Names that contain multitudes

10 real people who became widely used adjectives

Published on June 2, 2026

Image: Patrick Tomasso

Is it possible for a person to leave such a deep impression in their time that their name becomes synonymous with their most predominant characteristics? Of course! We can find many examples of this across history, but also in words that we use or hear often, and we might not realize that they are the names of famous queens, generals, writers, or philosophers. Here are 10 adjectives you have heard at least once that come from the name of a historical character.

Napoleonic

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Meaning: aggressive and domineering as a way to compensate for a fault in a different aspect.

Be it that we think of Napoleon Bonaparte as a military genius or as a very lucky madman, we can’t deny that he was ambitious and assertive. However, some of his detractors say that this attitude was a way for him to compensate for his (very documented) lack of height. No matter his military triumphs, the name ‘Napoleon’ remained stuck to a physical trait.

Homeric

Image: Simone Pellegrini

Meaning: grand, heroic, epic.

Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey are two of the most influential literary works of all time. Narrating the War of Troy, Odysseus’ journey back home, and the workings of the gods in human fate, the impact of these works in Western culture has made them, and their creator, the epitome of all that’s epic and heroic.

Kafkaesque

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Meaning: a complex, bizarre, and illogical situation.

Franz Kafka is known for his stunning prose, but even more for the oppressive and alienating world his characters live in, be it that they wake up turned into a giant insect or that they have to navigate the nightmares of a bureaucratic system. So, add ‘kafkaesque’ to your repertoire for the next time you are left endlessly waiting on a call with customer service.

Machiavellian

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Meaning: cunning, sneaky, manipulative.

We often describe evil people and things as ‘Machiavellian’, but was Niccolo Machiavelli that twisted? Not necessarily, but some might say his ideas were. As the author of the political philosophy treatise The Prince, he was of the idea that the common good might justify using not-so-good means, which resulted in his name being associated with those who put their own interests above ethics and morals.

Draconian

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Meaning: excessively harsh or severe.

Chances are that, even if you heard the term ‘draconian’, you don’t know it refers to a real person. Draco was an Athenian lawmaker from the 7th century BC, infamous for creating a legal code so strict that even minor crimes warranted the death penalty. The severity of this code was such that his name became synonymous with excessive laws and regulations.

Byronic

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Meaning: defying traditional heroic ideals, anti-heroic.

As far as 19th-century poets go, none was as rebellious, cynical, and self-destructive as George Gordon, better known as Lord Byron, and his male characters followed suit. Leaving a lasting impact in English society, the name Byron came to signify melancholy, rebellion, arrogance, cynicism, and a complete disregard for social rules.

Victorian

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Meaning: prudish, strait-laced, old-fashioned, rigid.

As the second-longest reigning monarch of the UK, Queen Victoria and her 63-year-long reign left a deep impression on British society and on the world. Although the Victorian era was characterised by industrialization and social reform, it was also a time when society behaved according to a strict moral code that is seen today as hypocritical, prudish, and extremely rigid.

Pavlovian

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Meaning: an automatic or conditioned response to a specific stimulus.

When Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov trained a dog to associate the sound of a bell with food, which in turn caused the dog to salivate when the bell rang, he couldn’t have imagined that his name would become an adjective used across the world. Next time you associate a random sound or action with a memory, remember that that Pavlovian response can be described thanks to a dog.

Dickensian

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Meaning: bleak, tragic, grim, eccentric.

Prolific 19th-century author Charles Dickens published his novels in installments meant to be read by the middle and working classes, so naturally, he chose topics he thought would appeal to those people, which resulted in stories of social injustice, poverty, industrialization, and its consequences, with a cast of eccentric characters to match. Dickens is now a revered author and the hand behind several beloved stories, but his name has turned into a way to describe situations reminiscent of those he depicted in his work.

Platonic

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Meaning: a spiritual, intellectual, or emotional relationship, free from desire.

We use the term ‘platonic’ often, and although we know who Plato was, we sometimes fail to realize that what he described in his works and what we call ‘platonic’ are not the same thing. In his writings, Plato suggested that true love was spiritual and could transcend the physical aspect of life. With the passing of time, people came to associate the ‘platonic’ idea of love with a love freed from physical desire.

Translation and interpretation

Was the forbidden fruit really an apple? 10 Bible surprises

Published on June 2, 2026

Image: Mariordo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What if some of the Bible stories you grew up with aren't exactly what the Bible says? Was the forbidden fruit really an apple? Were there actually three Wise Men? Did "God helps those who help themselves" really come from the Bible? Over centuries, translations, traditions, and famous works of art have added details that became so familiar, we stopped questioning them. But go back to the texts, and some of these stories look surprisingly different. From Eve's "apple" to the date of Jesus' birth, here are 10 familiar parts of the Bible that may not be quite what we remember.

The forbidden fruit was an apple

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When you picture the Garden of Eden, what fruit comes to mind? Most people imagine an apple, but there's just one problem: the Bible never says it was an apple.

In the Book of Genesis, the fruit is simply called "the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." The original Hebrew text uses the word peri, which simply means "fruit." The apple connection came centuries later, largely through the Latin translation. The Latin word malum can mean both "apple" and "evil," making it an especially fitting symbol for the story. Over time, that association spread through Christian art and literature. Famous works such as Albrecht Dürer’s 1504 engraving Adam and Eve (also known as The Fall of Man) helped cement the image of Eve holding an apple. Today, it's one of the most famous scenes in history, even though the original biblical text doesn’t identify the fruit as an apple at all.

There were three wise men/kings

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The story of Jesus' birth is so famous that most of us picture the Three Wise Men, sometimes called the Three Kings, standing beside the manger. But the thing is, over the centuries, the story picked up a few details that aren't actually in the Bible.

In the Gospel of Matthew, the only Gospel that mentions these visitors, they are described simply as Magi from the East. The original Greek word, magoi, referred to learned scholars, astrologers, or priests from Persia or Babylon, not kings. But where did the number three come from? Matthew lists three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but never says how many visitors brought them. Over the centuries, people naturally assumed there must have been three Magi, one for each gift. Even their familiar names, Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar, were added later by Christian tradition. So, neither the number of visitors nor their names appears anywhere in the biblical text.

"God helps those who help themselves"

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Whether it's used to motivate a friend, encourage a family member, or push yourself to finally make a difficult decision, "God helps those who help themselves" is one of the most familiar religious sayings in America. But here's the surprise: those words never appear in the Bible.

The idea can be traced to ancient Greek sources, including Aesop’s Fables, where the saying appears in an earlier form: "The gods help them that help themselves." The exact modern wording was written by English politician Algernon Sidney in 1698, but it was Benjamin Franklin who helped make it part of American culture when he included it in his 1736 edition of Poor Richard’s Almanack.

"Cleanliness is next to godliness"

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Many teenagers have heard "Cleanliness is next to godliness" when it was time to clean their rooms. But despite sounding like a Bible verse, the phrase never appears in Scripture.

The Bible, particularly Leviticus, does contain extensive laws requiring people to wash their bodies and clothes in certain circumstances, especially before religious rituals. But the famous saying itself came much later. In 1605, Francis Bacon wrote in The Advancement of Learning that "cleanness of body" was connected to reverence for God. Then, in 1786, it was Methodist leader John Wesley who used the wording we recognize today in a sermon: "Cleanliness is indeed next to Godliness." Over time, the phrase became a familiar saying that many people simply assumed came from the Bible.

The date of Jesus' birth

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When it comes to famous dates, December 25 may be the most recognizable of all, universally associated with Christmas. But here's the surprising part: the Bible never gives any specific date for Jesus' birth.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke describe the Nativity but never provide a calendar date, so how did December 25 become Christmas? There are two leading theories. The first is that the Roman Church was celebrating Christmas on December 25 by 336 AD, during Constantine's reign, possibly choosing the date to coincide with existing Roman winter festivals and make it easier to convert the empire to Christianity. The second points to an early Christian tradition that calculated Jesus' birth date from the supposed date of his crucifixion, eventually arriving at December 25.

Jonah and the Whale

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The story of Jonah and the Whale is so famous that it has appeared literally or symbolically in innumerable works of art and literature, from Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512) to Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. But there's a small problem with the title we've given it: the Bible doesn’t actually say it was a whale.

In the Old Testament, the original Hebrew text of Jonah 1:17 uses the words dag gadol, meaning "great fish" or "large fish"; it doesn't identify the creature as a whale, or even specify what kind of fish it was. Most modern English translations therefore stick with "great fish," but the familiar "whale" interpretation developed through older translations and later European tradition, eventually becoming so widespread that "Jonah and the Whale" became the name almost everyone recognizes.

The serpent in Eden was Satan

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Just as we've always pictured the forbidden fruit as an apple, many of us also assume the serpent in the Garden of Eden is the devil himself. But the original story is a little more complicated.

A plain reading of Genesis depicts the creature simply as a serpent or snake, using the Hebrew word nachash. It describes the serpent as clever and crafty, but it never calls it Satan or explicitly identifies it as the devil. So where did the connection come from? The answer comes from later parts of the Bible, particularly the New Testament. In Revelation 12:9 and 20:2, Satan is called "the ancient serpent" (ho ophis ho archaios in Greek), connecting him to the snake of Eden. Over time, Christian tradition applied that later connection back to Genesis, leading to the familiar belief that the serpent was Satan himself.

Delilah Cut Samson’s Hair

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Many of us remember Samson for his legendary strength and the long hair that was said to be the source of his power. His story with Delilah is one of the Bible's most famous tales of betrayal, but there's one detail some people may have gotten wrong: Delilah didn't actually cut his long hair.

In Judges 16:19, Delilah has Samson's hair shaved while he sleeps on her lap. The text says she called for a man to do the shaving; it never says she did it herself. Yet paintings, films, and other retellings have often shown Delilah wielding the scissors herself, cementing that image in popular culture. It can be considered a small detail, but it’s a great example of how easily familiar Bible stories can pick up elements that aren't actually in the original text.

The Bible is a single-voice book

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Many of us think of the Bible as a single book, written at one particular time by one author, or perhaps a handful of them. After all, that's how it looks when you pick one up in a hotel room, but its history is far more complicated.

The Bible is actually a collection of books written by over 40 authors over roughly 1,500 years, from about 1400 BC to AD 100. The exact number of books varies by religious tradition: Protestant Bibles contain 66 books, while Catholic and Orthodox traditions include additional books. Across these different traditions, the writings were produced by kings, prophets, fishermen, and scholars in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. They also span a tremendous range of literary styles, including history, poetry, songs, laws, letters, and prophecy. So while we hold it as one book today, the Bible is actually a collection of many different writings produced across centuries.

Original manuscripts still exist

Image: https://www.themorgan.org/manuscript/350198, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Many people assume that at least a few original fragments of the Bible must still exist somewhere. It would be incredible if they did, but none of the original manuscripts, known as autographs, have survived.

The earliest biblical texts were written on fragile materials such as papyrus and animal skins, which could deteriorate through humidity, heat, handling, and simple age. Wars, fires, and other destruction also contributed to their disappearance. So how do we know what the originals said? Through a technique called textual criticism: expert scholars compare thousands of handwritten copies, ancient translations, and quotations from early Christian writers. When they find passages that match across different sources, or differences that reveal how a text changed over time, they can work backward to determine what the original most likely said, even though the original manuscripts themselves are gone.