A.Word.A.Day --Machiavellianism

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Jan 22, 2024

This week’s theme
Eponyms

This week’s words
Machiavellianism
Don Quixote
thespian
epicure
Momus

Niccolo Machiavelli

Art: Cristofano dell’Altissimo
(c. 1525-1605)

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Everyone, even the blandest ones among us, has more than one side to them. However, there are people whose impact on the world, for better or worse, is so profound that it overshadows everything else about them.

Their contributions might be in the form of a theory, a work of fiction, a mode of behavior, their role in a historical event, or simply the force of their personality. Such impactful legacies often inspire eponyms, words that are derived from someone’s name.

This week, we’re diving into the whimsical world of eponyms, celebrating names that have journeyed from the halls of history and pages of fiction into our everyday vocabulary.

What eponyms would you coin after leaders, past or present, in your country? Share below or email us at words@wordsmith.org. Include your location (city, state). Include: Eponym, part of speech: definition, usage example.

Machiavellianism

PRONUNCIATION:

(mak-ee-uh-VEL-ee-uh-niz-uhm)

MEANING:

noun: The use of unscrupulous means, cunning, and deceit in pursuit of power, especially in politics.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Florentine statesman and author of The Prince, a political treatise describing the use of craft and deceit to achieve political power. Earliest documented use: 1607.

USAGE:

“Ms. Merkel rose to power by besting the men around her. She took over the Christian Democrats by sidelining her mentor, the former Chancellor Helmut Kohl (who used to call her “mein Mädchen” -- my girl). In 2005, she beat the macho Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, a man known for considering women’s emancipation as “Gedöns” -- bric-a-brac. Ms. Merkel did so by applying her unusual political intelligence as well as an age-old Machiavellianism.”
Anna Sauerbrey; What Do Clinton and Merkel Have in Common?; The New York Times; Oct 31, 2016.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

He who is only just is cruel. Who on earth could live were all judged justly? -Lord Byron, poet (22 Jan 1788-1824)

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