In True Names: Vergil and the Alexandrian Tradition of Etymological Wordplay, James O’Hara presents a richly annotated, comprehensive collection of examples of etymological wordplay in Vergil’s Aeneid, Eclogues, and Georgics. An extensive introduction on the etymologizing of Vergil and his poetic forerunners places the poet in historical context and analyzes the form and style of his wordplay.

In this new edition, O’Hara offers more than one hundred new examples, and more than 250 new bibliographical items on etymologizing in Vergil and other ancient authors, especially the other Augustan poets. A substantial new Introduction reflects on the wide scholarly response to the first edition, and it discusses issues in scholarship on etymologizing from the last two decades.