page_title: Animal epithet
hierarchical_section_title: Animal epithet
caption_attribution_description: English: Box in form of feline head, wood with metal tacks over surface, ears protrude, teeth and fangs represented. Condition: generally good, slightly chipped. English: This box was used to hold kola nuts presented to visitors in the royal court of Benin. Leopards are one of the most commonly portrayed animals in African art. Intelligent and courageous, they often serve as metaphors for powerful individuals or associations.
context_page_description: An animal epithet is a name used to label a person or group, by association with some perceived quality of an animal. Epithets may be formulated as similes, explicitly comparing people with the named animal, or as metaphors, directly naming people as animals. Animal epithets may be pejorative, readily giving offence, and they are sometimes used in political campaigns. One English epithet, lamb, is always used positively.
  Animal similes and metaphors have been used since classical times, for example by Homer and Virgil, to heighten effects in literature, and to sum up complex concepts concisely.
  Surnames that name animals are found in different countries. They may be metonymic, naming a person's profession, generally in the Middle Ages; toponymic, naming the place where a person lived; or nicknames, comparing the person favourably or otherwise with the named animal.
context_section_description: An animal epithet is a name used to label a person or group, by association with some perceived quality of an animal. Epithets may be formulated as similes, explicitly comparing people with the named animal, or as metaphors, directly naming people as animals. Animal epithets may be pejorative, readily giving offence, and they are sometimes used in political campaigns. One English epithet, lamb, is always used positively.
  Animal similes and metaphors have been used since classical times, for example by Homer and Virgil, to heighten effects in literature, and to sum up complex concepts concisely.
  Surnames that name animals are found in different countries. They may be metonymic, naming a person's profession, generally in the Middle Ages; toponymic, naming the place where a person lived; or nicknames, comparing the person favourably or otherwise with the named animal.
caption: Leopard's Head box, 19th century. Wood with metal tags, used to hold kola nuts in the royal court of Benin, where the leopard was an epithet for a powerful person.
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