etymology

[John Dingley]

Hi,

I doubt Путин could come from the (now) pluralia
tantum путы since most dictionaries, e.g. Ушаков,
give a singualr путо. The genitive plural is пут,
which is ambiguous.

John Dingley


On Tue, Apr 1, 2014 at 12:45 PM, Alina Israeli <aisrael at american.edu> wrote:

> The rule is probably purely morphological: -a nouns —> -in, consonant
> ending —> -ov. This is the case of Фома, Кузьма, Илья, Лука, Путята,
> Добрыня, all kinds of diminutives Муся (Мусин–Пушкин, and yes, пушка), Вася
> —> Васин, Паша —> Пашин, Сеня —> Сенин, Сёма —> Сёмин, all kinds of other
> -a words: Лапин, Малюгин, Малявин, Зорькин, Зорин etc.
>
> Conversely, this allows us to figure out the gender of pluralia tantum
> words: потемки —> Потемкин, must be fem. Качели —> Качелин, must be fem.
> Будни —> Буднев, must be masc, although we already know it from день.
>
> Speaking of pluralia tantum, Путин could come from путы, which must be
> fem, in this case.
>
>
> On Apr 1, 2014, at 3:09 PM, R. M. Cleminson wrote:
>
> It is the regular suffix for forming adjectives from nouns in -a, and
> also, in the earlier period, from nouns in -ĭ (e.g. гостинъ < гость);
> nevertheless, there is no reason to believe that the name Путин is of such
> antiquity that it could be derived from путь (and in any case, at that
> period the suffix was attached to nouns denoting persons).  I agree that it
> must be derived from the proper name Путя.
>
> There is, incidentally, absolutely nothing to suggest that names in -ин
> are matronymic, and indeed, the commonest of them, such as Фомин, Кузьмин,
> indicate quite the reverse.
>
>
> Alina Israeli
> Associate Professor of Russian
> WLC, American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
> Washington DC 20016
> (202) 885-2387  fax (202) 885-1076
> aisrael at american.edu
>
>
>
>
>
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