Patronymic

The patronymic (from the Greek «πατήρ», «father», and «ὄνομα», «name») is a proper name which designates ancestry, filiation or lineage. It can be a surname or a form derived from the name of the father or ancestor used after the given name, a custom still in force in Russia and other Slavic countries.

Among the Greeks and Romans, it was said of the name that, derived from that belonging to the father or another male ancestor and applied to the son and another descendant, it denoted their quality as such. The father's name was put in the genitive case; p. e.g.: from «Petrus», «Petri». The primitive patronymic surnames varied in each generation, when the names of father and son did not coincide. They only became absolutely hereditary in the early years of modern times. They must be differentiated from demonyms, names derived from the place of origin of the person or their family, and from matronymics.

History of patronymics in Spain

The patronymic has not had a constant meaning throughout the history of Spain. Originally the patronymic was the only element that was added to the person's first name and was done in a completely regular way. That is, if there was a Ruy Fernández , you could be sure that he was the son of a Fernando . The situation begins to change around 1200. The patronymic then stops being formed from the father's name, instead the name of a relative who had the same combination of name and patronymic is chosen. In the example above, this Ruy Fernández would probably have an ancestor named Ruy Fernández as well. At this time, many noble families have already adopted a surname that does not vary and is placed after the patronymic.^{[citation required]}

The custom was modified again towards the end of the XVI century when the Council of Trent eliminated its use. ^{[citation required]} From that moment on, a period begins in which their employment is very erratic, but some families begin to associate their surnames more or less permanently with certain patronymics and toponyms. This is how combinations such as Álvarez de Toledo, Fernández de Córdoba, Ponce de León, etc. arise, which have reached our days combined. During this time the choice of surnames is not subject to strict rules and many people adopt a surname that is transmitted immutably from father to son.

In 1870, new regulations for the use of surnames came into force in Spain and, from that moment on, the assignment of surnames ceased to be a choice of the parents or the individual and became an administrative rule.

In many areas of the peninsula, but especially in Álava and Navarra, the combination of patronymic and toponymic in the surname persists, what has been called a compound surname from Alava given its high percentage among the Alava population; for example «Martínez de Eulate».

Origin of Castilian patronymics in -(e)z

The origin of patronymic surnames ending in -(e)z, typical of the ancient crown of Castile, has been highly debated, and no consensus has been reached on the subject.

Latin hypothesis

In Latin, the genitive case is the declension that is used to indicate ownership or descent, then in this case the ending -ius is used. Thus the son of Gratus it can be Gratius, and yours Gratidius; of Quintus, Quintius and of this, Quintilius, etc. In the period of formation of the Romance languages, and among them Spanish, the father's name in the genitive case would have become the son's surname; but this transition has been crude, rude and arbitrary, not to say illiterate for the most part, resulting in Hispano-Roman names like Munio ending in the patronymics Munizi or Munionis; Sanctius (or Sancio or Sango) results in Sancii, Sangizi and Sanctionis. Then the Germanic Guter and Gutier result in Guterrizi; Rodericus or Rudericus, ending in Roderici, Rodrigizi, Rudriquizi and Roderiquizi. "Indecisive forms" José Godoy Alcántara calls them, who adds that usage soon abolished the last vowel, and then the <z> displaced the <s> and to the <t>. Finally, the ending <-iz>, which would have predominated, would evolve to <-ez>, leaving few survivors, among which Gomis, Ferrandiz, Llopis, Muñiz and Ruiz.

Godoy Alcántara concludes that:

Syncopated the names by the vulgar use until sometimes reduced to monosyllables, they also produced in this pattern form. Ferrando, reduced to Fer, made Ferraz, Ferriz, Ferruz [...] Rodericus or Rudericus, hired Roy or Ruy, formed Roiz and Ruiz [...] Pay, Pelai's syncope, produced Paez. The peculiar accent of the provinces modified the dissents: Aragon and Navarre towards the iz and ez, eiz, and pronounced Lopeiz and Bermudeiz, and of the onis, oil, saying by Galindonis Galindoiz [...] In any name, whatever the origin was, they brought out patronymics, accommodated or more or less approximated to one of these variad forms of genitive.

In the opinion of the academic Alfonso Irigoyen, it would be the Latin possessive suffix -o/-onis that in Basque gave -iz/-itz and from this language it passed into Spanish as -ez. In the documentation of the Basque Country, patronymics ending in -itz and -iz (Lopitz, Lopiz) are common.

Germanic hypothesis

The typical patronymics of the crown of Castile are derived from the father's name through the suffixes "-ez", "-oz", "-iz" and even "-az". The origin of this termination is not clear. It is usually attributed to the Gothic language (-*iks), since it is in Visigothic names where we can find this patronymic ending most frequently. However, we do not find it in the remaining Germanic languages; and in fact, Godoy Alcántara emphasizes that "the Visigoths did not know family names" and that "the Muzarabs, among whom the state of Visigoth society was perpetuated, did not know the family names."

Basque hypothesis

In studies on the history of the Spanish language, scholars such as Rafael Lapesa and Ralph John Penny, wrote and published that it is rather a suffix of pre-Roman origin inherited by this Germanic language; it is also not significant. the fact that these suffixes «-ez», «-iz» and «-oz» are the suffixes of origin or content in Basque, such as «egurrez» («of wood», egur=wood), «harriz» («of stone», harri=stone), «latinez» («from Latin») and «ardoz» («of wine»; «ardoz bete»: «full of wine», ardo=wine). The grammatical form of the patronymic is very similar to that of Basque. In Basque, the suffix «-z» is added if the word ends in a vowel, as in «Muñoz» (from «Munio»), or «-ez» if ends in a consonant, as in "Antúnez" (from "Antón"). This is not always the case with the patronymic, as there are many examples of surnames ending in -ez whose original name ended in 'o', like Galíndez (from Galindo). However, in documents from the X century, XI and XII related to the monastery of Santa María de Nájera, we find a large number of variations of these surnames; among them, Galindoz, Enecoz, Albaroz, Velascoz, Gustioz, Munioz de Alava, Lopiz de Clavijo or Lopiz de Bizcaya. Let us remember that some of the first words in Basque were written, like the first words in Spanish, in the Monastery from San Millán de la Cogolla, in the south of La Rioja. Perhaps that Castilian patronymic -ez is an authentic linguistic loan from Basque, possibly transmitted from Navarra, since the early Castilian language obtained numerous loans from Basque through the Kingdom of Navarra, due to the influence that this kingdom exerted between the 9th and 9th centuries. XI.

The first Navarrese king Íñigo Íñiguez, also known as Íñigo Arista of Pamplona, was the first Iberian monarch to use the patronymic -ez, a circumstance that reinforces the theory of its Basque origin. The name of his son, Gartzea Eneko, second king of Pamplona, means 'Eneko the young', would derive from García Íñiguez, which indicates that García and Íñigo would come from Basque.

While the suffix -ez was the norm among the first Navarrese kings and lords of Vizcaya, the first uses of the suffix -ez among the Leonese monarchy came from the Navarrese queens consorts Jimena of Asturias, Oneca of Pamplona or Urraca Fernández. These marriage alliances between the Christian kingdoms of Navarra and León were common in the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries to protect themselves from Muslim attack.

On the other hand, the first king of Aragon, Ramiro I, is the son of Sancho Garcés III of Pamplona (the 'z' in Basque is pronounced similarly to the 's'; in Spanish) or Sancho el Mayor, grandson of García Sánchez II of Pamplona and great-grandson of Sancho Garcés II of Pamplona, all of them Navarrese kings who used the patronymic -ez.

The reconquest was carried out through the repopulation of the Duero basin, whose population had been decimated by continuous clashes between Muslims and Christians since the century VIII. It is more than likely that many of the settlers were of Navarre, Biscay, Alava and Cantabrian origin and that they used the patronymic -ez.

What's more, it is worth thinking that many of what seem to us to be common Castilian surnames are not only of Basque-Navarrean origin, but also of royal and noble origin, since it is not crazy to assume that the Asturian-Leonese, Aragonese royal families, Navarrese and the nobility of Biscay, Alava and Riojan had a greater number of descendants than the common people, given their higher economic level and consequent life expectancy.

On the other hand, having a patronymic indicates being someone's son. That someone would be an important person or at least well-known in the town, city or region. A person would not be known as Fernández, son or daughter of Fernando, if no one knows who Fernando is. Often, when the person was new to a town, the toponym of the place where they came from or where they lived was used, such as Gallego, Castillo, Bergara, Aguirre ("high place that dominates a piece of land"), Elizondo ("next to the church"); the anthroponymic that described some physical characteristic, such as Delgado, Rubio, Ochoa ("the wolf"); or he was known by his profession, such as Herrero, Cubero, Olaberria (new blacksmith) or Salaberria (new farmer).

It is possible to consider a Gothic origin since the brother of the first king of Asturias (Alfonso I) was known as Fruela Pérez and at that time the kingdom of Navarra did not exist. The surname Pérez was given to him as he was the son of Duke Pedro of Cantabria (Pere), who belonged to the Visigoth aristocracy before the Muslim invasion. However, Basque in ancient times covered a wider area than today and it is believed that its use reached almost as far as modern-day Burgos. In fact, the capital of the Duchy of Cantabria was Amaya, a toponym in Basque that means end or destiny; indicating that it was perhaps located on the border of the duchy (Amai = end, Amaia = the end. The Latin i was often written with Greek 'y').

Exceptions

What ends in -ez does not always indicate a patronymic related to the father's ancestry. For example, Chávez is not the son of Chavo, but originally the name was written in Portuguese or Galician with "s": Chaves, which means "keys".

In Portuguese this ending takes the form -es, and in Catalan, where it is rarer, the form -is. Thus, 'son of Peter' it receives, respectively, the forms Pérez, Peres and Peris; or 'de Fernando' It receives the forms Fernández, Fernandes and Ferrandis. Other frequent surnames in Catalan with this same origin are Eiximenis, Gomis, Llopis and Sanxis (equivalent to Jiménez, Gómez, López and Sánchez).

In other languages

In Germanic languages we have:

• Among many of these, the term was added They are. or sen (“son”), or the genitive “s» «of», from which the northern German form derives «sen» (Jürgensen, Hansen, Erichsen) and with the completion of the genitive (Peters, Jürgens, Martens), the Danish and Norwegian «sen» (Andersen, Nielsen), the English «They are.» (Anderson, Johnson), Swedish They are. with genitivo added that gives double ss (Andersson, Svensson) and the Netherlands zoo more genitive (Pieterszoon).

• Iceland is one of the countries that lack surnames, and in place the employers are employed; in the case of males, the termination is “They are.» (“son”); in the case of females, in “dóttir» (“hija”).

• In Anglo-Saxon countries the prefix abounds «fitz», also with the sense of "son of", although possibly derived from the Latin «filium» through the Norman French; this prefix «fitz», however, he reserved for the illegitimate sons of noble cradle: in the case of the king's sons, Fitzroy, and in the case of the sons of the nobles, Fitzgerald.

In Romance languages we have:

• In Italian, many modern surnames are in patronymic origin composed of preposition of or di united to a man's name (De Martino, Di Benedetto), family (De Carli), profession (De Magistris) or place of origin (Di Bari). Also termination -ini-ani has the same meaning (Giacomini, Paolini).
• In French the preposition has been preserved «of» attached to the father's name (Desimone, Dejaan).

In the surnames of Slavic languages:

• Plant completions are «ovich», «evich», «Tich», «ić», «vić», «ewicz», «wiez», «witsch», «ski» (this is mainly in Polish), «ov» and «ev» (Petróvich, Ljubicic, Vodanovic, Nicoláiev, Davýdov, Nijinski). The surnames of women take different dissents, usually adding the letter «a» to the last name or replacing another vowel: «ovna», «evna», «ova», «eva», «ska» and «skaya» (Pávlova, Deméntieva).

• In Russia, the anthroponymous of a person consists of three elements: a first name, patternimo (or patronymic name) and surname. For example, Antón Pávlovich Chéjov (Antón, son of Pável Chéjov), Anna Pávlovna Pávlova (Anna, daughter of Pável Pávlov); Serguéi Mijáilovich Eisenstein (Serguéi, son of Mikhail Eisenstein), Maya Mijáilovna Plisétskaya (Maya, daughter of Mikhailski)
• In Bulgaria they have a system identical to Russian, but the pattern ends in "ev», «ov», «eva», «ova» (Petar Toshev Mladenov, Emiliya Ivanova Tsvetkova).

Due to historical reasons (the union of Lithuania with Poland in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth for several centuries, or the annexations of Germany and the USSR in the last century), in Lithuanian there are surnames with suffixes that emerged to polonize, teutonize or Russify surnames, as well as other suffixes that indicate "single" or toponymic suffixes. The strictly patronymic suffixes are «"aitis"», «"ius"», «"unas"», «"onis"», « "enas"» e «"ynas"»: Kurtinaitis, Scarunas, Sabonis, Savenas.

In the current Celtic world, in the Gaelic language they are formed with the prefixes «Mac ("son") and "Nic" ("daughter"). In the English transcription, "Mac" is the prefix used for both men and women, although it can be abbreviated to "Mc": thus, the Gaelic patronymics MacDhòmhnaill and NicDhòmhnaill appear in other languages as MacDonald or McDonald. In Ireland, the prefix can also become "Mag" or "M'". However, in Irish surnames the prefix «Ó» («grandson») is more common, transcribed in English as «O'»: thus, the surname Ó Dhòmhnaill appears in other languages as O'Donnell.

In Semitic languages, such as Arabic or Hebrew, it is expressed with the word "ben" ("son"). «Mohamed ben Yusef» means «Mohamed son of Yusef»; and «Judah ben Hur», «Judah son of Hur». In Arabic it can be abbreviated as "aben", and instead of saying "Mohamed ben Yusef", you can simply say "Aben Yusef". Since vowels are not written in Arabic, «ben» can be seen written - depending on the dialect - in Latin characters also as «bin», «ebn » or «ibn» (cf. the prefixes «ben» and «beni», of identical meaning, which are part of the name of many Spanish towns in the region of Valencia and the province of Málaga: Benalmádena...)

In Georgian, the most common patronymic endings are "dze" ("son of") in western Georgia and "shvili" ("child of") in the east, as they appear, for example, in the surname of the Georgian footballer Shotá Arveladze, and in Dzhugashvili, the surname of Stalin.

In Azerbaijan it is customary with the given name to add that of the father with the particle «oğlu» in the case of males (such as Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev), and the particle « qızı» in the case of females (like Aygün Ələsgər qızı Kazımova).