Antroponimia Żydów Białostockich

Abstract

Anthroponymy contained in the documents of the Jewish community in Białystok in the 19th and 20th c. is analyzed against the background of the history of Jews and the history of the region. A detailed analysis of anthroponymic material from the oldest period, i.e. the period from 1835 to 1877. It is supplemented by the anthroponymy collected in works by Z. Abramowicz: 1. Christian names of Bialystokers in the sociolinguistic aspect (1885-1985); Etymological dictionary of Białystok Jews, Białystok 2003. The anthroponymic material contained in the book by L. Dacewicz Anthroponymy of Podlasie Jews in 16th-18th c., Białystok 2008 is referred to for comparison. In 19th c. and at the beginning of 20th c. Białystok was a city of borders of cultures. Multilingualism and multiculturalism of Białystok were the inheritance of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was reflected in the languages and anthroponymy of various ethnic groups of the region, including the anthroponymy of Białystok Jews. Jewish names were the least prone to undergo changes. The notations in the original birth certificates show that in 19th c., likewise in the previous periods, the ancestors’ traditions were observed. At the ceremony of circumcision they gave names from their own system: a) biblical: Aron, Abram, Beniamin, Oszer etc.; Asna, Chana, Ester, Sora etc.; b) post-biblical: Chaim; Chaja and others; c) Yiddish: Falk, Fiszer, Hirsz; Brajna, Fejga, Gołda etc.; more than one name were given and names were given after dead relatives. Slavic influences are observed in the following cases: 1. giving names in phonetically modified forms under the influence of Slavic languages, mainly Polish and Russian, but also Belorussian and Ukrainian: Jankiel, Owszej, Mowsza etc. 2. making shortened and hypocoristic forms following the Slavic pattern: Srol, Icko, Szajka, Judka, Lejbko, Mordko; Pesia, Elka, Stirka etc. 3. giving names from the Christian system of nomination; 3. borrowing Slavic hypocoristic forms: Grigiorij, Leon; Berta, Blanka, Cecylia, Regina etc. The oldest nineteenth-century sources show the process of formation of surnames of Białystok Jews, which should be considered artificial. Surnames were imposed on Jews by the authorities of the Russian Empire. The lexical base of Białystok Jews’ surnames is Slavic languages, mainly Polish and Russian, Yiddish and Hebrew. The patterns of the countries of settlement were used to form surnames. Anthroponymic names registered in the birth certificates of Białystok Jews, which performed the function of surnames in the 19th c., are discussed in several groups. Two main semantic groups of surnames are distinguished: I Formed in a natural way, as the answer to the question: 1. patronymic (answering the question: whose is X, who does X belong to; 2. toponymic (where is X from, where does X live); 3. occupational (which job does X do, which function does X perform); 4. characterizing of nickname type (what does X look like, how does X behave). II. Formed in an artificial way, without any connection with the person named: 1. artificial nicknames, which could be given by office workers to humiliate a person; 2. ornamental names, cultural ones, taken and formed by the persons named. In each of the groups listed above there are names following Slavic and German patterns. A very numerous group is the one composed of names based on the Hebrew tradition. The names ending in -owicz/-ewicz: Abelewicz, Ajzykowicz, Dajłowicz etc. are predominant among patronymic names of Slavic origins. The Russian language had the greatest influence on their formation. The formations ending in -owicz/-ewicz constituted ‘otchestvo’, the compulsory element of the three-component Russian anthroponymic system. This system of nomination was imposed on the Jews in the Russian Empire. Jewish patronymic surname ending in -owicz/-ewicz was formed on the base of the patronym of the person named. Other patronymic suffixes were not so productive. Among matronymic surnames the Slavic suffix -in: Maszkin, Riwkin, Rosin etc. Patronymic surnames are modelled on the German patterns, there are mainly compounds with the element -son/-zon, -kind, -man: Wolfson, Iserzon, Meerzon. Among matronymic names formations with the suffix modelled on the inflection of the German genitive: -es, -s, -is, -us: Jentkes, Dwoszes, Goldes, Szoszes and others. There are also patronymic names formally equal to first names: Jafe, Szneer, Szmul, Feliks etc. Names ending in -i are also of importance: Icchaki, Gerszuny etc and so are acronyms: Bad, Bał, Barak, Bat, Baf and others. The notations in the birth certificates of the Jewish people from the period from 1835 to 1877 prove that the basic core of toponymic names was formed in like it had been in autochthonous people in previous centuries. Surnames derived from place names were created by: 1. omitting the preposition z / iz: place name Baranowiczi > z / iz Baranowicz > personal name Baranowicz. 2. shifting the place name from the class of toponymic names to the class of anthroponyms: place name Tykocin = personal name Tykocin, Tyktyn etc. 3. by adding suffixes: place name Zabłudów > personal name Zabłudowski. A typical characteristic of Białystok Jews’ toponymic surnames is the dominance of names formed by the addition of the suffix -ski. The names ending in -ski were created on the base of names of cities and towns of Podlasie as well as the place names from the Vilnius and Grodno areas and the Polish Kingdom: Wasilkowski, Zabłudowski, Tykociński, Knyszyński, Grodzieński, Wołpiański, Trocki, Wileński, Warszawski, Lubliński etc. The development of occupational names is closely connected with the economic progress of the region. In Białystok in the 19th c. two factors contributed greatly to the economic development of the city: 1. the customs border between the Russian Empire and the Polish Kingdom and was created as a result of repressions of the November Uprising; 2. building the Warsaw-Petersburg railway going via Białystok. The formation of Białystok Industrial Circle and flourishing economic development of the city was reflected in Jews’ personal onomastics. Professional names were formed on the lexical base of Slavic languages as well as Yiddish and Hebrew. The lexis of the Hebrew language was the base of surnames connected with jobs typical of Jewish people: Chajet, Mełamed, Sochor, Sofer, Szochet, Sendak etc. The names of jobs connected with trade, textile industry and craft were formed on the base of Slavic languages and Yiddish. Naming the job done by a given person, they became the surname of the whole family over the course of time. Professional names were formed on the base of various languages and they were often translated. That is why there are series of surnames formed on the base of the name of one profession in a number of languages: Gaufman / Kaufman – Gendler – Kupiec – Kupczyk – Ławocznik; Gozez – Cyrulik and Cyrulnik – Fleczer – Postrzygacz; Guterman – Czapnik – Kapelusznik – Kapeloszni – Micer; Daskal – Lerer –Mełamed – Uczitiel; Flejszer – Kajleron – Miasnik – Reznik – Szejchet – Szlachter etc. All the above mentioned types of surnames copied nomination patterns foreign to the Jewish culture; yet, they were developed in a natural way. What distinguishes the Jewish anthroponymy in the researched area is the artificial surnames, which were formed by bearers themselves. They performed ornamental, metaphoric and wishing functions. As to their genesis, they were close to many Jewish, theophoric and wishing names. They were formed on the base of biblical symbolism, references to the history of the Jewish people. The lexical base was mostly Yiddish: Ejnhorn, Goldenbach, Goldenberg, Rosenfeld, Rosengold, Rozencwejg etc. The Slavic names of this kind were often calques of the personal names earlier formed in Yiddish or the Hebrew language, e.g. Modrykamień, Perłowagóra, Szczęsnagóra etc.