Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAT'RO-NO-MA-TOL'O-GY, n. [Gr. πατηρ, ονομα and λογος.]

An essay on the origin of the names of men; illustrating their relation to the arts, professions, qualities or other facts or circumstances from which they originated. The name of Smith, from smite, denoting a beater or striker of metals, is more general than any other; proving that the art of working on metals was one of the first arts practiced by men, and one of the most common.