--- In
cybalist@egroups.com, "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> 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
>
Patronymic *-ik-? But the normal reflex for East Slavic would be only
*-ic (or the original *-ik would be retained, as in Old Pskov and
other Krivichian-based dialects), I've never heard of *-c^ examples.
Considering this fact, as well as that
1. *tj was nornally reflected as *c^ in East Slavic and *c in West
Slavic
2. in Lithuanian we have patronimic -aitis(m)/-aite.(f):-ytis(m)/-yte.
(f):-u_tis/u_te. <a,y,u_ acuted> (like in
2.1 Gediminas 'personal name [of a Grand Duke, attributed founder of
Vilnius]' > Gediminatis 'descendant of Gediminas'
2.2 Gedris 'father's last name'>Gedryte. 'daughter's last name (prior
to her marriage)'; the older form could be something like -VHti-
(consider stress),
I would rather vote for Common Slavic -itj- rather than -ik-.
Also want to note that patronymic or possessive *-ov/-ev is usually
explained as (originally) adjectives made from -u-stem names (like
synU-synovU) with traditional -u-/-eu- ablaut.
Sergei