It's a combination of two suffixes (also
occurring in isolation): the patronymic or possessive *-ov- (as in Ivan-ov or
Gasior-ow-ski, with the variant *-ev-, originally added to roots ending in a
palatal consonant), and patronymic *-ik- > *-ic [-its]/*-ic^ [-itS]. The
<c/c^> results from the so-called progressive palatalisation in late
Common Slavic, producing different reflexes in different dialects.
Older Polish surnames had the West Slavic
ending -(ow)ic/-(ew)ic, but now they mostly have -owicz/-ewicz [-ovitS] due to
East Slavic influence radiating from the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the
Polonised gentry in those parts had surnames in -icz).
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2000 9:26 PM
Subject: [tied] -(o,e)vic^
What's the meaning of Slavic patronymic suffix
-o/evic^ ? What's its origin? Baltic languages has something
analogous?