16th and early 17th C. feminine names from Lithuanian records.

by Rebecca Lucas (ffride wlffsdotter)

© 2013; all rights reserved
last updated 5th August 2013

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Personal Names
  3. Anthroponyms
  4. Bibliography

Anthroponyms: Relationship Bynames.

The majority of women's names, due to these being formal documents, related in some way to the men in their lives. These male names appear in the genitive (possessive) case, or in a patronymic form, with an appropriate ending, or descriptive word, to more accurately describe the relationship. Although mentioned by Čirūnaitė, not all of these types of anthroponyms were accompanied by examples.
Many of these bynames are similar to those mentioned by Goldschmidt in A Dictionary of Period Russian Names, however similar does not mean identical. The chart below illustrates the differences between the Russian used in Goldschmidt, and the Ruthenian from Čirūnaitė for descriptive words.

Translations of the Ruthenian and Polish examples are taken from Čirūnaitė, any resulting errors from translating from Lithuanian to English are entirely my own.

Comparative Chart of Ruthenian, Russian, and Polish

Meaning Ruthenian Russian Polish
Daughter doch"ka, dochka doch'  
Mother matka, mat"ka mat'  
Widow vdova, udova vdova wdowa
Wife zhona zhena  

Note: not all descriptive words, mentioned below, are included as they are not mentioned in Goldschmidt's grammar.

Bynames, Descriptive words, and Name-endings