Surnames of Zhytomyr residents derived from non-personal nouns (based on the National Book of Remembrance of the victims of the Holodomor of 1932–1933 in Ukraine)
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the lexical base of surnames of the city of Zhytomyr recorded in The National Book of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holodomor of 1932 – 1933 in Ukraine. Zhytomyr Region, which are derived from non-personal appellatives. Following P. Chuchka, the surnames of Zhytomyr residents are categorized into: 1) names of living beings other than humans; 2) anatomical terms; 3) names of plants, their parts, and fruits; 4) names of dishes, drinks, food products; 5) names of clothing, footwear, jewelry; 6) names of tools, household items, and their parts; 7) names of abstractions; 8) names of natural phenomena and various temporal concepts; 9) names of landforms and types of vegetation; 10) names of units of measurement and money; 11) names of substances; 12) names of diseases and physical defects. Most frequently, the basis for the formation of these anthroponyms are names of both domestic and wild birds and animals: vorona, horobets, zozulia, kaplun, vedmid, los, rosomakha, khomyak. Dialectal terms are also attested: dyrkach, kohut, krak, pitukh, tetera. Less commonly represented are names of fish, reptiles, and insects: Karasyk, Mukha, Cherva. Surnames motivated by plant names include both cultivated and wild plants and trees: Burak, Harbuz, Kachan, Loboda, Pshenytska. The analyzed onomastics derived from names of food and drinks provide insight into the menu of Zhytomyr’s historical residents: Halushko, Zhuryk, Kvasha, Kulesh. Prominent among household-related lexemes are names of tools: Dovbnia, Klepak, Kocherha, Mysnyk. The roots of surnames also often include names of clothing and footwear: kaptur, kozhukh, kuchma, chobitok, shuba. Within this anthroponymic material, one also finds names of natural phenomena and temporal concepts: Kolyadyuk, Sereda, Moroz, Kholod, Shkvyra. Less frequently found are surnames based on abstractions (Kara, Nezghoda), landforms and vegetation (Dubynin, Lis), diseases and physical defects (Hulia, Kovtun). Singular examples include surnames derived from units of measurement, money, and substances: Piatak, Popel.
Source: Linguistics
Author: Lesya Yashchuk
Institution: Zhytomyr Ivan Franko State University
Language: English
Subfield: Language and Linguistics
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4411622191