There are many nationalities in the world, and each of them has its own characteristics: in appearance, mentality and lifestyle. This applies to all aspects, including the hereditary family name. Having heard a certain surname, we can already say about what nationality this or that person belongs to and what culture they represent. In this article, we will talk more specifically about Lithuanian surnames and consider their origin.
How did it all start?
Modern Lithuanian surnames are divided into two groups: these are those that were formed directly on the territory of Lithuania, as well as others that arose outside the country, but over time penetrated the Lithuanian language. Until the 15th century, this people did not have a surname as such, everyone called each other only by name. The situation changed when Christianity entered the territory of the Baltic country at that time.
Church politics began to be actively pursued in the Middle Ages; this also affected ancient Lithuania. In this regard, the imposition of Christian names begins, because Lithuanian, in fact, were pagan. As a result, in order not to lose their identity, the Lithuanians came up with their own surnames, which their ancient primordial names turned into over time. At first, they appeared only among representatives of rich clans, but they came to the peasant milieu much later.
How did the names appear?
Church Slavonic language has been established in Lithuania since the 16th century , but the use of the Latin language has begun to decline. In the 18th century, after the general census, the inhabitants of the villages also had surnames that began to be given to children by the name of their father, and, accordingly, further this generic name continued to pass from generation to generation. The suffix “-ovich”, “-evich” was added to the name.
In Russia, for example, the suffix “- ich” was given only to those who were close to the tsar and the royal family, but in Lithuania they assigned it to everyone in a row. The nobility of Lithuania did not like the sound of surnames: they saw the influence of Russia in this, so over time they began to actively change this suffix to the one used by the Poles - “-sky”. By the way, this prefix to the surname was also used by the Eastern Slavs, but the difference was that the Poles relied precisely on local names. Suppose a Pole lived in the village of Volya, and for this reason Volsky became his last name. Nevertheless, it was noticed that many Lithuanian surnames have Slavic suffixes and roots.
Value
The Lithuanian language has reached our days almost unchanged, so understanding what this or that surname means will not be difficult. However, this is not always possible, and in some cases certain difficulties arise. What do Lithuanian surnames mean? For example, Leitis means that the ancestor, who gave his family a name, was once in Leyt service, that is, he served under the Grand Duke, Vilkas in translation sounds like a “wolf”, with the surname Pilsudski - once lived in the Pilsuda area. Gintautas means “protecting people.”
Ancient Lithuanian personal names used to have two foundations, and, as a rule, in translation they denoted any qualities of a person or words that carry a deep meaning. The most popular were such ones as taut - people, mines - thought, edging - patient, guy - to regret, pitchfork - hope.
Most popular Lithuanian last names (male)
English Wikipedia lists the most popular Lithuanian surnames. Here is the original version and its translation into Russian. Kazlauskas - Kozlovsky, Petrauskas - Petrovsky, Jankauskas - Yankovsky, Stankevičius - Stankevich, Vasiliauskas - Vasilevsky, Žukauskas - Zhukovsky, Butkevičus - Butkevich, Paulauskas - Pavlovsky, Kavaliauskas - Kovalevsky.
You can also note such beautiful Lithuanian surnames as Astrauskas, Blujus, Rudzitis, Simonaitite, Vaitonis, Mazheika, Kinjulis. As you can see, surnames often end with –s.
Original Lithuanian last names
And what do the last names with the endings in “-aitis” and “-enas” mean? For example, such as Deimantas, Budris, Petkevičius. They arose according to the following pattern: during a large census, the surname was given to children by the name of their father. For example, the son of Vitas became Vitenas. But it should be noted that the Lithuanians used such surnames only in colloquial speech. Officially in the documents they were recorded according to the Slavic metric.
Purely Lithuanian endings of surnames, thus, are the following: –aitis (Adomaitis), -is (alis), –as (Eidintas), and there may also be the ending –a (Radvila).
In such endings as Auskas, -evichyus, -skis, which in Russian will sound like -ovich, -evich, -ovsky, -evsky, -sky, the influence of Slavic culture can be traced, and they are no longer original Lithuanian.
Female surnames: rules of education
If we consider modern women's Lithuanian surnames, then they received a significant difference from men's. They have the suffixes -out-, -ite-, and -yut-, the surname of the father is fundamentally displayed, and also the ending e- is often present. For example, the male version of the name Butkus in a woman will already sound like Butkute, Orbakas turns into Orbakayte.
Surnames of married women already have several other differences from that of the husband. The husband will be with the surname Varnas, and the wife will have Vernene. Thus, we see that the suffix –en is added, or, in some cases, –uven, –yuven, and also the ending –e. It should be noted that the rules regarding the education of the female version of the surname are valid only in Lithuania. If the family lives in Russia, it will sound the same for both spouses. But if the girl is free, then on the territory of our country her last name will sound as if she lived in Lithuania. As you can see, there are many nuances here that you just need to understand.
Do surnames bow?
The Lithuanian language has a developed case declension system. Lithuanian surnames often end with the letter -c, but there are two options: either this letter is an integral part of it, or it simply indicates a nominative case. That is, in other cases with declension, this same letter –c disappears. For example, the name Landsbergis, in the genitive - already sounds like Landsberg. Many Latvians attach this letter to Russian surnames, for example, “Lenin” in their language sounds like Lenins, as grammar rules require it. Feminine names, as well as men's. in Latvian everyone is inclined. But if they are used in the Russian translation, then another rule applies: for women, they do not bow, and for men, on the contrary.
The nuances of the difference
Consider the example of popular surnames, how they will sound in two versions: male and female, thus, the same generic name in spouses sounds differently.
Kazlauskas - Kazlauskene, Petrauskas - Petrauskien, Yankauskas - Yankauskene, Stankevicius - Stankevichene, Vasiliauskas - Vasilyauskene, Zhukauskas - Zhukauskene, Butkus - Butkien, Palauskas - Palauskene, Urbonas - Urbonienene, Kavalyauskas - Kava.
In the course of this article, we found out what the surnames mean, and also figured out the history of their origin and how the declension of Lithuanian surnames occurs. They store in themselves the wealth of one of the Baltic languages, which is famous for the fact that it has survived to this day in an unchanged form.