What is a surname? In the modern sense that we are accustomed to, this is a component of the naming of each person that he receives from his parents. It gives information about his belonging to a particular genus. However, the meaning of the surname is not limited to this. This, as well as its origin, structure, history will be discussed in this article. Let's start with the meaning of the last name in the dictionary.
Dictionary Interpretation
What is a surname? The definition of this word in the dictionary is as follows:
- The naming of a person, which is inherited and added to his personal name in order to indicate belonging to any family. (It is interesting that in the city of Taganrog, Rostov Region, a person lives with a very rare surname that begins with the letter “s” - this is the surname Yunpuu.)
- The same as gender - in the meaning of the totality of generations that descend from a single ancestor. (Do you know that our neighbors Obolensky belong to one of the old noble families?)
- In the obsolete meaning - family, family. (A large couple of the Oleinikovs marched along the path at the head of their entire glorious surname.)
Synonyms and Origin
To better understand the question of what a surname is, consider synonyms for it and understand the origin. Synonyms for the word are: clan, clan, family, unit of society. Among the hyperonyms (similar in meaning, but more general in character), we can distinguish: name, name, naming, group.
The word takes its origin from the Latin familia, means household and servants. There it was formed from the word famulus in the meaning of "minister, servant." Scientists could not trace the origin of the word “surname” more deeply. From Latin it turned into Polish in the meaning of "family, clan" and in German in the meaning of "family". It is believed that it migrated to the Russian language from one of the two indicated languages.
Persistent expressions
Continuing to study the question of what a surname is, it should be noted that in the Russian language there are a number of stable combinations with this and the adjective "family" formed from it, which include:
- Maiden name (Bers - such is the maiden name of Sofya Andreevna - wife of Count Leo Tolstoy).
- Horse surname is a catch phrase and a psychic phenomenon. It originates in the eponymous story by A.P. Chekhov. It is used when some name or surname literally spins on the tip of the tongue, but cannot come to mind in any way. Sometimes this phenomenon is called “presque” - from the French presque vu, which means “almost seen” (Chekhov's story “Horse name”, written in the form of a joke, was published in the Petersburg newspaper in 1885 with the subtitle “Scene”).
- Family emblem - a kind of emblem, which is a fine identification mark of a family, clan (In the pre-industrial period, family emblems acted as a warning system "friend or foe").
- Family jewels are memorabilia of great importance to the family and transmitted from generation to generation (the family values of these people are not so much jewels as perfect education, good education and high morality).
- Pater familias - a term used in jurisprudence denoting a patriarchal Roman family, where the father of the family was, as they say, king and god. He possessed power not only over property, but also over the lives of household members (If in Roman Pater family name the husband convicted his wife of treason, he had to divorce her, otherwise he could be convicted of pimping).
Structure and appearance
For a better understanding of the meaning of a surname, consider the structure of this concept. First of all, the surname consists of a root base, which has or had a certain lexical meaning in the past. And also it can include prefixes, suffixes, endings.
Often the basis of a surname originates from a personal name or nickname, which carries any lexical meaning. Prefixes and endings with surnames, as a rule, denote the word "son" or "daughter" - in translation into the original language. Or they are an indication of ownership, belonging to a place, form adjective forms.
On the example of Russian surnames, it looks as follows. They mainly came from patronymics: Sergey - Sergeyev son - Sergeyev; Volchok (nickname) - Volchkov son - Volchkov. Somewhat more rare is the variant of origin from the name of the locality: Zavolzhsky - from beyond the Volga, Belotserkovsky - from Bila Tserkva. And also the names come from the occupation: Bondarenko - from the cooper, Tokarev - from the turner, Pisarev - from the clerk.
Division into male and female
At the end of the discussion, the meaning of the word “surname” should be noted that in Russian (as well as in several other Slavic languages), as well as in Latvian and Lithuanian, there is a difference between female and male surnames in form. For example, in Russian: Apricot - Abrikosov, Naumov - Naumov, Kholodov - Kholodov.
This is due to the morphological features of the language. And also surnames can have different forms for unmarried and married women. An example is the Lithuanian name of the famous singer Kristina Orbakaite. The surname of her father is Orbakas, and his wife is Orbakene. Icelanders have no surnames at all, the middle names used in men end in -sson (son), and in women they end in -ottir (daughter).