# What is the proper term for "Heroic Titles?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240 "2023-02-23T14:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/1 "2023-02-23T14:38:24Z")
In sagas and such, Heroes’ names will often have a description of their major deeds. You have things like “Njarll Bjornson, Slayer of the Beast of Rathgraben” or “Ulfgar, Who Did Journey a Thousand Leagues.” Is there a term for these little one-line resumes after someones name? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/2 "2023-02-23T14:46:56Z")
Epithets? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/3 "2023-02-23T15:31:36Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Epithets They’re kind of like an epithet or sobriquet, but for longer descriptive titles I’d classify them as a textual honorific. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/4 "2023-02-23T15:47:52Z")
Now I know what to ask for when I change my business car to read, “Hypno-Toad, Reviewer of a Thousand Cases.” ---
**Author:** ![Daithi\_Lacha](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daithi_lacha/32/5430_2.png) [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/5 "2023-02-23T16:00:43Z")
Relating to Norse naming conventions, descriptors were called “bynames.” [https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Old\_Norse\_Bynames](https://www.nordicnames.de/wiki/Old_Norse_Bynames) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/6 "2023-02-23T16:32:40Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > They’re kind of like an epithet or sobriquet, but for longer descriptive titles I’d classify them as a textual honorific. For what it’s worth, the wiki for [Epithets in Homer](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithets_in_Homer) lists stuff like “Raider of Cities” for Odysseus, and “Daughter of Zeus who holds the aegis” for Helen, and “slayer of Argos” for Hermes, who also gets “messenger of the gods and conductor of men”, which seems to be getting pretty wordy. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2023, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/7 "2023-02-23T16:39:04Z")
This type of usage is often a byproduct of the alliterative patterns of the heroic sagas. > **[Alliterative verse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliterative_verse)** > > In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principle ornamental device to help indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of the Germanic languages, where scholars use the term 'alliterative poetry' rather broadly to indicate a tradition which not only shares alliteration as its primary ornament but also certain metric... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/8 "2023-02-25T02:05:48Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > “Daughter of Zeus who holds the aegis” for Helen Surely you mean Athena, there? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2023, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-proper-term-for-heroic-titles/980240/9 "2023-02-25T02:20:37Z")
Shirley, I would; but that _is_ how wiki lists it, and so I erred on the side of carefully-worded brevity (though I did take a moment to screenshot it yesterday — figuring that someone might bump the thread with the point you just made, and figuring that wiki might have changed by then to reflect a more sensible answer).