etymology

[Jules Levin]

On 01.04.2014 15:47, John Dingley wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I doubt Путин could come from the (now) pluralia
> tantum путы since most dictionaries, e.g. Ушаков,
> give a singualr путо.
Interesting.  So puty is an old neuter dual, like oko ~ ochi, koleno ~ 
koleni.
I guess hobbling involved two legs of the horse.
Jules


> 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 
> <mailto: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 <tel:%28202%29%20885-2387> fax (202) 885-1076
>     <tel:%28202%29%20885-1076>
>     aisrael at american.edu <mailto:aisrael at american.edu>
>
>
>
>
>
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