Every day we write, read, pronounce, hear dozens of names of our relatives, friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Each person in our country has a surname, which is indicated in the birth certificate, in the passport and other documents. But few of us think about the origin and history of our family name. We remember it from childhood and throughout our life we treat it as a given.
The word "surname" is of Latin origin. But in the Roman Empire, it had a slightly different meaning - this is a group of people, which consisted of masters and slaves.
This word acquired a completely different meaning in Europe in the Middle Ages - by "surname" they began to understand "family". The same understanding of this term was in Russia. And only from the 19th century, the term "surname" acquired the second meaning in Russian - hereditary naming, which is attached to a personal name.
The article will discuss the surname Kazantsev, the meaning and origin of this generic name. The owners of this family name can rightfully be proud of it, since it is an original and unique monument of Tatar culture and writing.
Versions of the origin of the surname
According to one version of the origin of the surname Kazantsev, it is formed from the geographical name of the area from where one of the ancestors of the genus came from.
The surname of Kazantsev is closely connected with the name of the city of Kazan. The name of this city, the capital of Tatarstan, lies precisely at the heart of the generic name. Probably an ancestor with this surname was originally from Kazan. It should be noted that the inhabitants of the city were really called Kazan.
There are several legends about the origin of the name of the city. According to one of them, the Bulgars wanted to found a city in these places, but did not know exactly where to do it. For help, they turned to the sorcerer. He advised building a settlement where a boiler with water without a fire boils. They searched for such a place for a long time and found it near Lake Kazan. So the city got its name, "Kazan" from Old Bulgarian is translated as "cauldron".
According to another version, the name of the city is associated with the tribe “kaz”, which lived in ancient times in the basin of the Kazan river.
According to the official version, the city of Kazan was founded more than 1000 years ago. This dating is confirmed by the coin found during excavations in the Kremlin, it was dated by the reign of St. Wenceslas.
Legendary version of the origin of the surname
Most likely, the time of the origin of the surname is the reign of Ivan IV. These were the times when Kazan Tatars often bothered Russia, all border territories were constantly subjected to raids and ruin. In Kazan, after the death of Khan Safa Giray, his heirs could not share power.
At this time, Ivan Vasilievich and took his first trip to Kazan. Kazan defended selflessly and courageously, then Russian troops suffered heavy damage. The tsar made another trip to Kazan. His army totaled more than 150 thousand people, the main governor was Prince Vorotynsky Mikhail. The siege of the city was difficult and lengthy. Terrible and bloody battles took place on the streets of the city. But the city has fallen.
At this time, surnames in Russia began to form. It is possible that in memory of the events of the capture of Kazan, those who fought or were held captive took the names Kazanets, Kazantsev and their derivatives. This is one of the hypotheses of the origin of the surname Kazanets, which is quite likely to exist.
The ancient history of the origin and meaning of the surname Kazantsev
Surnames that are formed on a geographical basis, scientists attribute to the most ancient, some of them appeared before the 15th century. Family names of this kind appeared originally among the nobility. For example, Vyazemsky, Volkonsky, Meshchersky.
The surname in those days was evidence of status and prestige. In addition, with the help of family names, the issue of securing the right to own a city, estate, land was resolved.
Toponymic generic names were widespread among other classes. But initially they were nicknames. Such forms of nickname surnames were very popular in the 16-17th centuries among runaway peasants, who took the names of their native places, villages, cities as the basis of surnames. For example, Kiyan, Ryazanovsky, Zvenigorodsky, Poltavets. According to this version of the origin of the surname Kazantsev, the ancestor of the family could be a runaway peasant from the city of Kazan or its environs.
In Russia, family names began to be assigned to the family and passed down from generation to generation in the 15-18th centuries. They meant that a person belongs to a particular kind.
First written mention of a surname
The surname Kazantsev is not common either in Russia or in neighboring countries. In archival documents, the bearers of this clan name were ranked among the aristocracy from the Russian philistines of the 16-17th centuries who had royal privilege.
The mention of the family name Kazantsev is found in the statement of the inhabitants of Ancient Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The tsar kept a special register of harmonious and respected surnames that were bestowed on those close to him for special merits. For this reason, the surname is rare, granted for personal contribution to the history of the state.
Instead of a conclusion
The origin of the surname Kazantsev is certainly topographical, and its history is ancient. But the way of acquiring this family name for each kind is different. Some of the ancestors came from the city of Kazan, someone received a surname as a sign of reward and honor, someone for participating in a military campaign in the city. But be that as it may, the surname is an amazing source that can tell about the life, life and culture of our distant ancestors.
The process of forming surnames in Russia was lengthy, therefore, to name the exact place and time of origin of the surname Kazantsev today, unfortunately, is impossible.