Namely, 95

NAMELY

eponyms (EP-uh-nimz)

words based on or derived from a person's name.

First Known Use: mid-19^th century

“What’s in a Name?”

Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, 2.2­

95: masochism: the enjoyment of pain (from psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebbing, who based this word on the name of Leopoldo von Sacher-Masoch (1835–1895), Austrian author of the novel Venus in Furs about the enjoyment of pain; first known use, 1892)

Well, masochism was his game—

His specialty in life (I heard).

In fact, it’s how he made his name—

And here is how the thing occurred:

He found a wire-brush at the store—

And accidentally scraped his hand.

He loved it. So he scraped some more—

Then earned his boss’ reprimand.

But he ignored what his boss said—

And scraped away with great delight—

Until, I fear, the dude was dead:

That scraping just had felt so right!