Editing Sobriquet

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{short description|Assumed or given nickname}}
{{sources|date=February 2024}}

A '''sobriquet''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|oʊ|b|r|ɪ|ˌ|k|eɪ|,_|ˌ|s|oʊ|b|r|ɪ|ˈ|k|eɪ}} {{respell|SOH|brih|kay|,_|-|KAY}}) is a descriptive [[nickname]], sometimes assumed, but often given by another. A sobriquet is distinct from a [[pseudonym]] in that it is typically a familiar name used in place of a real name without the need for explanation; it may become more familiar than the original name.

An example is Mohandas Gandhi, who is better known as [[Mahatma Gandhi]] ("mahatma" means "great soul" in [[Sanskrit]]). 

The term ''sobriquet'' is equally applicable as a name for a person, group of people, historical event, or place. Well-known places often have sobriquets, such as [[New York City]], often called the "[[Big Apple]]", or [[Rome]], the "Eternal City", or [[Vienna]], the "Golden Apple".

== Etymology ==
The modern French and English spelling is {{lang|fr|sobriquet}}.<ref name="etymonline" /> Two earlier variants are {{lang|fr|soubriquet}} and {{lang|fr|sotbriquet}}. The first variant, "soubriquet", dates from the 15th century and is rarely used now, in English or French.<ref name="etymonline">{{cite web |title=sobriquet {{!}} Etymology of sobriquet |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/sobriquet |website=www.etymonline.com |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="CNRTLfr" />

The early 14th-century ''soubzsbriquez'' meant a "little blow under the chin" in French, also described as a chuck under the chin; this was derived from ''soubs'', mod. ''sous'' ({{langx|la|sub}}), under.<ref name="CNRTLfr" />

== Usage ==
Sobriquets are "a form of identification that goes beyond a traditional name and offers insight into a person’s character, appearance, profession, or any other distinguishing feature".<ref name="usage">{{cite web |last1=Manaher |first1=Shawn |title=How and When To Use "Sobriquet" |date=2023 |url=https://thecontentauthority.com/blog/how-to-use-sobriquet-in-a-sentence |website=The Content Authority |access-date=24 February 2024}}</ref> They are used in politics, music, literature and for royalty, celebrities, and athletes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Epithet: Definition and Examples {{!}} LiteraryTerms.net |url=https://literaryterms.net/epithet/ |website=Literary Terms |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=en |date=9 September 2015}}</ref>  

Candidates for public office and political figures may be described with sobriquets, while living or posthumously. For example, [[president of the United States]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] was called "Honest Abe".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Howe |first1=Daniel W |title=Honest Abe: Abraham Lincoln and the Moral Character |url=https://www.fpri.org/article/2008/06/honest-abe-abraham-lincoln-and-the-moral-character/ |website=www.fpri.org |publisher=Foreign Policy Research Institute |access-date=24 February 2024 |location=Philadelphia |date=1 June 2008 |quote=Lincoln won his nickname “Honest Abe” while practicing law in the circuit courts of Illinois during the 1850s. Colleagues ranked him “at the head of his profession in the state” in part because of their absolute confidence that he never told a lie.}}</ref> An affectionate contemporary sobriquet for [[Ulysses S. Grant]] was the "American Sphinx" as a man of deeds rather than for verbal self-promotion.<ref>{{cite web |title=Provenance of the Ulysses S. Grant Papers |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/ulysses-s-grant-papers/articles-and-essays/provenance-of-the-ulysses-s-grant-papers/ |website=www.loc.gov |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=24 February 2024 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=v |date=1965}}</ref>

Early uses of sobriquets in writing and literature include the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fox |first1=Harry |title=A New Understanding of the Sobriquet דורשי החלקות: Why Qumranites Rejected Pharisaic Traditions |journal=Law, Literature, and Society in Legal Texts from Qumran |date=24 January 2019 |volume=128 |pages=65–66 |doi=10.1163/9789004393387_004 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004393387/BP000010.xml |access-date=24 February 2024 |series=Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah |publisher=Brill |location=Leuven, NL |isbn=978-90-04-39338-7 |language=en|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and in [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] and [[Song dynasty|Song (Southern Sung) dynasty]] poetry.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Pauline Yu |title=Voices of the Song Lyric in China |date=1994 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |pages=84, 88 |url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft129003tp;brand=ucpress |access-date=24 February 2024 |language=en |format=Digital collection |chapter=Song Lyrics and the Canon: A Look at Anthologies of Tz'u}}</ref> Contemporary usage is common in the English and French languages.<ref name="CNRTLfr">{{cite web |title=SOBRIQUET : Définition de SOBRIQUET |url=https://www.cnrtl.fr/definition/sobriquet |website=www.cnrtl.fr |publisher=Centre National de Resources Textuelles et Lexicales (National Center for Textual and Lexical Resources) |access-date=24 February 2024 |location=Nancy, France |language=fr |date=2002}}</ref>

==Examples==
*The King (of rock and roll) – [[Elvis Presley]], famous vocalist and musician<ref name="usage" />
*The Lion City – [[Singapore]], the city-state, also known as Little Red Dot, The Garden City <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/S0424600.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010411060419/http://www.bartleby.com/61/46/S0424600.html|url-status=dead |archive-date=2001-04-11 |title=Singapore |publisher=Bartleby |access-date=2024-07-24}}</ref> 
*The Big Yin – [[Billy Connolly]], Glaswegian comedian commonly referred to as "The Big Yin", meaning "The Big One" in [[Scots language|Scots]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2020/bbc-scotland-season-to-celebrate-billy-connolly |title=BBC Scotland season to celebrate Billy Connolly |publisher=BBC Media Centre |quote=A big celebration of the Big Yin is kicking off on the BBC Scotland channel. |date=2 May 2020 |access-date=5 October 2020}}</ref>
*The Big Smoke – [[London]] or [[Toronto]]
*[[Names of Japan|The Land of the Rising Sun]] – [[Japan]]
*[[Columbia (personification)|Columbia]] – The United States or the [[Americas]], poetic name
*[[Dixie]], Dixieland (from the [[Mason–Dixon line]]) – the eleven Southern states that seceded and fought against the U.S. in the [[American Civil War]]
*The [[Fourth Estate]] – [[Journalist|the press]]
*[[Names of the Philippines|Pearl of the Orient]] – the [[Philippines]], referring to its location in the Southeast Asia (or the East, with "Orient" meaning "East")
*[[Graveyard of empires]] – [[Afghanistan]]
*[[Gautam Buddha]] – [[Siddhartha Gautama]], derived from the word 'Budh', which means 'enlightened'.
*[[Uncle Sam]] – the U.S. in general or specifically its government, likely from the initials "U.S."<ref>{{cite web |title=Uncle Sam |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/uncle%20sam |access-date=8 October 2020}}</ref>
*[[John Bull]] – the [[UK]] in general or specifically, its government (originally an attack against the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]], their foreign policy, and their financiers who were profiting from wars with other nations).
*Uncle Joe – [[Joseph Stalin]]
*The Sun King – [[Louis XIV of France]]
*Papa Doc – [[François Duvalier]], 34th president of Haiti
*The [[Sage (philosophy)|Sage]] of [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] – [[Thomas Carlyle]], Scots philosopher
*[[The war to end all wars|The War to End All Wars]] – [[World War I]]; used ironically since [[World War II]]
*[[Windy City (nickname)|The Windy City]] – Chicago, Illinois, US
*[[Detroit|Motor City]] – Detroit, Michigan, US
*[[The Mile High City]] – Denver, Colorado, US
*[[Big Apple|The Big Apple]] – New York, New York, US
*[[The Little Apple]] – Manhattan, Kansas, US
*The Mini Apple – [[Minneapolis]], Minnesota, US
*[[Man's best friend]] – [[dogs]], derived from the origins of dogs, it indicates the relationship that has developed between the two species as they have each evolved to form a symbiotic relationship that is unique among human relationships to domestic animals.
*Scotty from marketing – [[Scott Morrison]], referring to his former marketing career<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/social/scott-morrison-rejects-scotty-from-marketing-nickname/news-story/505913dfa62b8e6441b5ecc90c129ab7 | title=Morrison rejects 'snarky' new nickname }}</ref>
*"Emiye Menelik", a name of Emperor [[Menelik II]] of [[Ethiopia]], who was popularly and affectionately recognized for his kindness ("emiye" means "mother" in [[Amharic]]){{Cn|date=December 2024}}

== See also   ==
* [[Elegant variation]]
* [[Moniker]]
* [[Epithet]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{EB1911 |wstitle = Sobriquet }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Personal names}}

[[Category:Nicknames| ]]
[[Category:Semantics]]
[[Category:Word play]]