PERSONAL ANTHROPONYMY OF NORTHERN RUSSIA AT THE END OF THE 15th-16th CENTURY: MASCULINE CHRISTIAN NAMES (BASIC FORMS)

The subject of analysis in the article are the basic forms of masculine given names of Christian origin documented in the records of the Solovetsky Monastery at the end of the 15th-16th century. For centuries borrowed Christian names had been subjected to gradual phonetic and morphological assimilation in the system of the Old East Slavic language that received them. Among the most frequent phonetic changes were replacement of initial 'a-' with 'o-', aphaeresis of initial vowel 'a-', and simplification of vowel and consonant groups. Morphological chances affected primarily final sounds of Christian names. They tended toward adapting these names to Old East Slavic inflectional paradigms by substituting or dropping final morphemes. In relation to the earlier periods of development of East Slavic anthroponymy, the set of most commonly used Christian names did not undergo significant change. The number of bearers of individual Christian names was dependent on the number of feast days in the year honoring specific saints. Social limitations in the use of Christian names was not noted. All names given representatives of the aristocracy are noted as well among the subordinate population.