Folia onomastica Croatica, No. 18, 2009.
Original scientific paper
Names in Mediaeval Old-Croatian peetry
Dunja Brozović Rončević
; Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Amir Kapetanović
orcid.org/0000-0002-8013-9330
; Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Abstract
In the article, names and place names in Croatian medieval texts written in verse from the second half of the 14th to the middle of the 16th century are lexicographically catalogued, described and analysed. Anthroponyms are more frequent in this corpus than toponyms, and the majority of anthroponyms are personal names and ethnonyms. Not a single family name was registered from the thousands of passages, which is to be expected of a corpus that dates from before the Council of Trent, however there is also no account of the nicknames from which our family names originated. Among personal names, biblical (most frequently New Testament) names are the most highly represented, there are very few non-biblical saints’ names, there are only rare appearances of historical figures (Duke Brnardin, Duke Janko), and Croatian national names do not appear whatsoever. The confirmation of hypocoristic forms (Ive, Magde / Mande, Mare/Mara, Šime) is especially important. Another characteristic of the onomasticon is the coexistence of variant names based upon origin, intermediary languages and diatopic variations in the adjustment of names on territory where Croatian is spoken. The predominance of anthroponyms and biblical personal names can be explained through the religious thematics predominant in Croatian medieval poetry and through well-known biblical places that needed not be emphasised in the manner in which speakers, interlocutors, or people being spoken about did. Reflecting facts and people from the time in which medieval verses were written or performed was not customary in Croatian medieval poetry (ie. the mention of the Duke Brnardin, likely Frankopan). Croatian folk names and surnames were not recorded due to religious thematics and the lack of designation of people from everyday life. The documentation of names and their variance in the corpus of Croatian medieval poetry that came about at the ends of the East and West serve to once again confirm the thesis on multiple language intermediaries during the acceptance process of foreign names.
Keywords
medieval; Croatian medieval verses; Old-Croatian; Čakavian; anthroponyms
Hrčak ID:
51865
URI
Publication date:
30.4.2010.
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