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Archiver > LITHUANIA > 2003-06 > 1054835916


From: David Zincavage <>
Subject: [LITHUANIA-L] Fw: RE: Kolwzan
Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2003 10:58:43 -0700


----- Original Message -----
From: "Leon Stevens" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 8:47 AM
Subject: RE: RE: Kolwzan


> > two-part names were used by the boyars <
>
> David, Lithuanian two-part names have no more to do with the boyar
> social stratum than do old Slavic two-part names. They predate any idea
> of boyars and are not linked to any aristocracy. In his classic
> treatise The History of the Lithuanian Language, Zigmas Zinkevicius
> explains (p.190) (emphasis will be mine):
> "From early epochs the Lithuanians inherited an archaic system for
> personal names. The basis of this system was two-stemmed names. E.g.,
> Al-girdas, Gedi-minas, Geid-vilas, Taut-ginas, Vil-tatuas. SOME OF THEM
> EXTEND BACK TO PROTO-BALTIC, OTHERS - TO EVEN EARLIER TIMES, but many
> were formed later, during the East Baltic epoch. Due to the lack of
> comparative data (the collection of surviving old personal names in
> other related languages is very poor) IT IS DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN
> PERSONAL NAMES IN GREATER DETAIL. BESIDES THE TWO-STEMMED FORMS, SINCE
> EARLY TIMES LITHUANIANS ALSO USED SHORTENED FORMS, e.g., Geidas, Vilys
> (vs Ged-vilas, Vil-tautas), which early on began functioning as
> independent names. THE NUMBER OF THESE WAS INCREASED WITH VARIOUS
> SUFFIXED DERIVATIVES, ESPECIALLY WITH THOSE SUFFIXES HAVING DIMINUTIVE
> AND DEPENDENCY MEANING, E.G., Alg-elis, Vil-utis, Taut-enis, There were
> also personal names derived from nick-names, e.g., Lokys (:lokys
> 'bear'), Zilis (: zilas 'grey hair'). Women's names differed from men's
> only in the ending, e.g., Vil-taute, Loke vs Vil-tautas, Lokys."
> Zinkevicius doesn't even regard "boyar" as a Lithuanian term. He notes
> (p.78):
> "bajoras 'nobleman', cf Boiar' - the origin of this word is not clear,
> the Slavs might have gotten it from the Turkic languages." (Actually the
> origin is clear to any Slav. It's from Common Slavic "*bojb" ("fight")
> and "*-arb" ("-er") ie. "fighter" or "warrior." However I won't quarrel
> with Zinkevicius now, as I am citing him.) Land in Lithuania was not
> allodia as it was in Poland. Not until 1387 did Jagiello grant
> Lithuanians the right to own land outright (Zamoyski, p.70). Until then
> the dukes awarded the administration of lands, and with it, status, only
> on a feudal temporary basis. Boyar status was not hereditary under
> statute, even if it may have been in a de facto sense. Semkowicz says
> that one of the most important effects of the Horodlo treaty was that it
> introduced into Lithuania the concept and ultimately institution of a
> closed permanent noble caste reinforced by the notion of heraldic clans.
> Before this, Lithuania had nothing akin to a "szlachta odwieczna"
> ("ageless nobility"). A while ago you alleged that the dukes went about
> issuing full-fledged coats of arms. I hope you are not now suggesting
> that they awarded two-part names as well!
>
>
>

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