Epithet
Also known as descriptive byname · Homeric epithet
A descriptive word or phrase that goes with a name or stands in for it, such as gray-eyed Athena, Alexander the Great or the Boy Who Lived. It fixes one trait to a character so firmly that the phrase can call them up on its own.
- Name only
- Victor walks into the bar.
- Epithet
- Victor the Undertaker walks into the bar, and the room goes quiet.
In practice
An epithet is a descriptive word or phrase attached to a name, or used in place of one. Homer's epics are full of them: rosy-fingered Dawn, gray-eyed Athena, swift-footed Achilles, the wine-dark sea. History gives rulers their own: Alexander the Great, Richard the Lionheart, Ivan the Terrible. Fiction keeps the habit alive, from the Boy Who Lived in Harry Potter to Mad-Eye Moody and The Dude in The Big Lebowski. Each one fixes a single trait to a person or thing.
The word comes from the Greek epitheton, something added. In Homer the epithets also had a practical job. The poems were composed and performed aloud, and a stock of fixed phrases that fitted the meter let a singer build lines on the spot. That is why Achilles is swift-footed even when he is sitting still: the epithet belongs to the character, not to the moment.
An epithet can come before the name (gray-eyed Athena), follow it (Alexander the Great) or replace it entirely (the Maid of Orléans for Joan of Arc). A transferred epithet, also called a hypallage, moves the description to a word it does not literally fit, as in a sleepless night or a nervous cigarette, where the person, not the night or the cigarette, is sleepless or nervous.
In everyday English the word has a second meaning: an insulting name or slur, as in a racial epithet. That sense grew out of the first one, since an insult is also a phrase that pins a single trait to a person. In writing about literature, epithet nearly always means the neutral, descriptive kind, and it is the one writers use to make a character memorable in a line.
An epithet in a screenplay
INT. HARBOR BAR - NIGHT
Dock workers, low light, a jukebox. MAYA (30s) waits at the counter with an envelope.
BARTENDER
You're waiting for the Undertaker.
The door opens. VICTOR (60s), black coat, quiet shoes. Every conversation in the room stops.
MAYA
Why do they call you that?
VICTOR
Because I'm always the last one to see people.
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The bartender gives Victor his epithet before he appears, so the audience meets the reputation first and the man second. The room's silence proves the name is earned. When Maya asks about it, Victor's answer turns the epithet into character: a joke, a threat and a clue to what he does, all in one line.
Epithet examples in literature and film
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey use fixed epithets for gods, heroes and things: gray-eyed Athena, swift-footed Achilles, Hector breaker of horses, rosy-fingered Dawn and the wine-dark sea. Odysseus is many-minded and much-enduring, a man of twists and turns, and the epithets sketch his cunning before any scene shows it.
Rulers and historical figures carry epithets that became part of their names: Alexander the Great, William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionheart, Catherine the Great and Ivan the Terrible. The phrase is a verdict on a whole life, which is why rulers often encouraged flattering epithets and their enemies invented cruel ones.
Modern fiction uses epithets as names. Harry Potter is the Boy Who Lived; Voldemort is He Who Must Not Be Named, an epithet that shows how afraid the wizarding world is. Game of Thrones gives nearly every major character one, from the Kingslayer to the Mother of Dragons, and the story often turns on who has earned theirs.
Film and television use them for instant character: The Dude in The Big Lebowski, the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's westerns, the Bride in Kill Bill, whose real name the film withholds for most of its running time. When the epithet replaces the name, it tells the audience what matters about the person.
Types of epithets
A fixed or Homeric epithet is attached to the same name every time it appears, whatever the situation: swift-footed Achilles, wise Penelope. It works like part of the name and helps an audience recognize a figure in a long oral poem.
A descriptive byname replaces or follows a name to mark one trait or deed: Alexander the Great, Jack the Ripper, the Iron Lady. Many began as nicknames and outlived the people's own names in popular memory.
A transferred epithet, or hypallage, attaches a description to the wrong word for effect: a sleepless night, a cheerful morning, an angry letter. The night did not lie awake, the person did, but the shift makes the feeling seem to fill the whole scene.
An abusive epithet is an insulting name or slur. It is the most common sense of the word in news writing, and it is why many style guides prefer more specific terms when they mean the literary device.
How to write an epithet for a character
Choose one trait that matters to the story. An epithet sticks because it is narrow: the Kingslayer is about one act, not a whole biography. Pick the trait the plot will test, the reputation a character must live up to or escape.
Let other characters give it. An epithet is usually what people call someone, not what they call themselves, so it shows how the world sees the character. The gap between the epithet and the person is often where the story is.
Make it concrete and sayable. Strong epithets use an image or a deed rather than an adjective: Mad-Eye, the Boy Who Lived, the Undertaker. Read it aloud in a line of dialogue; if it sounds like a label, find a sharper one.
Pay it off. An epithet sets an expectation. The story should either prove it in a scene that shows why the name was earned, or break it in a scene that shows the name was wrong all along.
Epithet vs. nickname vs. kenning
A nickname is an informal name, often affectionate, and it need not describe anything: Bob for Robert, Lefty, Junior. An epithet always describes. Many nicknames are epithets, like Mad-Eye or the Dude, but not every nickname is.
A kenning is a compound metaphor that replaces a noun, common in Old English and Old Norse poetry: whale-road for the sea, bone-house for the body. A kenning renames a thing by a riddle; an epithet characterizes a person or thing by a trait, and usually travels with the name rather than replacing it.
An appositive is a grammatical term for a noun phrase placed beside another to rename it, as in Maya, a former nurse. Epithets often appear as appositives, but an appositive can carry any information, while an epithet carries a lasting, defining trait.
Common questions
What is an epithet?
An epithet is a descriptive word or phrase that goes with a name or replaces it, such as gray-eyed Athena, Alexander the Great or the Boy Who Lived. It attaches one lasting trait to a person or thing.
What is an example of an epithet?
Homer's swift-footed Achilles and rosy-fingered Dawn are classic examples. Historical ones include Richard the Lionheart and Catherine the Great, and fictional ones include the Kingslayer in Game of Thrones and The Dude in The Big Lebowski.
What is an epithet in the Odyssey?
Homer gives Odysseus fixed epithets such as many-minded, much-enduring and sacker of cities, and calls Penelope wise and Athena gray-eyed. These repeated phrases fit the poem's meter and helped performers compose it aloud.
What is a transferred epithet?
A transferred epithet, or hypallage, moves a description onto a word it doesn't literally fit, as in a sleepless night or a nervous cigarette. The person is sleepless or nervous, but the shift spreads the feeling across the scene.
Is an epithet an insult?
It can be. In everyday English, epithet often means an abusive name or slur. In writing about literature, it usually means the neutral, descriptive kind that characterizes a person, like Alexander the Great.
What is the difference between an epithet and a nickname?
A nickname is any informal name and need not describe anything, like Bob or Junior. An epithet always describes a trait. Some nicknames are epithets, such as Mad-Eye Moody, but many are not.
How do you use an epithet in a story?
Give a character an epithet that names the one trait the story will test, let other characters use it, and then prove or break it in a scene. The gap between the name and the person often drives the story.