An earlier form of a word in the same language or in an ancestor language. For example, Indo-European *duwo and Old English twā are etymons of Modern English two.
Epithets were generated by compiling all the words that described the desired trait: cognates and etymons, from languages both living and extinct.
Definition from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition (via Wordnik)
metonymic / autodidactic 