THE ANTHROPONYMY OF NORTHERN RUTHENIA

This article sets as its goal the inventorization, classification and etymology of personal names from appellatives attested in the registers of the Solovetsky monastery during the years 1479-1584. The Old East Slavic nickname served to individualize a person, at the same time expressing his appellative characteristic. Serving as the main basis for creating nicknames were common nouns with a concrete meaning. Unlike contemporary nicknames, which occupy a peripheral position in the anthroponymic system, Old East Slavic nicknames, along with other formations from appellatives, comprised a rightful component of persons' official names. The names studied existed in a specific linguistic territory. The Russian colonization of the shores of the White Sea ended in the 15th century. This territory was originally inhabited by a populace of Finno-Ugric origin. Numerous borrowings from the Finno-Ugric languages prompted the origin of nicknames. In addition many of the formations analyzed found a basis in the Novgorod dialect.