(no subject)

[lollardfish]

So I'm writing about a guy called Robert of Jerusalem. He's called "of Jerusalem" because he brought stuff back from Jerusalem. What are names/titles like "of Jerusalem" called? There's a term for it but I cannot remember it.

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

I think perhaps "epithet" is the word you're thinking of. I googled for definitions of "byname" and that was one of the synonyms that came up, and the Wikipedia article it linked to included examples like "Richard the Lionheart".

These days, of course, the term has acquired specifically negative connotations, but apparently that's not how it used to be used.

[lollardfish.livejournal.com]

I had thought of epithet, but rejected it as not the word as I was looking for because of those pejoratives, but I think you are probably right. Thanks!

Hmmmm. But that means I can't really use it in this paper.