om, roentgen;

f) some geographical names can also become common nouns through

metonymy, e.g. holland (linen fabrics), Brussels (a special kind of

carpets), china (porcelain).

VI. Secondary Ways of Semantic Changes

There are the following secondary ways of semantic changes:

1. Elevation. It is a transfer of the meaning when it becomes better in the course of

time: knight originally meant a boy, then a young servant, then a military

servant, then a noble man. Now it is a title of nobility given to outstanding

people.

2. Degradation. It is a transfer of the meaning when it becomes worse in the

course of time, e.g. villain originally meant working on a villa, now it means a

scoundrel.

3. Hyperbole. It is a transfer of the meaning when the speaker uses exaggeration,

e.g. to hate (doing something), not to see somebody for ages. hyperbole is often

used to form phraseological units, e.g. to split hairs.

4. Litotes. It is a transfer of the meaning when the speaker expresses the

affirmative with the negative or vice versa, e.g. not bad (it is good), no coward,

not half as important.