Lithuanian surnames starting with h and x. Which Russian surnames are actually Baltic?

Last name is one of the most basic identifiers of a person, which indicates his belonging to a certain family, clan, people, culture, social class. IN different cultures In both languages, surnames are formed and declined in completely different ways. Let's listen to Lithuanian surnames.

Origin

Conventionally, all Lithuanian surnames can be divided into 2 large groups:

Actually Lithuanian.
Borrowed.

It is interesting that until the 15th century, all Lithuanians used to call themselves exclusively by their name, which was pagan, that is, of local origin.

Christianity penetrated the territory of Lithuania from about the 14th century. The policies pursued in the Middle Ages made this religion dominant. Christian names began to be used more and more widely. However, the Lithuanians did not want to give up their original names so easily, and gradually they transformed into surnames. In the 15-16 centuries, only rich and noble families with some weight in society could have surnames. But the widespread distribution of surnames began only in the 18th century.

Basic meanings of surnames

The Lithuanian language has hardly changed over the past centuries. However, despite this, it is still difficult to understand some Lithuanian surnames.

If a surname has the suffixes –enas or –aytis, then it obviously came from the name of a distant ancestor, because the meaning of such a suffix is the son of someone. That is, Baltrushaitis is literally the son of Baltrus, and Vytenas is the son of Vitas.

If Lithuanian surname has the suffix -skiy, which is familiar to the Russian ear, then it indicates the place of origin of the genus. Famous family Piłsudski, for example, came from the Samogit region of Piłsudy. But the Oginsky family most likely received their surname in honor of the Uogintai estate given to him in 1486 for his high services to the fatherland.

Of course, in Lithuanian surnames, like in all others, the occupation of the ancestor is often encrypted. For example, the surname Leitis indicates that the ancestor was in the “Leith service”, that is, he was the caretaker of the military horses of the Grand Duke himself and his closest subjects. Such a caretaker was subordinate only directly to the prince and to no one else.

Some Lithuanian surnames are derived from the names of animals. For example, Ozhialis comes from “ozhka”, which means “goat”, and Vilkas from “vilkas”, that is, “wolf”. In Russian it would sound like Kozlov or Volkov.

In interpreting Lithuanian surnames, a certain amount of caution must be observed, because etymology is a delicate matter, and sometimes the origin of a surname can have several versions.

Men's surnames

Let's name the 10 most common surnames in today's Lithuania. This:

Kazlauskas.
Petrauskas.
Jankauskas.
Stankevicius.
Vasiliauskas.
Žukauskas.
Butkevicius.
Paulauskas.
Urbonas.
Kavaliauskas.

All male surnames end in –s. This is their main feature.

Women's surnames

If the surname ends in -e, then this indicates that it belongs to a woman. Women's surnames may also differ from men's surnames by a suffix, which will directly depend on whether the woman bears the surname of her father or husband.

From paternal surnames, female surnames are formed using suffixes:

-it.

The ending -e is added to the suffix.

For example, Orbakas - Orbakaite, Katilyus - Katilyute, Butkus - Butkute.

The following suffixes are added to the root of the husband's surname:

- less often;
-uven;
-juven.

The ending is still the same. Examples: Grinius - Grinyuvene, Varnas - Varnene.

In 2003, the formation of female surnames was somewhat simplified at the legislative level and women were allowed not to form a surname using these suffixes.

A woman's surname can now be formed like this: Raudis - Raude.

Declension

All Lithuanian surnames are declined according to case (like all nouns). The cases are almost similar to Russian: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and locative (analogue of prepositional).

Let's look at the case declension of the surnames Kyaulakine and Kyaulakis.

Kaulakienė (female)

Them. P. – Kaulakienė

R.P. – Kaulakienės

D.P. – Kaulakienei

V. P. – Kaulakienę

T.P. – Kaulakiene

M.P. – Kaulakienę

Kaulakys (male)

Them. P. – Kaulakys

R.P. – Kaulakio

D.P. – Kaulakiui

V.P. – Kaulakį

T.P. – Kaulakiu

M.P. – Kaulakį

Declension, as in the Russian language, is carried out by changing endings. When translated into Russian, female Lithuanian surnames are not declined, but male surnames are declined according to the rules of the Russian language.

Until recently, in official documents of Lithuanians the first, last and first names of the father were written in genitive case. Today there is no middle name in the passport. All Russians moving to Lithuania also lose their middle name.

Most Lithuanian surnames, as we see, have ancient roots, so studying surnames can provide extensive information about the history and culture of the Lithuanian people.

Lithuanian names, like the names of representatives of the majority European peoples, consist of two main elements: personal name (lit.vardas) and surname (lit.pavardė). When women get married, they change the ending of their last name to indicate that they are married.

Female surnames: rules of formation

Lithuanian women's surnames have this peculiarity - in Russian they are not declined even during transcription. This rule does not apply to male Lithuanian surnames. On this moment women have the right not to use these suffixes to form a surname. It is not uncommon for Lithuanian surnames to have a zero ending. In Russian, only male surnames are declined, while female surnames, as a rule, remain unchanged. Many Lithuanian surnames can be translated literally into Russian, but it would be correct to translate them using transcription.

If a Lithuanian surname has the suffix -sky, which is familiar to the Russian ear, then it indicates the place of origin of the family. The famous Piłsudski family, for example, came from the Samogit region of Piłsudy. But the Oginsky family most likely received their surname in honor of the Uogintai estate given to him in 1486 for his high services to the fatherland. Some Lithuanian surnames are derived from the names of animals. In interpreting Lithuanian surnames, a certain amount of caution must be observed, because etymology is a delicate matter, and sometimes the origin of a surname can have several versions.

Many Latvians attach this letter to Russian surnames, for example, “Lenin” in their language sounds like Lenins, as the rules of grammar require it. But if they are used in Russian translation, then a different rule applies: for women they do not bow, but for men it’s the other way around.

In Russia, for example, the suffix “-ich” was given only to those who were close to the tsar and royal family, but in Lithuania they assigned it to everyone. The Lithuanian nobility did not like the sound of surnames like this: they saw the influence of Russia in this, so over time they began to actively change this suffix to the one that the Poles also used - “-sky”.

The end of the 20th century showed that about 30 percent of Lithuanian surnames are surnames Lithuanian origin, but 70 percent do not. Most of the surnames have Slavic origin. The third type included single-base personal names. They were formed from common nouns. These words could be nicknames. Some personal names also began to turn into surnames, as well as suffixed patronymics and epithets. Nicknames were common in the 16th century. but over time they turned into surnames. Interestingly, the Lithuanian anthroponymic system contains about 3000 personal names. Therefore, it is very difficult to understand the names and surnames of the inhabitants of this country.

Employees of the registry office of the Pushkinsky district of the Moscow region flatly refuse to register a newborn under a Lithuanian surname. As officials explain, in the Moscow region the peculiarities of Lithuanian spelling are invalid. After some time, Tatyana filed an application to change her first and last name, and only after this procedure she became Karnauskiene. At the Lithuanian Embassy, for $50, Karnauskas was given a certificate on the spelling of national surnames. I found. Brought it to the registry office. But there they told me again that in the Moscow region there is no law on the formation of surnames with other rules,” my interlocutor continues.

Diversity and features of Lithuanian surnames

Surnames of Lithuanian origin. Lithuanian surnames are either nouns or adjectives in origin. Latvian surnames come from nouns, less often from adjectives. Like Lithuanian surnames, they always end in -s (cf. Lit. -as), -§, -is, -us, -a and -e. As in Lithuanian, these endings nominative case and does not occur in other cases.

A surname is one of the most basic identifiers of a person, which indicates his belonging to a certain family, clan, people, culture, and social class. In different cultures and languages, surnames are formed and declined in completely different ways.

On the Internet you can find lists and the 20 most common names of newborns in Lithuania for the period starting from 1999. The source of this data is still indicated by the same Resident Registration Service. It is known and very common among Kazakh women female name Saule, which etymologists trace to the Kazakh saule “ray of light.” Ugnė – from Lithuanian ugnis (“fire”). 3. Also derived from the Lithuanian words urtas (“ great desire; self-confidence"), from Danish urt "plant, herb" and even from Albanian urti "wise". 4. Also considered as a variant of the Hebrew name Ruth (possibly “friend”) and Dorothea – Greek (“gift” + “god”). Viltė – from Lithuanian viltis (“hope”).

We present a list of popular Lithuanian male and female surnames. Here you can find true Lithuanian surnames. Lithuanian surnames origin, list of popular surnames.

That’s right - most Lithuanian surnames have Slavic suffixes, and many have Slavic roots. On the other hand, the forms of many Christian names in surnames bear a trace of their common people's reinterpretation among the Slavs. I really remember the article by Academician Zinkevicius about the surname Syanis. It seems like it couldn’t be more searching, “old man” in Lithuanian. There are probably no purely Lithuanian surnames in the top ten. Urbonas is not Samogitia at all, but pure Latin.

The Litovsky surname belongs to the old type of Russian surnames, formed from a personal nickname. The nickname Lithuanian belongs to a number of similar nicknames. Obviously, the Litovsky surname has an interesting centuries-old history, testifying to the diversity of ways in which Russian surnames appeared.

Lithuanian names, being among the most poetic and imaginative, reflect the entire rich heritage of the Lithuanian people and diversity cultural traditions. A two-term method of naming arose: personal names received special definitions (for example, Mindaugas, brother of Vangstis; Sugintas, son of Neivaitas). After baptism, the courtiers of Grand Duke Vytautas were called by two personal names - Christian and Old Lithuanian (for example, “Mikolas, otherwise Minigaila”; “Albertas, otherwise Manividas”). After the introduction of the Polish language in the chancellery in 1697, Lithuanian suffixes, and with them sometimes the surnames themselves, began to be translated into Polish (for example, Oželis, Ożunas > Kozlowski). TO XVIII century a heterogeneous system of Lithuanian surnames of different origins was formed.

In the same way, you can achieve the preservation of the Lithuanian version of the female surname in marriage. Another question is - who needs it, butting heads with Russian bureaucrats?! There is such a difficulty here: the bearer of the surname is often not ready to agree that his surname is declining. And no reference to the rules of the Russian language can help: they are broken by the “iron” argument - the surname is not Russian. I write a document in Russian, all my surnames are Russian.”

But it should be noted that Lithuanians used such surnames only in colloquial speech. Officially, they were recorded in documents according to Slavic metrics. Purely Lithuanian endings The surnames, therefore, are as follows: –aitis (Adomaitis), -is (alis), –as (Eidintas), and there may also be an ending –a (Radvila).

In Lithuania, it is customary to be proud of your surnames. Sometimes the explanation of their origin takes on completely fantastic versions. It’s much simpler, for example, with Koshkinaite: her mother is Koshkinene, her father is Koshkinas, but actually they are Koshkins. Or my favorite singer Shchegolevite: mom - Shchegolevene, dad - Shchegolevas” - from the word “schegol”.

There are many similar examples that can be given, but we will not talk about them, since these are newly formed surnames. It is much more interesting to trace the origin of the surnames of people who have lived here for centuries.

Our interlocutor is Zigmas ZINKEVICIUS, a famous Lithuanian philologist who worked as director of the Institute of the Lithuanian Language, was the Minister of Education of Lithuania, and the author of more than 60 books. Recently, by the way, his next book “Surnames of Polish-speaking Vilnius” (“Vilnijos lenkakalbių pavardės”) was published.

The origin of the surnames of Lithuanian citizens is integrally connected with the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), so we will constantly return to it. Let's start with the following.

In the Middle Ages, not only in Lithuania, but in all European countries, and even beyond its borders, the language of the state chancellery was not colloquial of one or another people who created the state, and inherited from the languages of the ancient eras of those regions. For example, in countries Western Europe that was Latin language, it was also the official written language of Poland until the end of the 14th century, that is, before Jogaila came to power there, and even, one might say, until the middle of the 16th century.

IN Eastern Europe This function was performed by the so-called Old Church Slavonic language, and since it was first used in church affairs, we call it the Church Slavonic language.” Then in Kievan Rus it, with the addition of local Slavic elements, became a written state language.

Before the arrival of Peter I in Rus', it was said that “one must speak Russian and write in Slavic.” Due to the fact that in the Middle Ages the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded its borders up to the Black Sea and the Moscow region, it used two written languages: Latin was used to communicate with the West, Old Slavonic - with the East. During the time of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, there were many elements from Ukraine, from the Lutsk region, since the princely scribes most likely came from there. Later everything began to appear in it more elements Belarusian language, but it did not become either Ukrainian or Belarusian language, preserving the entire grammatical structure of Church Slavonic.

An interesting excursion into history, but how is it related to the origin of surnames?

First things first. Lithuanian nobles began to acquire surnames with the advent of Christianity in Lithuania at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, but only a small part acquired them, and mostly surnames spread among the nobility at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries.

What does "last name" mean? Heritage! Heritage, that is, belonging to one specific family. The people, the inhabitants of villages in Lithuania did not have surnames until late XVIII century, when they were finally approved by the general census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the issuance of passports. For example, someone's name was Peter - his son became Petrovich, and his children received the same surname. And this is no coincidence: since the 16th century, the Church Slavonic language became established in Lithuania as the state clerical language, and the use of Latin decreased.

Let me give you an example: during the time of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Žigimantas Augustas, four and a half times more documents were written in Slavic than in Latin. That’s why during the population census they didn’t pay attention to a person’s nationality or what language he spoke: they simply added the suffixes “-ovich” and “-evich” to the names of fathers. It should be especially noted that on the territory of Poland the Poles did not have such a suffix; they had the suffixes “-owitz”, “-jevic”, which were preserved in the names of cities, for example, Katowice.

Surnames with the suffixes “-ovich” and “-evich” came to Poland in connection with the annexation of the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Poland. Important point, which interested me very much: the fact is that these suffixes “-ovich”, “-evich” are complex, consisting of “-ov”, “-ev” and “-ich”. In Muscovy, that is, before the emergence Russian Empire, “-ich” meant belonging to the royal family or the nobility closest to the tsar: Petrovich, Orlovich, Yuryevich, etc.

In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, during the census, the opposite happened: the suffix “-ich” was given to everyone, regardless of origin.

Then the following happened: over time, the Lithuanian nobility began, let’s call the process so, “Polishing”, they began to look at surnames with the endings “-ovich”, “-evich”, believing, however, rightfully, that they came to Lithuania from Russia. In addition, these suffixes were foreign to the Poles, and the Lithuanian nobility began to massively change the suffixes “-ovich”, “-evich” to the suffix “-sky”. For example, there was Petrovich - he became Petrovsky, and Orlovich - Orlovsky, and so on.

However, I want to note: the suffix “-sky” also existed in Eastern Slavs, and among the Poles, but the difference is that for a long time in Poland the suffix “-sky” was used to create surnames from local names. To make it clearer: some Volsky definitely comes from the Polish village of Volya, and the surname Petrovsky definitely comes from the name Peter - this surname does not particularly “smell” of Polish, but was “seen” from the fashion that existed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at that time.

How can you explain the origin of the names of very rich, famous Lithuanian nobles: Radvil, Sapieha, Oginsky?

- “Radvila” - typically Baltic Lithuanian given name, consisting of two basic roots. Everything is clear here. According to the research of our historians, the Sapiehas descended from a certain Semyon, who was the clerk of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kazimiras - this is the middle of the 15th century, he came to Lithuania from the Smolensk lands. Slavic philologists do not have a unanimous opinion about the origin of the surname Sapega: some also see a Turkish origin, since in those days the Mongol-Tatars had enormous influence in those parts.

The Oginski family is an old one (I will not bother readers with unnecessary information about their historical services to Lithuania, all this already belongs to history, but I just want to mention the well-known and famous “Oginski Polonaise”). The ancestor of the family is the grandson of the Smolensk appanage prince Vasily Glushina - Dmitry Glushonok. In 1486 Grand Duke the Lithuanian gave him the Uogintai estate, which is located on the territory of the modern Kaisiadorsky district, and, of course, if you wish, you can hear the correspondence between the name of the courtyard and again educated surname.

All over the world, Lithuanians are called “Labas”, well, this is understandable: from the word “labas” - “hello”. However, their belonging to the Lithuanian nation is also determined by the ending of their surnames with “-s”: Deimantas, Budrys, Petkevičius - there are millions of them. When did they appear?

No one knows. In the old days, the suffixes “-aytis”, “-enas”, etc. they determined whose son it was: for example, Baraitis is the son of Baras, Vytenas is the son of Vitas. Lithuanian surnames have been found in lists of servants of estates since the 16th century. However, I want to especially emphasize: Lithuanians used Lithuanian surnames only in oral speech, in official documents the same surnames were written in the Slavic manner until the beginning of the 20th century. For example, the Lithuanian patriarch, the most famous Lithuanian Jonas Basanavičius, was recorded in the metrics as Ivan Basanovich, since in tsarist times It couldn’t have been any other way, since all metrics were conducted in Russian! In general, it should be noted that the totality of Christian proper names is mainly international.

The oldest layer is biblical names Hebrew language, then comes the Greek layer, Latin, Germanic, etc. - Adams, Solomons, Alexanders, Anatolias, Hermans, Georges, and so on. That is why these names do not and cannot show nationality. For example, if the name Victor is recorded in written documents from the times of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then its bearer could be a Pole, a Lithuanian, or a representative of another nation. The nationality of the conditional Victor can only be established if some suffix was added to him.

For example, if the name Victor was appended with his diminutive form“-el”, then they received the typically Lithuanian name Viktorelis.

The area around Vilnius is entirely populated by Poles, that is, people who bear Polish surnames and speak Polish. I have heard more than once that they have been living here since ancient times, or at least for a very, very long time. They say that the Polish lords brought their serfs here and thus settled the Vilnius region.

No, no and NO! This is absolutely not how things happened. Scientists have long established that in large areas in the forest part Central Europe- from Moscow to the Vistula River and even further - the oldest hydronyms, that is, the names of rivers and lakes, are of Baltic origin. Therefore, there is no doubt that a certain Baltic language was spoken in this vast territory.

The Slavs appeared there relatively recently, somewhere around

VI century AD. The Lithuanians lived here for more than two thousand years, one might say, in isolation, and only they from the Baltic massif created a state.

The roads of the Poles and Lithuanians did not intersect - they were separated by the Baltic tribe of the Yatvingians. And only after the crusaders destroyed them, the Poles and Lithuanians began to look for each other. Only then!

The Polish language began to penetrate into Lithuania at the end of the 14th century under the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila, who became the Polish king. At that time, Lithuanian nobles “won back” the law, which was written into the Statute: people from the Kingdom of Poland do not have the right to buy land in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania! The only way to acquire land - to marry a Lithuanian woman, and this position was strictly adhered to until the end of the 18th century, until the disappearance of the united state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth! And we are, of course, not talking about common people, but only about the nobles Polish surnames- commoners were serfs back then. So this is a myth - they say, the Poles settled the Vilnius region: there was a “Polishing” of the local people through schools and - especially - churches, in which teaching and services were carried out on Polish language.

The common people in the Vilnius region began to speak Polish only at the end of the last quarter of the 19th century - all the villages around Vilnius were Lithuanian! Many Poles from Poland came to Vilnius and the Vilnius region at a time when the city and region belonged to Poland - in 1921-1939.

Now we move on to the most fundamental things. When scientists “removed” the Polish and - in general - Slavic layer from the names of people speaking Polish in the Vilnius region, that is, phonetics and acquired from the clerical Old Slavonic language suffixes - remained 100% very beautiful personal Lithuanian names. That is modern surnames Vilnius Poles are created from former Lithuanian names. And here’s what’s interesting: these personal names, by their meaning, indicate the former past greatness of the ancient Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Mr. Zinkevicius, your statements will not particularly please the Poles living in Lithuania!

I have devoted more than sixty years to science and I am responsible for my words, since I operate only with facts. Let's say the names officials ON In those days there were no telephones, radio, television and extremely important role couriers, envoys, and heralds played. They were called differently, personal names were used, from which surnames were later derived. For example, Shavkalo, Shavkolovsky, look: if we discard the suffixes, we will see the word “shaukalas”, and in the ancient Lithuanian language it defined the person who “shaukola” - announced the will of the Grand Duke. Or Begunovich, from the word “begunas” - a person who runs fast. Let's take the surnames Leitovich, Leitovsky, Leith, Leitis.

Yeah, from the word “Lithuanian”!

But no: in the clerical state Lithuanian language we find the word “leiti”, it meant a certain social stratum of people of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania who were engaged in the so-called “leitian service”. They obeyed only the Grand Duke and looked after the prince's military horses. And names settlements Lajčiai and Lajčiai also take us back to ancient times. So the given Polish surnames reflect the social stratum that once existed, let’s call them privileged grooms. And there are many such examples, I have mentioned only a few. Or here’s another: surnames created from the names given at birth. They came to Lithuania in two ways - from Byzantium through Kievan Rus and from the West through the German lands: the Germans baptized the Czechs, the Czechs - the Poles, and the Poles - us, Lithuanians. They retain elements of “intermediaries”. For example, the name Vasily came to us from Byzantium, since it has Greek origin, meaning "royal". However, the same name, which came to us from the West, is pronounced "Basilius", since the letter "s", according to German phonetics, turned into a "z". The most interesting thing: the surnames of Poles in the Vilnius region, derived from the names given at birth, mostly have roots from Byzantium rather than from Poland, which means a special influence on this region of Kievan Rus.

From the same Vasily came the Vasilevskys, Vasilkovskys, Vasilevichs, etc. And from Basilius - one or two surnames that came from Poland, for example, Bazilevich.

The parents of the current President of Poland Komorowski are from Lithuania...

The etymology of this surname is unclear, since it is unclear when and where they came from to Lithuania. Perhaps their ancestors in tsarist times could have moved to Lithuania from the Polish hinterland and bought land here, since in those days Polish nobles were allowed to purchase it in Lithuania. I'll give you an example of more interesting fact origin of one very famous surname. We are talking about a poet, laureate Nobel Prize Czeslaw Milosz. He comes from a village located in Panevėžys County. I myself visited there several times with the poet, since I knew him well. It’s curious: his neighbors called him not Milos, but Milasius, that is, they used an older form of the surname, and then it became “Polished.”

I'll bring you interesting fact: a statement written by him in 1941 addressed to the rector of Vilnius University, Professor Konchius, has been preserved. Then the Vilnius region was annexed to Lithuania, and part of Kaunas University was “moved” to Vilnius. So, in that statement, Milosz asks the rector to issue a certificate listing the subjects he studied at the university, since, apparently, he did not finish it, and signed: “Czeslav Milasius”, and at the bottom, in parentheses, wrote: “Milosz”. You see, he, like Marshal J. Pilsudski, dreamed of reviving the disappeared state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth within the old borders and considered himself its citizen.

But Pilsudski is also from Lithuania! Where did this surname come from?

I'll tell you an almost anecdotal incident. After the war, a discussion broke out in Polish newspapers about the origin of the Pilsudski surname; there were many versions, even fantastic ones. Wojciech Smoczynski, my student, came to us at Vilnius University to study from Poland. Apparently, he was “sick” of this controversy, and he wrote an article on this topic. After all, everything is very simple: the surname Pilsudski comes from the word “Pilsudy”, which denoted an area in Samogitia, once there was a manor there, but now three small villages have survived. The Pilsudskis are from there: “Pilsudy” plus the suffix “-ski”, which determines their place of residence. Moreover: his grandfather’s surname is originally Lithuanian - Ginetas! But due to the fact that the whole family came from Pilsud, the Pilsudski surname stuck, then they moved to Vilnius, where the future marshal was born.

A quick question: where does Lokis, a very common surname among Poles in the Vilnius region, come from, as well as the surname of the brilliant Lithuanian artist - Ciurlionis and the great Lithuanian basketball player - Sabonis?

It’s not difficult to answer: the surname Lokis is undoubtedly of Lithuanian origin. The fact is that the Slavs did not have the diphthong “au”, and therefore it was transformed into “ov”. The surname Lokis comes from the ancient Lithuanian word “laukas” - this is the name given to the white star on the forehead of a cow or a bull. And Čiurlionis is the son of Čiurlis, Sabonis comes from the name Sebastianas, abbreviated Sabas, that is, Sabonis is the son of Sabas (from Sebastian).

Interviewed by Romuald SILEVICH,

From the editor. The published material may cause mixed assessments. And that's great! But “Review” in this situation would like to especially emphasize that we will publish only those responses and comments that do not offend the opponent, but contribute to clarifying the truth and encourage us all to be more attentive to our roots.

I couldn’t sleep one night... So I decided to google a list of the most common Lithuanian surnames.
Funny? Nothing funny.

The reason for this was a dispute that arose the day before with a friend and relative, my son’s godfather, Andrei Andrijauskas. Lithuanian, as the surname suggests.
So here it is. What are we hooked on? Lithuanian, Lithuania is still nearby, we go sometimes... Andrei said that despite his origin, “well, he just can’t learn this damn language.” But I, on the contrary, noticed that “..how can it be, the languages are related, of course nothing is clear at first, but it’s very easy to learn, the roots of the words are mostly the same Slavic, it’s easy to remember..” To which Andrei, his eyes bulging, stated that this is a Scandinavian (!!!) group of languages, which has nothing in common with continental European (especially Slavic) languages, the language is ancient and incomprehensibly mysterious.
Neither my admonitions nor Google convinced him or my brother’s wife (also Lithuanian) otherwise. They stand their ground and that’s it!
Well, you've probably heard how stubborn Lithuanians can be...

Therefore, I declared in my hearts “.. Andrijauskas is Andriyavsky with the typical Belarusian “long-u” and the replacement of the unstressed vowel ending with the signature Lithuanian “-as, -is.” And this surname cannot be Lithuanian (yes), but and Polish, because Poles replace “r” before a vowel with “-zh-, -sh-”, and there is a typical Belarusian one, because there was once the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was the only original Russia before the start of its polonization And in general - look at Lithuanian words and then at Lithuanian surnames and you will suddenly find yourself dumbfounded by your language and origin...." !!!

Let's get back to last names. The fact remains - no matter how much you change the ending, the origin of the surname is obvious. So “Mamedov” does not automatically become Russian.

Does this mean that there are no Lithuanian surnames? Against. The country is rich in original surnames and given names. Lithuanians have about 3 thousand proper names alone. That's a lot. But these prevail. It is a fact.
And why?

History, guys, look at history.

PS: I would like to say separately about the Lithuanian language. I like this language. And I like it precisely because of that archaic antiquity, from which it emanates Sanskrit and ancient Slavic. This language is a monument. And no Latvian, also included in the subgroup, stands nearby. This language must be protected. And I am in favor with both hands - let the young country, essentially re-creating the nation today, choose this unique ancient language for your future. But there is no need to rewrite the past. Just go to the museum and see in what language all the documents and laws of ancient Lithuania were written. We can be proud of this past.
After all, without a past, we have no roots. And without roots, the contents will sooner or later become dry.

Since in the XIV-XV centuries, during its heyday, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania actually owned half of the Russian lands, close administrative and cultural ties led to the spread in our country of names, words and expressions characteristic of the neighboring state. It is the surnames of Lithuanian origin that make up most similar Baltic borrowings. Residents of Pskov and Novgorod felt a particularly strong influence from their neighbors.

For example, in the north-west of Russia the surname Paskalov is found, derived from the nickname Pascal. The word paskala is translated from Lithuanian as “whip”. That is, this could be called a person with a sharp tongue, whose critical remarks are quite painful. And his descendants later received a surname derived from this nickname.

There is virtually no doubt that the ancestors of the Litvinovs, Litvins, Litvintsevs, Litovkins and Litvyakovs have corresponding roots.
The famous linguist Zigmas Zinkevicius, author of numerous scientific works on this topic, wrote that in XVI-XVII centuries representatives of the Lithuanian nobility often changed their surnames, adding the ending -skiy to them. To be called in imitation of the gentry (the privileged Polish class) was considered prestigious. Thus, the old Oginski family once owned the Uogintai estate, located on the territory of the Kaisiadorsky district. This is where the surname came from.

After the annexation of Lithuania to the Russian Empire, the process of forced Russification of this Baltic country began. In the 19th century, printing in the Latin alphabet was banned, and the Lithuanian language was transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet. Last names also changed. For example, Jonas Basanavičius was already listed in official documents as Ivan Basanovich. And after moving to Russia, the suffix -ich could well have disappeared from the surname of his descendants - here you have the Basanovs.

Many Lithuanians, after moving to St. Petersburg, Moscow or other cities in our country, did not want to differ from the bulk of the population, so they often changed their surnames. So, Kazlauskas became Kozlov, Petrauskas - Petrov, Yankauskas - Yankovsky, Vasilyauskas - Vasiliev, Zhukauskas - Zhukov, Pavlauskas - Pavlov, Kovalyauskas - Kovalev, Simonaytas - Simonov, Vitautas - Vitovski, Vyshchelev - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilkas - Vilka - Vilkin, etc. P.

As a rule, surnames formed from similar names and nicknames were simply Russified. It was enough to replace the characteristic suffix -as with the traditional Russian ending-s. If the Lithuanian surname ended in -is, then during the “translation” they added -in to it. For example, the Lithuanian word “laukas” means a kind of “star” that appears on the forehead of various livestock: cows, oxen, horses. From this word the surname Lokis was formed (the diphthong “au” was transformed into one sound “o”), and on Russian soil the descendants of its bearer turned into the Lokins.

Representatives of the Lithuanian nobility, fleeing civil strife or in search of profit, often moved to Russia and entered the service of the Moscow kings. They became the founders of such ancient noble families as the Pronsky, Belsky, Glinsky, Khovansky, Mstislavsky, Khotetovsky.