1. What is it?

An epithet is a form of accepted nickname that can be added to, or used instead of, a real name or noun.

It can be a description added to a name or object (e.g. ‘Peter the Great’) or a substitute for a name (‘The Good Book’ to refer to the Bible).

Epithets occur in real life and history.

In literature, they often appear in fantasies, epics, or when characters are controlled by fate (e.g. star-crossed lovers).

2. Why use it?

3. Examples

“I’m a bit busy this afternoon” Francis said, before explaining he had a meeting with Leo the Professor.

The early kings of England included William the Conqueror, Richard the Lionheart, and the unfortunately named Ethelred the Unready. Ethelred’s epithet is actually a play on words: whilst Ethelred means ‘noble counsel’, ‘unready’ originally meant ‘bad counsel’, reflecting Ethelred’s incompetence.

When he walked into the room the patients stopped, their hesitation not a sign of respect, but of fear. Some wondered whether his medical expertise went so far as to be able to hear the blood shift and hiccup in the staff’s hearts. What certainly was conspicuous was his power. They called him Dr Ratched, Ogre of the D Wing, and on occasion he even caught their whispers: “I won’t be able to while Ogre is here.” Within a facility built for care, fully grown adults were unable to summon the bravery to fight him. In short, The Ogre ruled.

4. Examples in literature

The Lord of the Rings
by J.R.R. Tolkien

Excerpt from ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’, Chapter VII:

When all the guests were seated before his chair the Lord looked at them again. ‘Here there are eight,’ he said. ‘Nine were to set out: so said the messages. But maybe there has been some change of counsel that we have not heard. Elrond is far away, and darkness gathers between us, and all this year the shadows have grown longer.’
‘Nay, there was no change of counsel,’ said the Lady Galadriel, speaking for the first time. Her voice was clear and musical, but deeper than women’s wont. ‘Gandalf the Grey set out with the Company, but he did not pass the borders of this land. Now tell us where he is; for I much desired to speak with him again. But I cannot see him from afar, unless he comes within the fences of Lothlorien: a grey mist is about him, and the ways of his feet and of his mind are hidden from me.’
‘Alas!’ said Aragon. ‘Gandalf the Grey fell into shadow. He remained in Maria and did not escape.’

The Iliad
attributed to Homer

Excerpt from Book 1 (translated from Greek):

In answer to him spoke swift-footed brilliant Achilles: “Most glorious son of Atreus, most covetous of all, how shall the great-hearted Achaeans give you a prize? We know nothing of a hoard of wealth in common store, but whatever we took by pillage from the cities has been apportioned, and it is not seemly to gather these things back from the army. But give back the girl to the god, and we Achaeans will recompense you three and fourfold, if ever Zeus grants us to sack the well-walled city of Troy.” In answer to him spoke lord Agamemnon: “Do not thus, mighty though you are, godlike Achilles, seek to deceive me with your wit; for you will not get by me nor persuade me. Are you willing, so that your yourself may keep your prize, for me to sit here idly in want, while you order me to give her back? No, if the great-hearted Achaeans give me a prize, suiting it to my mind, so that it will be worth just as much—but if they do not, I myself will come and take your prize, or that of Aias, or that of Odysseus I will seize and bear away. Angry will he be, to whomever I come. But these things we will consider hereafter. Let us now drag a black ship to the shining sea, and quickly gather suitable rowers into it, and place on board a hecatomb, and embark on it the fair-cheeked daughter of Chryses herself. Let one prudent man be its commander, either Aias, or Idomeneus, or brilliant Odysseus, or you, son of Peleus, of all men most extreme, so that on our behalf you may propitiate the god who strikes from afar by offering sacrifice.”

5. Tasks

Task 1: Create epithets for 3 people you know.
Task 2: Write a scene in which at least one of the characters is referred to by an epithet. Although the exact background of the epithet does not need explained, the reasoning for it should be implied from the actions or words within the scene.