SENGRIEĶU PATRONĪMI LINGVISTISKAJĀ UN LITERĀRAJĀ TRADĪCIJĀ

The present research aims to analyze the formation and use of patronymics, i.e., personal names derived from the name of the father (or a further ancestor on the paternal line), in the oldest textual evidence of European culture – the ancient Greek language and literary texts, as well as their borrowing in the Latin language and its poetic tradition. As evidenced by the material of classical languages, patronymics are one of the oldest and most important kinship names used to identify an individual. They are widely used in the earliest European literary texts not only to reveal the genealogical identity of the heroes and to repeatedly confirm it in the context of the epic narrative but also to call to mind the related mythological tradition. Patronymics are derived using an ancient pattern that involves taking the stem of the father’s (or a further ancestor on the paternal lineage) name with suffixes (-δ(ᾱ)-,-ιδ(ᾱ)-,-ῑον-/-ιων-, etc.) and adding masculine or feminine endings depending on the gender of the respective offspring. As a result of the use of morphemes with synonymous meaning, parallel variants have also been formed (e.g., Πηλείδης / Πηληιάδης / Πηλείων). With the development of the classical Greek language norms, the ancient pattern of creating patronymics, following the tradition of poetic expression established in Homer’s epics, is preserved in the texts of various poetic genres and becomes an important artistic element. As a characteristic feature of poetic expression (i.e., the language of sublime poetry), ancient Greek patronymics and the model of their formation are also adopted in Roman culture and the language of Latin poetic texts, especially epic poems (e.g., in the texts of Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, Valerius Flaccus, Statius). Most patronymics in the Latin language are made according to the Greek pattern with endings that are equivalent to the Greek endings: for masculine patronymics-ides,-ades or-iades; for feminine patronymics-is,-ias,-ine (Atrides, Aeacides, Aeētias / Aētīnē etc.). Patronymics of this kind and their ancient model of formation are also taken over later in the European Latin-language poetic tradition (e.g., in humanist texts, etc.), including the texts created in Livonia in the 16th–17th centuries.