Word - 74

DANEGELD \DAYN-gheld\ noun

often capitalized

: an annual tax believed to have been imposed originally to buy off Danish invaders in England or to maintain forces to oppose them but continued as a land tax

Example sentence:
Today's lecture will be on the Danegeld and taxation in the Middle Ages.

Did you know?

The subjects of King Ethelred II, who ruled England from 978-1016, didn't think much of the ruler they dubbed "the Unready." They suspected him of murdering his brother to gain the throne, so it isn't surprising that they didn't rally around him to defend the country against the Danish invaders who attempted to unseat him. Ethelred tried a payoff tax called the Danegeld as a last ditch effort to keep his kingdom intact. The "Dane" part of the name refers to the Danish invaders who received the money. The "geld" part comes from an Old English word meaning "payment" or "tribute."

Word - 73

EPONYMOUS \ih-PAH-nuh-mus\ adjective

: of, relating to, or being one for whom or which something is or is believed to be named

Example sentence:
Fans of The Steve Mapplethorpe Comedy Hour waited outside the studio exit in hopes of catching a glimpse of its eponymous host.

Did you know?

It's no coincidence that "eponymous" has to do with naming -- it comes to us from the Greek adjective "eponymos," which is itself from "onyma," meaning "name." "Onyma" has lent its name to a number of English words, including "synonymous," "pseudonym," and "anonymous." Traditionally, an eponymous person or thing (i.e., an "eponym") might be a mythical ancestor or totem believed to be the source of a clan's name. Today, however, "eponymous" more typically refers to such individuals as the front man of "Theo's Trio" or the owner of "Sally's Restaurant"(Theo and Sally, respectively, of course). The things that are named for such name-providers are also "eponymous." For example, we can speak of "the eponymous 'Ed Sullivan Show'" as well as "the eponymous Ed Sullivan."