On the suffix -evicius

Lithuanian surnames ending in -avičius/-evičius are frequently perceived as being of Polish or Belarusian origin. In most cases, however, they reflect the complex social and administrative environment of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, rather than a linguistic origin (etynom) or ethnic background.

As the historical linguist Zigmas Zinkevičius points out, surnames of this type arose extensively as products of the administrative (chancery) language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the time, this language was Ruthenian, as Lithuanian had not yet developed a written tradition. That language used East Slavic/Ruthenian forms with the suffixes -ovič/-evič, which were applied systematically in public records to the names of all inhabitants regardless of ethnicity or spoken language. Thus a man called Jonas Petraitis (son of Petras) would appear in administrative records as _Petrovič_. Over time, especially from the 18th century, the East Slavic -ovič/-evič type was sometimes replaced by the more fashionable at the moment Polish-style -ski/-owski endings, driven by cultural momentum and polonization of the Lithuanian nobility within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. When these forms later fossilized into hereditary surnames, the Slavic endings were relithuanized as -avičius/-evičius.

Vitalija Maciejauskienė’s research, presented in her monograph, corroborates and extends Zinkevičius’s findings. After examination of a very large group of Lithuanian surnames that carry East Slavic-derived patronymic suffixes, she demonstrates that the great majority were formed natively in Lithuania from names of any origin (Lithuanian, Christian, nickname-based), while direct borrowings of already-formed Slavic surnames constitute only a small minority.

In conclusion, many hybrid forms that developed over centuries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania primarily mirror administrative practice in a multi-ethnic state rather than simple ethnic borrowing. A substantial number of surnames commonly labeled “Slavic” or “Polish” ultimately rest on Lithuanian or Christian hypocoristics that were merely recorded with East Slavic morphology.

Sources

• Z. Zinkevičius, 2008, Lietuvių asmenvardžiai

• Z. Zinkevičius, 2012, Vilnijos lenkakalbių pavardės

• V. Maciejauskienė, 1991, Lietuvių pavardžių susidarymas XIII–XVIII a.

• V. Maciejauskienė, 1996, Dėl lietuvių pavardžių su priesagomis „-avičius“, „-evičius“ vertinimo