Namely, 128

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

128: Tasmania: an island off the southeastern coast of Australia, famous for its Tasmanian devil (from Abel Janszoon Tasman, 1603–59, Dutch navigator, who first explored the island, naming it in Van Dieman’s Land in 1642; renamed in his honor in 1853; earliest known use, 1853)

He sailed off to Tasmania—

In some weird mystery craft.

His friends—all sailors—told him “No!

You’re acting really daft!”

But off he went—and disappeared

O’er the horizon’s crest.

I guess he really thought that he

Knew life at sea the best.

They found his boat in ’92–

A decade later on.

They found a note attached, as well.

It said: “I think I’m gone.

“I didn’t know what I had done—

I didn’t know the sea—

And so my fatal ignorance

Has meant the end for me.”

And so it did … until this doggerel!