Many surnames before their owners pose a certain riddle: Logachev, Rogachev, Rogozhin, Piksanov. The surname Zayats is also interesting . With her, we begin our excursion into the history of Russian surnames.
What is my surname talking about?
Where did such a short and capacious surname come from and what does it mean? To do this, go deep into history, when people endowed the soul with all living things that surrounded them: wood, stone, tract, stream. Everything was lively and spiritualized. This time is called shamanism. Primary beliefs forced children to give the names of animals, in this case the Hare. According to legend, he was wise, quick, agile and cunning. Such qualities, transferred by name to the boy, protected, in the opinion of the parents, the child from evil forces.
When Russia was baptized, according to tradition, parents, along with the baptismal name from the saints (Alexei, Ivan, Vasily, who sounded alien, in Greek to the peasant's ear) continued to give babies additional nicknames. They permanently entrenched in tribal memory. Such a name could be obtained by an adult, a light person on his leg, and also a hare hunter. In the XV century, this name was found very often. In the documents you can find the peasant of Oksochkogo graveyard named Ivashko Zayets, as well as the native of Kotor graveyard Zayets Vasyukov son, or the Kamenets tradesman, who was called the Wild Zayats. The surname Hare appeared without a suffix. This very early form of surnames is especially characteristic of Belarusians and Ukrainians. Such antiquity is a monument to the written language and culture of the Slavs.
Correct declension
Linguists have not come to a consensus. A fluent vowel may remain or fall out. Examples: Hare – Hare – Hare or Hare – Hare – Hare.
What do the surnames mean?
The most common Russian surnames that are in the top ten:
- Smirnov.
- Ivanov.
- Kuznetsov.
- Sokolov.
- Popov.
- Lebedev.
- Kozlov.
- Novikov.
- Morozov.
- Petrov.
The bearers of these surnames, as we see, received them either from the weather (Moroz - Morozov), animal (Sokolov, Lebedev, Kozlov) or working nickname (Kuznetsov). Surnames were also formed from Greek names. The exception is Popov. This last name answers the question "whose?" and indicates belonging to the owner or father. The second exception is the name Novikov. She has four versions of origin, but they are very close. The bottom line is that a person is an alien to these places. He is a novice.
It could also be a rookie, who was also called a “newcomer”, or a young man who entered the service of an influential person again, and this was also called the young month. The nobles emphasized the last syllable of Novikov, and ordinary people emphasized the first. These brief principles explain how Russian surnames appeared. But it is very interesting to deal with the name Zaitsev.
Surname Zaitsev
What does the surname Zaitsev hide? Her origin is ancient, which is confirmed by numerous documents. The worldly nickname Hare is its foundation. First, the worldly name was added to the baptismal name, which had no sacred meaning and was therefore widely used. The church (main) name was "hiding" behind the nickname. Parents could choose such options as Wolf, Nightingale, Kalina, Squirrel as an additional name, so that nature is akin to the child and takes care of him. The kid became, according to his parents, half pagan, half Christian, part of the universe, which perceived him as a native and guarded him, and also gave him his qualities.
The surname Zaitsev, whose origin we are considering, gave the boy intelligence and cunning, quick reactions. Of course, at first there was a simple nickname. Then in Russia in the XV and XVI centuries suffixes began to be added to it. The surname Zaitsev, whose origin we are exploring, has become a possessive adjective with the ending
-ev . She initially answered the question "whose?" and was derived from the name of the head of the clan - the Hare. When exactly the name Zaitsev appeared (its origin is already clear), apparently, the specialists will not be able to establish. In the ranking of frequency and prevalence, it is in 14th place.
Celebrities
- Repeated world champion and figure skating olympiads - Alexander Zaitsev.
- Couturier, theorist and practitioner of fashion - Vyacheslav Zaitsev.
- The dancer of the Mikhailovsky Theater, who performs all the main parts in ballets, is Ivan Zaitsev.
- A prose writer from the emigration of the first wave, a follower of the traditions of I. Turgenev and A. Chekhov - Boris Konstantinovich Zaitsev.
Zaitsev is a surname to be proud of.