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Archiver > LITHUANIA > 2003-06 > 1054851098


From: "David Zincavage" <>
Subject: Fw: [LITHUANIA-L] Fw: Lithuanian Onomastics
Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2003 15:11:47 -0700


----- Original Message -----
From: "Leon Stevens" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2003 2:13 PM
Subject: RE: [LITHUANIA-L] Fw: Lithuanian Onomastics


> > equality in naming practices came gradually over time <
>
> This is wholly unsubstantiated and false. Rymut lists a great many
> early dates of extant documents containing non-noble names, and they are
> as likely to be self-glorifying as self-deprecating. Names used in
> plays and fairy tales do not correspond with nomenclature in common use.
> Quite a few Mazovian nobles walked barefoot as did their ancestors. It
> didn't affect their names and surnames. As for antiquity, the names of
> many or most noble clans are the names of tribal forefathers and several
> of these are utterly self-deprecating or simple objects, plants and
> animals, as for example "Zlodziej" ("thief"), "Jelita" ("entrails"),
> "Rola" ("cultivated field"), "Cholewa" ("bootleg"), "Ogonczyk" ("little
> tail"), "Kozel" ("goat"), etc. All of these Bruckner, Semkowicz and
> Szymanski describe as old personal names.
>
>

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