etymology

[Robert Orr]

I'd always thought that "Rasputin" meant "debauched" and was related to
"rasputica", described, I think, by Napoleon as a fifth element.

Meanwhile, in French Putin is transliterated "Poutine".  Canadian readers
will note that this opens up another area of speculation .......

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jules Levin
Sent: Monday, March 31, 2014 5:37 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] etymology

On 31.03.2014 12:36, John Dingley wrote:
> Hi!
>
> Can someone enlighten me as to the etymology of the Russian family 
> name Путин? Presumably one does not
>    
I am doing this without checking, so I probably will embarrass myself, but I
have assumed that Rasputin is connected to the root 'put-' meaning
'hobbles'--what is put on horses to keep them from running away.
I have the vague impression that *puta wd be a pluralia tantum of a neuter,
and Rasputin wd be literally 'unhobbled, freed'
Perhaps the same root is in Putin.
With much hesitation,
Jules Levin





> want to derive it from путь since путь is an original masculine -i 
> stem noun (the only one to survive into Modern Russian) and one would 
> expect *Путев, which is the case with other family names derived from 
> masculine -i stems, e.g Медведев<  медведь Зверев<  зверь Голубев<  
> голубь
>
> As a rule of thumb, the suffix -ин is used to form family names from 
> nouns ending in -а/-я, e.g Воронин<  ворона, Ленин<  Лена and feminine 
> -i stems, e.g. Сталин<  сталь.  The suffix -ов/-ев being used 
> elsewhere. This distribution betrays their possessive adjective 
> origin.
>
> Unbegaun (p.161) explains Распутин as a nickname, where different 
> formation rules apply.
>
> John Dingley
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>    Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>    options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                          http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
>
>    

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                        http://seelangs.wix.com/seelangs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------