Научная работа на тему "Русские и английские фамилии"
Every day we hear, read, recite or write the names of dozens of our friends, relatives, acquaintances. Citizens of all countries have a last name. But not all of us think about the origin of his name or age.
The theme of our research will be acute because the names occupy a significant place in the vocabulary of any language. The man has a name, it can be a nickname, pseudonym, which play an important role in revealing the linguistic world. In addition, it is fashionable to be interested in their ancestors, constitute a family tree. It is so important for everyone to feel like not a single person whose age is not long, but part of a whole family, a link in the chain of generations.
The aim of our work is to study the origin and meaning of surnames in Russian and English.
To achieve this aim, we need to solve the following problem s:
-to explore the history of the origin of Russian surnames;
-to explore the history of the origin of English surnames;
-to clarify whether there is a similarity in the origin of the surnames in the Russian and English languages;- to make a list of the most popular English and Russian surnames;
- to interview pupils in our Lyceum;
-to explore the origin of surnames of pupils in our Lyceum.
The object of our research is anthroponimics.
The subject of our research is English and Russian surnames, their origin and meaning.
The hypothesis of our research is that the history of surnames is closely linked with the history of the people and their language, and suggested that the majority of Russian and English sunames derived from proper names, nicknames, place of residence, profession.
We use the following methods of research work:
The work consists of an introduction, two chapters, conclusion, bibliography and supplements.
Chapter 1 General questions of anthroponimics
1.1. What is “surname”?
In XVIII-XIX centuries. there is a specific differentiation when naming. V.I .Dahl pointed out in the dictionary: " Имя предмета — название; Имя животного — кличка; Имя человека — собственно имя, по угоднику, ангельское, крестное и рекло, которое встарь не оглашалось» [ 1 ].
Anthroponimics - 1) branch of linguistics that studies the own names of people; 2) a set of proper names of people in a given language [ 2 ].
Anthroponym - 1. The proper name of a person.
2. Any own name, which may be a person (group of people), including personal name, middle name, last name, nickname [ 3 ].
The appearance of surnames was obviously connected with expanding economic ties and the need to regulate the institution of inheritance. Obviously, the first time they appeared in the economically developed regions of northern Italy in the X-XI centuries. In the future, the process of active formation of surnames has begun in the south-east of France. In England, the process of formation of surnames began after its conquest by the Normans in 1066.
In the development of the Code of Laws on Marriage and the family there was a need to define the term “surname”. The word "surname" has the Latin origin. In the Roman Empire it meant community, consisting of family owners and their slaves. The term “surname” appeared in the Russian language at the beginning of the XVIII century as a synonym for race, gradually changes its value and in the XIX century it was mainly used to express the term 'family'. There are different definitions of the word “surname”:
Surname is the name that you and other members of your family all have [ 5 ].
Surname is the name that you share with your parents, or often with your husband if you are a married woman, and which in English comes at the end of your full name [ 7 ].
Surname is a descriptive epithet attached to a person's name to denote a personal characteristic, profession, etc; nickname [ 6 ].
As a result we can say that “surname” is inherited official naming, indicating a person belonging to a particular family. Last name is added to the personal name.
1.2. Origins of Russian and English surnames
1.2.1. Origins of English surnames
At the moment our concern will be with the origin of today's surnames. There are four most common origins of surnames.
1) LOCATION SURNAMES
Most common of all are names which were given to indicate a person's homeland, or the locality in which they lived - as many as 43% of surnames may originally have been of this derivation. Nationalities (England, Ireland, Holland), cities (Lincoln, York, Preston, Hamilton, Windsor), villages (Lindley, Bickerton, Topham), architectural features (Castle, Bridges, Mill, Stone) and geographical features (Rivers, Glen, Ford, Bush, Underwood, Grove), are all very familiar sources of peoples' surnames.
2) OCCUPATIONAL SURNAMES
Surnames denoting the occupation make up about 15% of the total number of original names. Because these often represent a trade, many end in the suffix 'er' (Porter, Hunter, Miller, Butcher, Fisher, Baker):
Military occupations - Archer, Knight,
Artistic occupations - Painter, Harper and Player
Names of people of high rank - King or Lord or Baron,
Religious names - Bishop, Priest.
Finally, this category includes the most common of all English language surnames Smith - designated to embrace a multitude of metal craftwork professions such as blacksmiths. At least 3 million people in the United States are called Smith, and more than 500,000 people in the United Kingdom [ 10 ].
3) DESCRIPTIVE SURNAMES
About 9% of English names are descriptive nicknames by origin. Descriptive Surnames are based on a unique quality or physical features of the individual, the unusual colour of their hair or their complexion, these surnames often developed from nicknames or pet names. Most refer to an individual's appearance - color, complexion, or physical shape - such as Armstrong. People may have been called Little or Small or Long, Young, Redman or White.
4) RELATIONSHIP SURNAMES
The second most common source of names making up about 33% of all original surnames, are those which reflect a family relationship. These of course include all those with 'son' in the name (Davidson, Stevenson, Watson, Thompson, Ferguson etc).
'Mac' or 'Mc' means 'son' and indicates a family relationship (MacGregor and McDonald)
The Irish 'O' prefix (O'Neill and O'Reilly) means 'from', as in 'the family descended from'.
All of this may be fascinating if you like etymology, but unfortunately family names have often changed since Medieval times when most first originated. The next three sections discuss some of these changes which make it difficult to accurately assess a person's ancestral history.
1) Name Changes at Marriage And Birth
As we have seen, the value in organized society of passing surnames on to the next generation as family names has been recognized at least since the 14th century. But there have always been circumstances - even today - when it is either necessary or desirable for people to change their names during life. The prime example of a necessary change has been on the occasion of the union of a man and woman in marriage. At that point members of two families become one, and practicality dictates that one of the family names has usually changed.
Marriage Names
For historic reasons, women normally take the man's surname upon marriage. Indeed in 1979, the United Nations adopted the convention that both sexes should have equal rights in this regard.
There are other reasons besides sexual equality which may occasion this reversal of roles, for example to preserve a famous or prestigious familial link.
In marriages where neither partner wishes to adopt the other's name it is possible today for a married couple to choose a surname entirely different from either of their birth names. Others who wish to retain both their birth names have got round the problem by combining the two names, perhaps with a hyphen (though the limitations for perpetrating the resultant name are obvious (Mr Knight-Jones + Miss Brooke-Taylor = Knight-Jones-Brooke-Taylor)
Birth Names
There is a custom that the father's surname should be passed on to his offspring to retain the familial link. But there still have to be exceptions in those cases where a child's paternity is not known. And of course children brought up by adoptive parents may also have a different name to their parents.
2) Changes during life
If society, individuals have also changed their surnames for a variety of other reasons.
Today many celebrities of course choose their own 'stage name' by which they will become known - usually something rather more glamorous than their original name. However, many of these still retain their original family name for official purposes.
In times when the levels of literacy were low, poorly educated parents may not have been able to provide a spelling. This led to many different versions of the same surname down through the ages.
Many immigrants into English speaking nations have chosen their surnames either to make their names more pronounceable, so that they can fit in better in our society.
3) Slave Surnames
In English speaking America and in the West Indies, slaves were given new names by their masters to remove any sense of ancestral identity. Some slaves were assigned surnames according to the work they did ('Cotton').
Even after emancipation some former slaves took the former owner's name. Others who knew their family history, chose the name of their oldest identified African ancestor. Still others simply took their true father's name.
But in the later 20th century, black people would sometimes choose to change their names.. Identification with a 'white name' or a 'slave name' has led to some people to adopt a new one based on culture or religion.
The most popular English surnames are Smiths, Jones, Williams, Brown (Supplement 1)
1.2.2. Origins of Russian surnames
Every day we should hear, read, say or write surnames of our friends, relatives, colleagues and companions. We get our surname from our ancestors. It defines our roots and sometimes our nationality too. Sometimes last names can even reveal a person's key character traits.
The most common Russian surnames have the following endings:
"– ов /- ова ", "- ев / ева ", "- ёв / ёва " (–ov/-ova, -ev/eva, -iov/iova) ( Львов (Lvov), Синяева (Saniayeva), Кушнарёва (Kushnariova);
"– ин / ина ", "- ын / ына " (-in/ina, -yn/yna) ( Фомин (Fomin), Лисицын (Lisitsyn);
- ский / ская , - цкий / цкая (-skiy/skaya, tskiy/tskaya) ( Рождественская (Rozhdestvenskaya), Высоцкий (Vysotskiy);
- ой / ая (-oy/aya) ( Толстой (Tolstoy);
– их /- х (-ikh/-kh) Example: Каменских (Kamenskikh);
-surnames with zero ending. ( Воробей (Vorobey).
Surnames are often used in formal communication and are usually preceded by " господин " (Mr.) or " госпожа " (Mrs.): господин Харитонов (Mr. Kharitonov), госпожа Хрусталёва (Mrs. Khrustaliova).
Many writers often give their characters names suggesting particular traits or personality types by way of giving readers an insight into what kind of people these characters are. Or one of the less pleasant characters in another Russian classic, the 19th century play Woe from Wit by Alexander Griboyedov, is called Molchalin (from the verb molchat , to be silent).
According to scientists, the Russian surnames can be divided into following basic groups [ 8 ]:
1.The surnames formed from initial and various national forms of Christian names.
The majority of Russian surnames is formed from the Christian orthodox names containing in a church calendar . The religion demanded, that the child named not simply somehow, and in honour of this or that sacred (Petrov from Peter, Ishchuk from Joseph, Dorozhkov from Dorofej).
The surnames that are based on the names of occupations:
Kuznetsov (from kuznets, meaning “ smith”), Rybakov (from rybak, meaning “ fisherman”), Plotnikov (from plotnik, meaning “ carpenter”), Meknikov (from melnik, meaning “miller”).
3. The surnames formed from the name of different places - cities, villages, rivers, lakes etc.: (Novgorodtsev, Moskvitinov)
4. The most interesting group of the Russian surnames - belonging to orthodox clergy:
( Apollos, Giljarovsky, Troitsk, Christmas).
5. The surnames based on names of animals and birds:
- wild animals (Medvedev (from medved, bear), Volkov (from volk , wolf), Sobolev (from sobol , sable), Bobrov (from bobr , beaver)
- domestic animals (Kozlov (from kozel , goat), Baranov (from baran, ram), Bykov (from byk , bull).
- birds: Sokolov (from sokol , falcon), Golubev (from golub , pigeon), Vorobyev (from vorobei , sparrow), Orlov (from oryol , eagle), Sorokin (from soroka , magpie), Zhuravlev (from zhuravl , crane), Petukhov (from petukh, cockerel), Drozdov (from drozd , thrush).
The most popular Russian surnames are Smirnov, Ivanov, Kuznetsov (Supplement 2).
So, the similarities of English and Russian surnames are the following : 1. The presence in both systems clearly defined position, "the private name » (firstname, Christianname, givenname) and «the name of the family» (lastname, surname). At the same time in both languages the first name, as a rule, preceded by a surname.
2. some origins of surnames are similar:
a) the personal names: John - Jones, Johnson (Ivan - Ivanov), Andrew - Andrews, Anderson (Andrew - Andreev), Peter - Peters, Peterson (Peter - Petrov), of nicknames: Holly, Aspen, Red (Saints, Holy, Meadows, Ryzhov)
b) Names of professions: cooper - Cooper (Cooper - Bondarev, cooper - Bocharov), miller - Miller (miller - Melnikov), tailor - Tailor, Taylor (Taylor - Portnov).
c) from the local places: Scotland - Scott, (Novgorod - Novgorodtsev).d) From the names of animals and birds: wolf - Wolf (Wolf - Wolves), fox - Fox (Fox - Lisitsyn), bull - Bull (bull - Bulls).
e) From the color terms: white - White (white - Belov), black - Black (black - Black), brown - Brown (brown - Burov).
There are some differences between the two systems:
• The presence of several personal names with one name in English anthroponymic system: George Bernard Shaw, William Somerset Maugham.
• In the Russian language there is no tradition of giving a person 2 (3 or 4) names, but there is such an unusual for the English anthroponymic component of the system as a patronymic.• In the Russian language there is the opposition of male and female surnames, which is not typical of the English language.
• In English a wife got the personal name and the surname of her husband: Mrs John Smith, Mrs William Brown.
• In the Russian language a wife got only a surname of her husband, but not his personal name.
Chapter 2 Using English and Russian surnames
2.1. The most popular English and Russian Surnames
We interviewed 36 pupils of Lyceum № 18 from 13 to 14 years old (Supplement 3). Analyzing the results of our interview we have found out that most of the students were interested in the origin and meaning of their surnames, but even some of those who were interested, do not know its origin and meaning.
Diagram 1. The origin and meaning of surnames
Most eighth-grade students said that surnames in Russia were formed from the name of a geographical object, from animal and bird names and the kind of human activity.
Diagram 2. The origin of Russian surnames
According to the interview Russian teenagers made a list of the most popular Russian surnames. We can see teenagers consider that such surnames as Ivanov, Petrov, Smirnov, Kuznecov are the most wide-spread in Russia.
Diagram 3. The most popular Russian surnames
Here is the list of the surnames and the words that they come from .
1. Смирнов . Not obviously, but we think this surname comes from the word « смирный », which means quiet, gentle, mild, obedient.
2. Иванов . This surname definitely comes from a male name – Иван . We have never come across with any surnames deriving from a female name.
3. Кузнецов . This is a trade surname, obviously. The surname comes from « кузнец » — a smith in Russian. Many Russian surname meanings are connected to trades and animals.
4. Попов . Comes from the word « поп » — a priest in Russian. From my experience this specific surname is much more common than Смирнов and Иванов .
5. Соколов . This surname derives from the word « сокол » — a falcon in Russian. Probably, this surname is popular, because of the popularity of falconry in the previous centuries.
According to the interview Russian teenagers made a list of the most popular English surnames . We can see teenagers consider that such surnames as Smiths, Brown, Potter and White are the most wide-spread in England.
Diagram 4. The most popular English surnames
According to the statistics the most popular surnames in England are Smith, Jones, Taylor, Brown and Williams [11].
1.Smith. In the UK more than 750 000 people are Smith's name, and if you look at the map, more than 5% of the inhabitants of that name living in the West Midlands in Birmingham. This family name is translated from the Old English as " кузнец ", and its most famous native was a Scottish economist Adam Smith, who lived in the XVIII century.
2. Jones. This family name is derived from the name of Jon (medieval version of John), but the bright representative is Catherine Zeta Jones.
3. Taylor . It comes from the French "tailleur" – портной , from the Latin "taliare" – отрезать . Most of the population lives again in the West Midlands.
4. Brown . A large number of people with a name like that, meaning people with dark skin and dark hair colour, lives in Greater London, Essex and West Yorkshire. For example, Robert Brown – an American rapper and dancer.
5. Williams It means "son of William." A well-known representative of this name is a tennis player Serena Williams.
2.2. Surnames in our family tree
It was interesting to us to know the origin of the surnames in our family. We made our family tree and analyzed all surnames in it (Supplement 4).
Surname Vorobyev founded by the secular name Sparrow. These "birds' names were prevalent in Russia in the old days. In "Onomasticon" S.B.Veselovsky: Sparrow - is very common in the XV-XVII centuries. That name, in turn derived from the common noun "sparrow." [ 9 ]
2.Vovkotrub. Surname Vovkotrub dates back to the nickname, formed by two foundations: vovk , meaning"wolf" and trub - in the sense of "loud" (about voice). Most likely, such a man with surname Vovkotrubhad a loud, gruff voice, like a wolf growl.
3.Korobeynikov.
Surname Korobeynikov goes back to the common noun korobeynik (meaning «chapman»). This word is familiar to many of the poems of Nekrasov. Korobeynik commonly called hawker manufactory and fancy goods, fabrics, books, jewelry, etc … As a result, a descendant of a person having the nickname korobeynik eventually got the name Korobeynikov.
The basis of the surname Titov was the religious name Tit (Titus). Surname Titov dates back to the canonical male named Tit (Titus), which was formed from the Latin titulus - «honour». Tit (Titus) eventually got the surname Titov.
Surname Osipov, most likely formed in the name of Osip, folk forms of male baptismal name Iosif(Joseph). It, in turn, has a Hebrew origin and means "God will add."
As the result, we can come to the conclusion that a lot of teenagers nowadays are interested in the origin of their surnames but not everybody knows the meaning of their surname. The most popular Russian surnames are Смирнов , Соколов , Иванов , Кузнецов , Попов ; the most popular English surnames are Smith , Jones, Taylor, Brown, Williams.
Our surnames can tell us something of our past; the occupation, character or appearance of at least one individual in our family at one moment in history.
The aim of our research to study the origin and meaning of surnames in Russian and English was achieved by the following steps:
1. Having studied books devoted to this problem, we gave exact definition of surnames and studied the history of English and Russian surnames;
2. We defined different methods of forming surnames in the English and Russian languages and made up their complete classification;
3. We also defined common features and differences in English and Russian surnames.
We have found out that t he surname may even indicate the exact locality in which they lived and give clues as to their wealth and status in society, so our hypothesis that the history of surnames is closely linked with the history of the people and their language was confirmed.
We also interviewed some pupils from our Lyceum. Analyzing the results of our interview we have found out that most of the students were interested in the origin and meaning of their surnames, but even some of those who were interested, do not know its origin and meaning.
Most eighth-grade students said that surnames in Russia were formed from the name of a geographical object, from animal and bird names and the kind of human activity. According to the interview Russian teenagers made a list of the most popular Russian and English surnames. The most popular Russian surnames are Смирнов , Соколов , Иванов , Кузнецов , Попов ; the most popular English surnames are Smith , Jones, Taylor, Brown, Williams.
It was interesting to us to know the origin of the surnames in our family. We made our family tree and analyzed all surnames in it.
As the result, we can come to the conclusion that a lot of teenagers nowadays are interested in the origin of their surnames but not everybody knows the meaning of their surname.
Today, the study of genealogy and the exploration of our family history is a popular past time for many people, and of all the tools which are available for undertaking such research, none is more important than the name we were destined to be given even before birth.
Bibliography
1.Даль В. И. Толковый словарь живого великорусского языка: В 4-х т. / Под ред. И. А. Бодуэна де Куртене. — 5-е изд., стер. — М., 1957−1959
2.Словарь иностранных слов. Комлев Н.Г., 2006
3.Толковый переводоведческий словарь. - 3-е издание, переработанное. — М.: Флинта: Наука Л.Л. Нелюбин, 2003
4.Федосюк Ю. Что означает Ваша фамилия? М .: Детская литература , 1969
5.Cambridge Dictionary, Daniel Jones, Peter Roach, Jane Setter & John Esling, 2011