The Power of Names (Part I)

There are some almost-forgotten people who in their lives have made a far-reaching impact on history. Quite often, this comes from the intensity of effect produced by superhuman conviction that they are right and that what they have done is righteous. Eventually, these people become adjectives, some by mere invention, some by enormous vision, some by serendipity.

In the years that have passed by, I have collected a few of these adjectival formations that speak to me specially, and a few that everyone is acquainted with. I have a little list, and if you like, you can add to it. Some of these are here for more than one reason; some are here for a reason that most people wouldn't think of using. I'll begin with five, and an obvious English bias.

Cromwellian, Orwellian, Churchillian, Keynesian, Newtonian

There. Comments?

=====

From Speedcuber: 'Machiavellian' — excellent, because it shifts the bias and I should have thought of that one myself; after all, he is the only one on the list so far to be quoted in my Master's thesis!

From Stark: a slew of musicians; but seriously, Rachmaninovian? I can deal with Wagnerian, and its associations with the Hitlerian, but the problem with musicians is that they tend not to define large swathes of history or cultural capital. And the problem with Bachian is... which Bach? Well, I tell you what, I'll scratch your Bach if you scratch mine. (The same problem occurs with Georgian, Edwardian and, to a lesser extent, Jacobean; Elizabethan and Victorian are fine.)

From Khayce: Shakespearean (which I've been trying to avoid, just having taught three of his blasted plays in the last few weeks), Hobbesian (remember the Leviathan!) and Kafkaesque. It seems that authors are more potent than composers.