Feminine Bynames

If researching feminine first names is difficult, because of the lack of documentation of women in legal documents, documenting bynames is even more difficult, since many people were only listed by their first names and this is particularly true of women.

The most common type of byname used by Russian women in the Middle Ages was a patronymic byname, based on one (or all) of her father's or husband's names. Paul Wickenden's Dictionary of Period Russian Names explains these very well, so even if we can only find documentation for the masculine form, we have the rules for converting it into the feminine form..

In simplest terms, Olga the daughter of Ivan would be called Olga Ivanova (fem. of the patronymic Ivanov) and variations thereof. After she married Koshka, she would be Olga Koshkina (fem. of the patronymic Koshkin).

One thing he doesn't discuss is whether women used unmarked patronymics, the way Russian men sometimes did, i.e. would there have ever been a woman named Olga Ivan or Olga Koshka?

I will look for examples and post any I find here.

Unmarked Feminine Patronymics

Looking...

Metronymics

from Wickenden 3rd Edition grammar

Formed like standard patronymics

• s.n. Anastasiia - Vasil' Nastasich, 1169, Oleg Nastas'chich, 12th c., Oleg Nastas'ich - 1187
• Grammar - Vasilii Marichinich, son of Princess Maricha Vladimirovna, 1136; Sof'ia Mari'ina mat' 1614; Mari'ia Ermolina doch' 1614
• s.n. Mariia - Pavlik Kazarinov syn Marin 1594-7; Hits Marych 1566, Olekseiko Danilov syn Mar'in 1594-7; Okiudinko Mashin 1571. Mar'ia Donilova zhena Mar'ina 1594-7; Mar'inskaia zhena Grigor'evskaia 1495.

Descriptive Bynames

Other descriptive bynames - Olga the Midwife, Maria the Short, etc. Wickenden discusses them also.

Adjectival bynames

Easy to convert from a documented masculine form to a constructed feminine form - just change the masculine ending to the feminine ending.

Patronymic-form descriptive bynames (such as locatives)

Just as easy to convert from masculine to feminine - just use the rules for regular patronymics.

What about noun-type second names?

I.e. nouns used as names in an unmodified form that could be considered either a double "given" name or nickname or perhaps an unmarked patronymic (see above). Most noun-form names are documented as men's names because men's names are so much more common than women's in the historical record, even noun-form names with grammatically feminine forms such as Koshka and Pukhta.

Could women have used those, too?

And what about nouns in masculine form such as Orel (eagle) or Svechok (cricket) or Medved (bear). Is there a way to put them into a grammatically feminine form (best option) or could they have been used "as is" in some cases?

Lomonosov (1711-1765) gives us a set of options in his "Russian Grammar":

Lomonosov, Mikhail Vasil'evich. Российская грамматика. Глава 5: О ПРОИЗВОЖДЕНИИ ПРИТЯЖАТЕЛЬНЫХ, ОТЕЧЕСТВЕННЫХ И ОТЕЧЕСКИХ ИМЕН И ЖЕНСКИХ ОТ МУЖСКИХ [Russian Grammar. Chapter 5: On the derivation of possessive, native and family names and women's from men's] (http://www.ruthenia.ru/apr/textes/lomonos/lomon01/200-279.htm)

According to him, feminine names derived from derisive masculine nicknames end in -kha. He gives the following examples:

chesnochikha (from chesnok, garlic, not in Wickenden),

kostylikha (from kostyl', crutch, not in Wick.),

volchikha (from volk, wolf, in Wickenden as man's name),

bolvanikha (from bolvan, blockhead, not in Wick.).

According to Lomonosov, names of cattle, wild animals, birds, fish and reptiles produce the feminine form sometimes by changing the ending, such as:

volk" - volchitsa (wolf, presumably more flattering than volchikha, not in Wickenden)

zmyej - zmiya (snake, not in Wick.);

medved' - medveditsa (bear, in Wick. as men's diminutive byname);

orel" - orlitsa (eagle, not in Wick.);

Katzner's dictionary provides perepel - perepyolka (quail).

But more often feminine names are formed differently, such as:

byk" - korova (bull/cow, in Wick. as m. name);

baran" - ovtsa (ram/ewe, in Wick. as var. Ofce, also as m. name);

kobel" - suka (dog, in Wick. as m. name).

kon" - kobyla (stallion/mare, in Wick. as m. name);

pitukh" - kuritsa (rooster/hen - note that rooster is now spelled petukh, in Wick. as m. name);

And for some names under a single masculine or feminine name both genders are meant:

vorobej (sparrow, Voroba in Wick. as m. name),

grach' (rook, grach, in Wick. in m. name),

lastochka (swallow, not in Wick.),

lebyad' (swan, now lebed' masc. noun, in Wick. as m. name incl. Lebedka),

mukha (fly, in Wick. as m. name),

okun' (perch, masc., in Wick. as m. name),

pauk" (spider, in Wick. as m. name),

sokol" (falcon, in Wick. as m. name),

soroka (magpie, in Wick. as m. name, with Sorochnaia listed as fem. patronymic),

shchuka (pike, in Wick as both f. and m. name),

yastreb" (hawk, in Wick. as m. name),

Women's names with noun-type descriptive names,

from Wickenden unless otherwise noted:

Dove - Goluba f. of Golub, eg. Goluba Semenova zhena Radilova, 1587-9.

Jackdaw - Galka, eg. Agaf'ia Galka, 1595, listed as dim. of Galina but that would make the name a double Christian name - the sole feminine example of such a name that I have found.

Fox - Liska, 1429 and Lishka, 1437 without definition but Liska (m.) is listed as a dim. of Lis. However, the Russian word for fox is actually Lisa, a fem. noun. So Liska/Lishka should also mean fox, and Lisa and Lisitsa would also be a reasonable feminine names.

Marten - Kunka 1469, Kunko 1472, Kunku 1472 without definition, but Kunka (m.) is defined as a dim. of Kunitsa.

Sheep - Ofce 1392 variant of Ovtsa.

Squirrel - Belka 1243, also man's name.

Pike - Mar'ia Shchuka 1603, also man's name.

Alder - Ol'kha listed under Ol'ga as Ol'kha, mother of Saint Vladimir 991 as the earliest example found. Alternate definition as "alder" from Wickenden's article on Botanical Bynames in Medieval Russia.

Is "zhena" only a late period form?

A) no reason to think it should be more late period than "syn" or "doch" as a simple relationship descriptor

B) pre-16th century examples (all Wickenden 2nd edition):

• Nastas'ia (Nastas'ia Ivanova zhena Grigor'eva, mother of Iurii). 1476. [Nov 514]
• Grigor'eva (Nastas'ia Ivanova zhena Grigor'eva, mother of Iurii). 1476. [Nov 514]
• Grigor'evskaia (Mar'inskaia zhena Grigor'evskaia). 1495. [Tup 379]
• Onkifova [from Onkif] (Mariia Onkifova zhena). Middle of the 15th Century. [Gra 176]
• Evanova (Evanova zhena). Second Half of 15th Century. [Gra 254]
• Kharitonova (Fedos'ia Kharitonova zhena). 1459-69. [Gra 296]
• Lepa (f) -- Lepa zhena Zvonimira Khorvatskogo. 1087. [Mor 114]
• Khristianova zhena. 13th Century. [Art II 73; #70]
• Mar'ianskaia (Mar'inskaia zhena Grigor'evskaia). 1495. [Tup 379]
• Pokinar'ia (f) -- Pokinar'ia Vasil'eva zhena. 1465-78. [Gra 304]