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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: And what do other last-name elements mean?
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References: <5cd6m0$gql@tukki.cc.jyu.fi> <32fba6a3.149469954@news.pi.net> <5ct782$fr5@news.utrecht.NL.net> <eNk+MaABOm$yEwqj@kindness.demon.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 15:19:34 GMT
Lines: 30

(Note:  I'm not sure these attributions are correct, but I don't have the
original pasts to check against.)

In article <eNk+MaABOm$yEwqj@kindness.demon.co.uk>,
Colin Fine  <colin@kindness.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>In article <5ct782$fr5@news.utrecht.NL.net>, "T.T. Gerritsen"
><T.Gerritsen@inter.nl.net> writes
>>mcv@pi.net (Miguel Carrasquer Vidal) wrote:
>
>>>Yes.  -(I)sk-i is etymologically the same a English -ish.
>>>-ov and -ev are genitive plural endings.
>>
>>I'm not sure about that last statement. I'd rather think it is an
>>adjective derived from a name or noun, like Karluv Most (Charles's
>>Bridge in Prague, with a small circle on the 'u') or Cze,stochowa
>>(wies, village, which in Polish is feminine). The wife of someone
>>called X-ov/-ev is Mrs. X-ova/-eva, which IMO shows it is an
>>adjective. 
>
>IIRC, in Russian -ov/-ev is fossilised as GPl and not productive, but in
>some Slavonic languages (eg Czech) -u'v is productive for forming
>adjectives from names.

/-ov/ is also extremely common as a noun -> adjective suffix in Bulgarian.
It may be limited to masculine nouns, but I hesitate to make a definite
statement.
-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
