LIETUVIŲ KALBOS SANDAROS TYRINĖJIMAI

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXVI (1987)

MEILUTĖ RAMONIENĖ

FORMATION OF SURNAMES OF NICKNAME ORIGIN IN THE LATE 18TH CENTURY

Surnames have only quite recently begun to attract interest from a structural and morphological perspective. Until now, most attention has been devoted to the semantics and etymology of Lithuanian personal names.

Surnames are a lexically closed, finite system of linguistic signs¹. The aim of studying their formation is to identify the structural types of surnames, their principal structural features, and their relationships with other layers of the name stock and with common nouns, and to classify surnames according to structural and grammatical criteria.

The formation of Lithuanian surnames has already been studied. Z. Zinkevičius² discussed 17th-century Lithuanian personal names (it is unclear how many of them had already become surnames), also surveying their formation; V. Maciejauskienė³ examined the formation of personal names from various periods. It is important to investigate Lithuanian surnames from different periods in terms of their formation, since they changed considerably over the long period in which they developed and were influenced by foreign languages.

The 18th century is considered the final period in which Lithuanian surnames took shape and became established⁴. What did Lithuanian surnames look like at that time? An impression can be formed from the more than 48,000 personal names recorded in the 1795 baptismal register of the Diocese of Samogitia⁵, preserved in the Central State Historical Archive of the Lithuanian SSR. Nearly 24,000 of them are men’s surnames, a large proportion of which were formed from appellatives (words denoting domestic animals, wild animals, plants, various objects and phenomena, and abstract concepts), with or without various derivational formatives, or compounded from two words. These are surnames of nickname origin, which most often arose not directly from common nouns, but from nicknames, of which Lithuanians have had many and a great variety since ancient times⁶ and which they still often invent⁷. Other peoples, too, have many surnames of this origin,

¹ Gala S. O metodzie analizy słowotwórczej antroponimów. — Rozprawy komisji języko-vej, 1977, t. 23, p. 63—77; Сталтмане В. Э. Латышская антропонимия. Фамилии. — М., 1981, с. 31—33.

² Zinkevičius Z. Lietuvių antroponimika. — V., 1977, p. 227—242.

³ Maciejauskienė V. New Lithuanian surnames with two-stem structures. — Proceedings of the Lithuanian SSR Academy of Sciences. Series A, 1973, vol. 1(42), pp. 177—181; also her. The distribution of Lithuanian personal-name suffixes in the 17th century. — In: Questions of Lithuanian areal linguistics (Questions of Lithuanian linguistics). V., 1977, vol. 18, pp. 159—168.

⁴ Мацеяускене В. В. Формирование литовских фамилий. Канд. дис. [машинопись]. — В., 1981; Vanagas A. Mūsų vardai ir pavardės. — V., 1982, p. 56—61.

⁵ F 669, ap. 1, b. 9.

⁶ Zinkevičius Z. Lietuvių antroponimika. — V., 1977, p. 230—235.

⁷ Butkus A. Pravardės ir jų kilmė. — Mūsų kalba, 1982, Nr. 3, p. 25—28.

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e.g., Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians. In Latvian anthroponymy, appellative surnames also make up a large proportion, but because of the distinctive history of the emergence of Latvian surnames, few of them can be considered nickname-derived⁸. Nickname-derived surnames among other peoples are of varying types; for example, Poles and Russians mainly use suffixed forms, while Belarusians and Ukrainians have many non-derived forms.

All nickname-derived surnames can first be divided into primary and secondary. Primary surnames are appellatives that have become surnames without acquiring any formal derivational markers during anthroponymization. The primary category includes not only surnames that coincide with simple (primary) words, but also those that coincide with derivatives extended by derivational formants belonging to the derivation of those words rather than to surname derivation, e.g.: Bitinas, Girininkas, Rekasius (: rėkašius ‘crybaby’). In many cases, such surnames are problematic, and it is difficult to determine whether they are primary or whether the surnames themselves were formed according to a model for deriving appellatives.

Most primary surnames are nouns. They could be divided into several sizeable semantic groups; for example, surnames:

1) derived from animal names (original spelling retained): Asylas, Awel, Balandis, Bite, Briedis, Gaidis, Gaygatas, Garnis, Giarwe, Gienis, Karpis, Karwel, Kiauwna, Kiela, Kiskis, Meleta, Meszka, Prusokas, Stumbras, Szapalas, Wabatas, Wanagas, Wiezys, Wilkas, Ziogas, Zyle, Zwirblis;

2) from plant names: Alksnis, Apinis, Dagis, Dobilas, Kalendra, Kandnė, Kwietis, Liepa, Lubin, Miezis, Pupa, Ruta, Szaławija, Zylwitis;

3) from words denoting an occupation, business, or social status: Dragunas, Girininkas, Galwonas (: galvōnas ‘elder, chief’), Melniks, Muylinik, Murnikas, Seniunas, Szaulis, Waywada;

4) from ethnonyms: Gudas, Koraim, Latvís, Lenkas, Rusas, Turkas, Žemaytis;

5) from words describing people’s appearance, behavior, character, or speech characteristics: Buksa (: buksà ‘person without fingers’), Docius (: dõčius ‘very generous person’), Gawien (: gavėnas ‘black, slovenly person’), Gikar (: gỹkaras ‘thin, tall person’), Kleywa (: klėiva ‘one with splay feet, lame, clumsy person’), Klumbis (: klumbis ‘lame person’), Kudzma (: kudžmà ‘stunted person’), Lemezis (: lėmežis ‘unsteady, lanky person, oaf’), Lepkis (: lėpkis ‘fool, simpleton’), Mykis (: mikis ‘stammerer’) Pluszkis;

6) from various other nouns with concrete and abstract meanings: Auszra, Boksz tas, Burna, Dawatka, Duda, Giedra, Gierbybe, Gincezas, Gira, Grdmas, Kablis, Kakta, Kamina s, Kaulas, Kipszas, Kurpalis, Ładas, Łaszas, Molis, Piktis, Plunksna, Ragayszis, Rojus, Skiedra, Sweykata, Szaltis, Szylkas, Tuzynas, Wiesulas, Žiedas, Žiup šnis.

Primary adjectival surnames are adjectives substantivized in form. There are only a few: Girtas, Kitras, Piktasis.

Secondary surnames are various formations (derivatives and compounds). A large proportion of nickname-derived surnames consists of derivatives formed from various parts of speech.

⁸ Сталтмане В. Э. Латышская антропонимия. Фамилии, с. 106—107.

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Many surnames derived from patronymics have the suffixes -aitis, -onis, -ūnas, for example, with -aitis: Bitinaitis, Gudadytis, Kalnaitis, Katwaytis, Katynaitis, Kazokaitis, Krauleydytis, Kreywaytis, Pisoraytis, Piworaytis, Preykszaytis, Purwaytis, Ragayszaytis, Uzkuraytis, Wanagaytis, Žemdaytytis; with -onis: Daylidonis, Kaukonis, Žydonis, Žwalonis; with -ūnas: Kaylunas, Kaktunas, Krauciunas, Meylunas, Meszkunas, Strelcziunas, Tylunas.

In eighteenth-century documents, surnames are written in heavily Polonized forms. The principal method of Polonization was adding Polish suffixes to Lithuanian surnames or replacing Lithuanian suffixes with Polish ones. Quite a few surnames of nickname origin also have Slavic suffixes. Most such surnames have the Slavic-origin suffixes -ovič and -evič, already popular in earlier centuries, for example: Auksutowicz, Barzdowicz, Dobilowicz, Drasutowicz, Gielzynowicz, Kaktowicz, Kubitowicz, Melnikowicz, Raudonowicz, Stumbrowicz, S zu dowicz, Tilwikowicz, Wowerowicz, Žemdaytowicz, Žydowicz, Žuwelowicz; Ausewicz, Baublewicz, Burnewicz, Dyglewicz, Dundulewicz, Kubilewicz, Kuysewicz, Lalewicz, Meylewicz, Szawklewicz, Szerkszniewicz, Oszkiewicz, Pluszkiewicz, Wilkiewicz.

The most popular Polish-origin suffixes at the end of the eighteenth century were those with -ski (-owski, -ewski, -duski, -inski, -ecki, -icki, -ucki). In Poland, personal names with -ski had traditionally been formed from place names, but later this suffix became very fashionable, and patronymic suffixes—-ovič, -evič—began to be replaced by it in Lithuania. There are also surnames with nickname roots formed with -ski, for example: Bakanowski, Bumblowski, Burnecki, Ezerowski, Gabalewski, Grazbarzdowski, Gribowski, Gudowski, Yawłowski, Jowarowski, Kisielewski, Kupetowski, Meszkowski, Ragowski, Szerniewski, Wanagowski, Wilkowski.

Nicknames-origin surnames with -elis, -ėlis were fairly popular at the end of the eighteenth century (because of imperfect spelling, they cannot be distinguished), for example: Auxelis, Dwarelis, Gienelis, Kunelis, Medelis, Nyksztel, Ozelis, Penelis, Ponialis, Pukielis, Szawk sztelis, Tewe lis, Uselis, Wanagielis, Warnelis, Žydelis. The same suffixes are also used to form diminutive and endearing appellatives, so it is almost impossible to determine which surnames with these suffixes are underived, originating from diminutive appellatives, and which were formed with these suffixes from underived personal names. Lithuanians are very fond of diminutive forms of names and use them extensively. Material from the Atlas of the Lithuanian Language shows that in our dialects, children's (boys', adolescent boys', and young men's) surnames are often formed from the father's surname with the suffixes -elis, -ėlis. Seventeenth-century documents contain examples in which the same person is recorded in different forms—once with a personal name bearing a diminutive suffix, and elsewhere with a patronymic⁹. Perhaps in some cases the suffixes -elis, -ėlis in some of the above-mentioned surnames from the end of the eighteenth century could also be patronymic.

The source mentioned above also contains surnames with other diminutive suffixes, for example, with -(i)ukas: Sprindžiukas, Pakalniukas, Piecziukas; -utis: Ahutis, Kalnutis, Kraujutis, Lėkutis, Laywutis, Starkutis.

Some surnames—derivatives from nouns—have suffixes used to denote persons according to origin or affiliation, for example -inis: Galinis, Griki-

⁹ Zinkevičius Z. Lithuanian Anthroponymy, p. 238.

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nis, Gubinis, Liepinis, Meszkinis, Pilwinis, Pupinis, Raginis, Ruginis, Szilinis; -iškis: Dwaryszkis, Galiszkis, Pakalniszkis.

Suffixes used to form names for bearers of a nominal characteristic are also employed. Among the surnames we have collected, these include nominal surnames with the suffixes -eika, -eikis, for example: Burnevkis, Kiawlevkis, Kuneyko, Kuszleyko, Medeykis, Sauleyko, Sodeyko, Szyleyko, Szudeykis.

Derivatives from adjectives are also formed with these suffixes, for example: Godeykis, Jodeykis, Mažeyko, Rudeyko, Žaleykis.

The suffix -enis, with a similar meaning, also occurs in several derivatives from adjectives, for example: Szaltenis, Szymenis.

Surnames derived from adjectives also occur with other suffixes, for example, -okas: Baltoks, Jodokas, Szlapokas; -ulis: Didžiulis, Dorulis, Gierulis, Mažiulis, Rupulis, Senulis, Siurmulis; -utis: Baltutys, Mazutis, Drąsutis; -užis: Piktužis, Raybužis.

Suffixes denoting agents and bearers of a verbal characteristic are characteristic of surnames derived from verbs, for example -eika, -eikis: Bijeyko, Brazdeyko, Mileyko (: mylėti or milenti “to be affectionate, to ingratiate oneself”), Strypeyko (: stripinėti), Wedeykis; -lys: Bumblis, Bublys, Burblys, Kaulklis, Kwiklys (some of these could also be primary formations); -ulis: Bumbulis, Puciulis (: pūcyti “to clean, scrub” or “to eat greedily, gobble”), Skarul is (: skārti “to tear, burst forth, fray”), Srebulis.

We consider surnames to be formed by inflectional endings when they are derived forms whose derivational marker is the ending of the derived word. In these cases it is quite difficult, and sometimes impossible, to determine which surnames are formed by inflectional endings and which are primary, originating from derived appellatives. We would consider the following surnames with -is or -ys to be formations by inflectional endings from nouns (owing to imperfect spelling and Polonization, it is difficult to distinguish them): Dobilis, Gabalis, Karklis, Krutinis, Kuodis, Łaywis, Morkis, Nagis, Nugaris, Rakis, Rutys, Szalnis, Szarkis, Warsz kis, Woweris, Žiemis; -ius: Barzdzius, Blazdzius, Bruknius, Kulnius, Linius, Kalnius, Kaulus, Kašzius, Rublius, Szernius, Warnius; from adjectives; for example: Lauka, Rayma (: raimas, -a “dappled”); -is or -ys: Bayksztis, Klubis (: klūbas “lame, limping”), Plok sztis, Puykis, Raudonis, Si duris, Smaylis, Smulkis, Szwelnis; -ius: Baykszczius, Balczius, Budrius, Greicius, Jawnius, Płonius; from verbs, for example, -a: Auga, Bimba, Dunda, Kiurna (: kiurnėti “to grumble”); -as: Augas, Krypas, Skubas, R aukas, Roczds (: rōčyti “to deign, to be so kind”); -is or -ys: Dziaw gis, Gaylis, Girgzdis, Kław sis, Kiezyys (: keizotis “to kick, to thrash about”), Rayzgis, Sprog is, Szaukis; -ius: Bildzius, Ciaduszkus, Gignius (: gigny ti “to do something with difficulty, to drag, carry”), Skirius (: skirti), Linkius, Ludzius, (: lūdz yti “to ask”).

Prefixal formation is not characteristic of Lithuanian surname formation. Our source records only the following prefixed derivatives: pa-: Pabarzdis, Papiewis, Padaubis; už-: Uzbalis, Uzpurwis, Uzwitkis, Užgalis, Užm izskis, Užpalis. Surnames with the prefix be- Bedarbis, Berankis are probably primary formations.

Lithuanians have quite a number of compound personal names. Ancient two-stem personal names have been well studied. Compound surnames of nickname origin are somewhat more recent. Their constituents include:

a) noun + noun, e.g.: Gudgalis, Gudlenkis, Gumbakis, Jawtakis, Kaulakis, Kiaulakis, Laukzemys, Łaumakis, Miltakis, Ozakis, Udrakis, Warnakis,

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Szylbioris. Sometimes one or even both constituents are derived from baptismal names, e.g.: Gudionis, Gudžiurgis, Jaspelkis, Jurionas, Wayciurgis; b) adjective + noun, e.g.: Aukšztkalnis, Baltmyszkis, Baltaragis, Didzpet(r)is, Jodakis, Jodpalis, Lignugaris, Platakis, Rudasparnis; c) numeral + noun, e.g.: Dewendonis, Kiaturakis, Trijonis, Szeszplaukis; d) noun + verb, e.g.: Gudsziepis, Žemgulis, Žemrieta.

Most compound surnames were recorded in Samogitia; very few occurred in Aukštaitija.

Only the more popular word-formation types and more frequent derivatives formed with word-formation affixes have been surveyed here; many suffixes with which only one or two surnames were recorded have not been mentioned.

The survey of the formation of surnames of nickname origin shows that at the end of the 18th century Lithuanians had many appellative surnames formed in a variety of ways. The largest groups were primary nominal surnames, suffixal and inflectional derivatives, and compounds; there were few prefixed surnames, and the smallest group consisted of primary adjectival surnames.

FORMATION OF SURNAMES OF NICKNAME ORIGIN IN THE LATE 18TH CENTURY

Abstract

This article examines Lithuanian surnames of nickname origin from the late 18th century from the perspective of word formation. The source of the material under study is the consolidated register book of baptisms of the Samogitian Diocese from 1795. Based on a structural and word-formation analysis of the anthroponyms contained in this book, several word-formation groups were identified, distributed quantitatively as follows: primary desubstantival surnames, suffixal and inflectional derivatives, compound surnames, prefixal derivatives, and primary deadjectival surnames.