nominis umbraphr.
/ˌnɒmᵻnɪs ˈʌmbrə/, /ˌnəʊmᵻnɪs ˈʌmbrə/, U.S. /ˈˌnɑmənəs ˈəmbrə/, /ˈˌnoʊmənəs ˈəmbrə/ Now rare.
An insubstantial thing or person. Also: a name without substance; a thing which is not what the name implies.In quot. 1822 personified.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > reputation > fame or renown > fame after death > [noun] > faint or shadowy
nominis umbra1822
the shadow of a name1837
the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > unsubstantiality or abstractness > [noun] > unsubstantiality or lack of substance > something lacking substance > a thing existing in name only
nominala1625
titulado1659
nominality1842
nominis umbrac1874
unobtainium1956
1640 J. Howell Δενδρολογια 65 His Statues should be erected in all the Mart Townes of Ampelona.—stat Magni nominis Umbra.]
1822 Ld. Byron Vision of Judgm. lxxxxiv. 31 So spoke Old ‘Nominis Umbra’; and while speaking yet, Away he melted in celestial smoke.
1856 W. Bagehot in National Rev. Apr. 363 Taylor's theorem will go down to posterity,..but what does posterity know of the deceased Taylor? Nominis umbra is rather a compliment; for it is not substantial enough to have a shadow.
c1874 W. James in R. B. Perry Thought & Char. W. James (1935) I. xxxi. 525 The British school say that the laws are nil—nominis umbra.
1896 Lit. World 7 Aug. 115/2 Coleridge, in this bookful age, is..getting to be more and more nominis umbra.
1919 Amer. Econ. Rev. 9 249 In the new system advocated the money unit becomes, if not a mere nominis umbra, at least a unit dissociated from the reality of value.
1959 Earl Jowitt & C. Walsh Dict. Eng. Law II. 1230/2 Nominis umbra, the shadow of a name, e.g., a one-man company.
1971 H. Mills Alden Mag. Writing & New Lit. 139 Until the middle of the eighteenth century Shakespeare was but a nominis umbra on the Continent.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
phr.1822