Re: Help with family name, please

Brian M. Scott <b.scott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:6dbsiour2fg9$.io95io6prjxy.dlg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Wed, 16 May 2007 01:24:35 GMT, John Atkinson
<johnacko@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:n3t2i.38478$M.38016@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> in
sci.lang:
"Judy Bolton" <jbolton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote...

My maternal grandmother's side is Venezky, originally Winnitzky or
something close > to that. Could someone please tell me the meaning
of Winnitz? It it a place or...?

My atlas tells me there's a city called Vinnitsa in Ukraine, a couple of
hundred km SW of Kiyev. Is it possible that the family came from there?

Of course there's also Vienna (Vyena in Russian), which no doubt had
many Yiddish-speakers about then. Or even Venice (Venezia), which
probably didn't.

Just guessing. I'm sure some of our Slavic speakers will be along
before long with better informed suggestions.

There's a Polish surname <Winnic(z)ki> attested at least
back to 1421, according to Witold Taszycki, Słownik
Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych; unfortunately, he says nothing
about the etymology. For what it's worth, it also appears
in the genitive singular with suffix <-ego>. Polish
<winnica> is 'vineyard'; it seems possible that the surname
is originally locative, referring to residence at a
vineyard, but I cheerfully admit that I don't understand
Polish surnames at all well.

Brian

The "-ky" ("-sky") looks like a common Slavic adjectiviser.
For example, a person originally from Moskva is likely to be
called Moskovsky, Moskevsky, or similar.

My first reaction on seeing the name "Venez-" was to assume
the family ancestors came from Venice (Venezia, Benatky, etc.).
However, Judy says an older spelling of his name was Winnitzky.
"Winnitz-" looks very much like a germanized spelling of "Vinic-"
(vinice) in which case it would indeed be related to a pan-Slavic
word for "vineyard". This word is commonly used in many (possibly
all) Slavic languages. Without any other clues it's next to
impossible to tie it to any particular country let alone a town
or a village.

pjk


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Help with family name, please
    ... meaning of Winnitz? ... There's a Polish surname attested at least ... vineyard, but I cheerfully admit that I don't understand ... "Vinohrad" seems to be a more traditional (more formal? ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Help with family name, please
    ... Could someone please tell me the meaning ... of Winnitz? ... There's a Polish surname attested at least ... vineyard, but I cheerfully admit that I don't understand ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Help with family name, please
    ... I'm sure some of our Slavic speakers will be along ... There's a Polish surname attested at least ... vineyard, but I cheerfully admit that I don't understand ... Judy says an older spelling of his name was Winnitzky. ...
    (sci.lang)
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