Wednesday, November 02, 2005

It was literally the first mausoleum

No I can add mausoleum to my collection of eponyms. According to the OED the word comes from

The magnificent tomb of Mausolus (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world) erected at Halicarnassus in the 4th cent. B.C. by his widow Artemisia.

The editor-at-large of the OED also contributes an article this morning on literally and its status as a "Janus word".

UPDATE: Wikipedia entry on Janus words a.k.a. contranyms

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