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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> <petrichE4LK54.9IE@netcom.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 1997 06:55:44 GMT
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	Although there are several decent general works out there on
surnames and their derivation, one of the nicest and user-friendliest I've
seen is Hank and Hodge's _The Cambridge Dictionary of Surnames_.  The long
introduction includes brief country-by-country squibs on the relative
prevalence of various types of names (locational, occupational, etc.) and
the most common types of patronymics for those languages where they are
common.

In article <petrichE4LK54.9IE@netcom.com>,
Loren Petrich <petrich@netcom.com> wrote:
>
>Armenian last names always end with an -ian or a -yan (I'm sure that's 
>only a transcription difference) -- is that some derivational suffix?

If you're asking for a diachronic explanation, I can't give you one.
Although it is by far the most common suffix for Armenian names (certainly
not the only one), its productive days seem to be at an end.  The modern
patronymic suffix (used where Russian speakers employ -Evich) is "-i".

>Slavic last names often end with -ski, -sky, -ov, -ev, -ich, -ik, -ek, and -ak.
>Are those all derivational suffixes?

Of one sort or another (some are adjectival, some diminutive).  Despite
what one poster said about "-ic(h)", it is an independent patronymic 
suffix from "-Evich", as your own surname attests.

>Greek last names often have -poulos; does that mean "son"? I presume the
>-akis I sometimes see is a derivational suffix. 

"-poulos" appears to be a form of "pouli" "bird", a word which doesn't
seem to exist in Ancient Greek.  (The Ancient Greek patronymic suffix was
"-ides".)  The apparent semantic stretch involved might be lessened by the
fact that "pouli" also means "darling".  "-aki(s)" seems to be some sort
of diminutive suffix, though I can't say for certain.

>Turkish last names often end with -oglu; does that mean "son" also?

Yup.  Actually, it is "oghul" "son" with the back rounded allomorph of
the third person possessive suffix, i.e. "his/her son".

Other common patronymic suffixes you left out are -ez (Spanish), -es
(Portuguese), and -is (Catalan); -s (English and German); -zade
(Persian); -escu (Romanian), and -enko (Ukrainian).  In addition, many
languages (including German, Hungarian, French, and Catalan) prefer a
personal name with no suffix or with a diminutive and others prefer
prefixes (e.g. o, m(a)c, ni, ap, arap, wa) to suffixes.

-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
