#patronyms

Bonus 104: What's in a nym? Synonyms, antonyms, and so many more

You might have learned about synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, and acronyms in school. But do you know about... autoantonyms, contronyms, hypernyms, hyponyms, metonyms, eponyms, anonyms, backronyms, matronyms, patronyms, retronyms, endonyms, exonyms, toponyms, telonyms, demonyms, razzonyms, oikonyms, AND phantonyms?

In this bonus episode, Lauren and Gretchen get enthusiastic about our favourite words ending in nym! Okay, technically it's -onym (Greek for name, it's the same root as the beginning of onomatopoeia), but nym feels catchier. We talk about how there are so many kinds of nym words that are weirder and wackier than classic synonyms and antonyms, how even synonyms and antonyms aren't quite as straightforward as they seem, and why retronyms make people mad but are Gretchen's absolute favourite. Plus: a tiny quiz segment on our favourite obscure and cool-sounding nyms!

If you’re setting your story in a Russian-speaking environment, here’s a heads-up to avoid a common mistake. I recently read a novel about the Siberian GULAG—quite plausible, until the author tripped over Russian patronyms. The main character’s father was named Ilya, and the writer, following a “formal” rule, gave her the patronym Ilyanovna. Nope! It’s Ilyinichna.

Here’s the deal: when a male name ends in a vowel (like Ilya or Nikita), the patronym for daughters ends in -ichna and for sons in -ich. For example:

Ilya → Anna Ilyinichna, Vladimir Ilyich

Nikita → Maria Nikitichna, Alexei Nikitich

​I’m not shocked the author missed this—Russian naming conventions can be tricky! But I am surprised the editors at the publishing house didn’t catch this rookie error. 

.... when your own father is not someone you want to associate with, but they make you practice with your own name.

ODIN TO THE RESCUE.

Kitty Odinovna, at your service.

He’s the ALLFATHER.

No, there’s no such thing as an absence of a patronymic. If a baby is Russian, she must have a patronymic, regardless of where or who the father is. Also, there’s no polite way to address someone in Russian by their surname; all of them are rude, patronizing or dismissive.

Every Russian adult (and almost every adult who wasn’t born in Russia but gained citizenship) has a patronymic. Until very recently, you could not even get a passport without a patronymic.

However, if the baby’s father is unknown (to the state, not necessarily to the mother; if she’s unmarried and no one sues for paternity, it’s basically at her discretion) the mother is free to choose whatever patronymic she likes. 

Usually, it’s the mother’s own patronymic, i.e. the name of the mother’s father. Because of that, I (and a lot of other people) headcanon that Yurio’s second name is Nikolayevich.

If an adult is estranged from their father, it’s perfectly okay (and nowadays quite easy) to change a patronymic to any name you choose. So, if the relationship with one’s father is so terrible that the person can’t stand having his name, they’ll change it to something random, or to the name of their stepfather/grandfather/mentor/any other father figure of their choice

I met a person who changed her patronymic at the twenty-something, to honor her stepfather. 

Thank you!! I’m happy to hear that post was useful :D (and concerning your next ask, don’t worry about the misspelling, it’s not the worst one I’ve seen the autocorrect cause by far)

To answer your question, when the father is unknown the mother just... makes up the patronym! Just like that! I’ve read accounts of people getting a patronym based on the name of: famous singer, their grandpa, social worker who helped with their adoption, orphanage director, etc. You absolutely gotta have one, tho! Patronyms are important for showing respect and being polite (m-more on that later?... boy, I need to keep track of all these promises for encore I’m making)

And now... I have a confession to make.

Some names seem to simply add the ides/idas or -ou at the end of a name, whereas others take off several letters first before adding the genitive modifier (I am, pretty sure that’s the correct term?). I’ve read a few articles about it, but they did not explain how a patronym/matronym would be correctly formed and I would like to understand better.

Hahaha no worries I get it that it is quite a question that needs to be frequently asked given the situation. I do not remember me being asked on that as much so no worries. Besides you ask me so it is different! Hehe

Well most ancient sources indeed seem to commemorate a father figure with the suffix -ίδης (ides) to the end of the patronym which is indeed determined by the genitive form

However these sort of suffixes do have a certain variety more in modern Greek because there are added suffixes depending on the area one is from. For instance to the addition to the "ides" suffix we have a few more in modern greek like

-ou (mostly related to areas like Thessaly) -opoulos (mostly related to areas like Peloponese) -oglou (lented from turkish words and signifies Greeks from Anatolia) -ides (still used but sometimes mostly related to pontiac Greeks)

Like, what would/should Alexand, "Child of Vladimir" Yusupovi from Russia be called?