The names of the ancient Slavs, according to the then ideas about the world, were designated by the names of animals or plants, which, like man, were part of nature.
Surname Kozlov: origin and significance
Calling the baby, the ancient Slavs asked Mother Nature to endow the child with all the best qualities of the animal, whose name he bore.
Kozlov is a surname whose origin, according to modern scholars, is associated with the non-church (pre-Christian) name Kozel. In the territory of pagan Russia, such names did not surprise anyone, since they were an integral part of the traditions of the cult of idolatry.
Our ancient pagan ancestors worshiped the goat as the personification of masculinity, an excess of vitality, creative activity and superiority. Superiority was attributed to the goat as a conqueror of mountain peaks and impenetrable mountain paths. Therefore, the child, who received a name in tune with the name of this animal, had to grow up brave, tireless, strong and wise.
How the name became a surname
Everything changed after the baptism of Rus by Prince Vladimir in 988 (or 987). Despite the fact that the pagan Slavs, although they respected the freedom of choice and the sovereignty of man, for the most part were not ready to accept other religions, global changes affected each of them. How is this historical fact connected with the surname Kozlov? The origin of the surname is probably connected precisely with the conversion of the Old Believers to Christianity.
After the arrival of the Christian faith, the goat was declared the animal of the devil, a symbol of sin, curse and impermanence. The name Goat was gradually transformed into the name of Kozlov, and the expression “scapegoat” has a new meaning: “Christ, atonement for world sins.”
Where did the expression “scapegoat” come from
In ancient times, the very concept of “absolution” existed only within the framework of the Jewish ritual “Day of Atonement”. On the appointed day, by spells, all the sins of the people were transferred to two goats, one of which - the one on whom the lot fell - served as an atoning sacrifice for the Jewish god Yahweh, and the other, called the "scapegoat", for Azazel. The scapegoat was transported to a deserted place and released.
In this regard, there was a custom: a lonely wandering no-goat went around the tenth road - after all, it was probably the property of the Prince of Darkness, and the person who took the animal to himself took away the sins of the entire Jewish people ... But, be that as it may, the surname Kozlov means that its carriers are descendants of ancient Slavic nobles and have nothing to do with the above historical reference.
Kozlov family tree
The middle name, descended from the non-church name Kozel, was very common at the beginning of the 15th century. This is not surprising given the popularity of a similar personal masculine name. According to the calculations made by B. Unbegaun, in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 20th century, the nickname Kozlov was in 36th place in demand.
It was also established that in the midst of the boyars, the surname Kozlov (the origin of the surname is associated with the period preceding the birth of the Christian faith) was formed during the delimitation of overgrown noble ancient clans.
By the middle of the 15th century, the son of boyar Morozov, Grigory Kozel, was listed as the founder of the Kozlov family, and the other Kozlovs came from a descendant of Leo in the seventh generation - Ignatius Grigoryevich Kozel-Beklemishev, whose sons were called Turkic names in the 16th century (Karachura, Saltyk and Shadra Kozlov 1573) year were awarded the noble title.
Surname Kozlov: nationality and significance
Later, the Kozlovs appeared among the peasants who wore the corresponding middle name or nickname. According to the assumptions of N. A. Baskakov, the surname Kozlov comes from the Turkic-Nogai "goat" ("three-year-old sheep"). When the authority of the aristocracy from the nobles reached a peak, in Poland surnames began to appear in mass, ending with the suffixes -sky, -tsky, -ovich, -evich ... Newfangled endings were especially popular among representatives of the social lower classes.
An alternative way was to double consonant sounds (mainly “c”, “l”, “p” and “t”), so that familiar names turned into original and unique: Kozell, Kozello ... So “Kozlov” is the last name , the origin of which came from the name of the fearless animal, - has turned into an element of prestige.
Today, a person with the surname Kozel, Kozlanyuk, Kozlyuk, Kozlenok can be found in Ukraine and Belarus. As for the surname Kozlov (the frequency of use of which today allowed her to move on the popularity scale to 7th place) - it, as before, is worn by the descendants of ancient Russian boyars and peasants.
The Scandinavians worshiped the goat as a symbol of vitality and considered it the animal of the god Thor. The ancient Greeks also respected goats (the origin of the name is not connected with either Greek or Scandinavian culture), worshiping the goat-like god Pan.
The "goat" theme is one of the components of the symbolism of Dionysus (by the way, he also liked to turn into a goat at his leisure), whose permanent retinue consisted of goat-footed satyrs. Even the well-known expression "cornucopia", as it turned out, is related to this animal: Jupiter drank from a goat's horn, which, as you know, was fed with goat milk.
Given all of the above, a person by the name of Kozlov can be ethnic Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Pole.
Interesting details
The surname Kozlov, according to scientists, comes from Russians in 50% of cases, from Ukrainian in 5%, from Belarus in 10%, from Tatar, Mordovian, Bashkir, Buryat and 30% from Bulgarian and Serbian names, nicknames, types of professions and names of settlements.
The fascinating historical diaries that have survived to this day say that the namesakes of the modern Kozlovs were very significant historical figures and came from the Slavic clergy (XV-XVI centuries), were endowed with power and respected. The antiquity of the roots of the surname Kozlov (the origin of the surname, we repeat, is associated with the period preceding the birth of the Christian faith) is confirmed by the register of the census of All Russia that existed during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The sovereign in storage had a special list of table and sweet-sounding surnames, which "were given out" to those who particularly distinguished themselves as rewards. Researchers consider the surname Kozlov unique, preserving an individual, original beginning.