Origin of Russian patronymics. The history of the origin of patronymic. Patronymics in Russia

Today, every Russian has a patronymic in his passport. But it was not always so. It is believed that patronymics in Russia appeared only around the middle of the 10th century.

How "dignified" in Russia

Historians found the first mention of patronymics in the lists of Russian ambassadors dating back to 945. True, they were not written in the same way as they are now, but for example: “Vladimir, son of Gleb”, or: “Svyatoslav, son of Igor”.

In Russia, the saying has survived to this day: “What is your name, magnification?” The word "dignify" meant "to exalt, honor." Patronymic allowed a person to exalt his family. At the same time, it was customary to call the ancient Russian princes not only after their father, but also to mention their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. So, Kyiv prince Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko was officially called: "Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, grandson of Vsevolozh, great-grandson of Oleg." The use of patronymics emphasized the connection with the family.

Patronymic as a privilege

The very word "patronymic" appeared in the XI century. The first patronymics in Russia ended with the suffix "-ich": Svyatoslavich, Yaroslavich, Izyaslavich. From the 15th century, patronymics of the modern type with the suffix "-ovich" or "-evich" came into use: Glebovich, Evseevich. But they originally had the right to be worn exclusively by representatives of the highest nobility. Boyars middle class and representatives of other classes called themselves simply: "Mikhail Arkhipov, son of Vasiliev." This meant that Mikhail's grandfather's name was Vasily, and his father's name was Arkhip.

People of humble origins were granted the privilege of wearing patronymics with a suffix only for special merits. They were called "eminent", as they received the right to glorify the names of their ancestors.

The order of using patronymics was fixed in official documents, such as the "Table of Ranks" of Peter I and the "official painting" of Catherine II. Depending on the rank, a person could wear a patronymic on "-ov" or "-ovich". So, a simple peasant could be called Peter Mikhailov, and a high-ranking official - Pavel Sidorovich. Representatives of the merchant class received the right to be called by their patronymic only in the Petrine era.

Ordinary people began to give middle names much later. They were usually named after their father. So, Ivan, the son of Peter, became Ivan Petrovich. Vasily, son of Athanasius - Vasily Afanasyevich.

In the old days, patronymics could be formed not only on behalf of the father, but also of the mother. This probably happened in cases where the child did not have a father or, for some reason, a woman became the head of the family. Then the children were given patronymics - Nastasyevich, Avdotevich, Efrosinevich. Such patronymics are called matronyms. Subsequently, many of them turned into surnames: for example, Katin or Mashkov. Today, patronymics are given only by the name of the father.

What has changed in the 20th century?

However, addressing by patronymic came into wide use only in the 18th-19th centuries among the intelligentsia. Many peasants had surnames and patronymics only after the abolition of serfdom. And after the October Revolution, patronymic names became mandatory, regardless of the social affiliation of citizens.

It is curious that in Russia the tradition has been preserved to address friends or acquaintances without a name, only by patronymic: Ivanych, Trofimych, Petrovna, Andreevna ... Most often this is observed in rural areas or small towns.

What is the function of the patronymic today? First of all, it contributes to a more accurate identification of a person: after all, there are a lot of people with the same names and surnames, and sometimes you can somehow distinguish them only by patronymic.

In Russia, patronymics have been accepted for a long time and are recorded in documents immediately upon registration of newborns. It is believed that addressing by name and patronymic shows a respectful attitude towards a person. Wanting to know the patronymic, a person may be asked, as it was customary in the old days: “What is your name-dignify?”. The word "dignify" refers specifically to the patronymic and means in Russian "exalt, exalt, honor."

Patronymics in Russia arose in ancient times. Already in 945, historians found not only names, but also patronymics in the lists of Russian ambassadors. True, they were then written in a different way: for example, Gleb, son of Vladimir, Vasily, son of Peter, etc.

Old Russian princes were called not only by their father, but they also mentioned their grandfather and great-grandfather, and even great-great-grandfather. They were proud of the antiquity of the clan: the older the clan was, the more significant the person looked in the eyes of others, and he respected himself more. For example, Prince Vladimir of Kyiv was called: Prince Vladimir, son of Svyatoslav, grandson of Vsevolod, great-grandson of Oleg, great-great-grandson of Svyatoslav, great-great-great-grandson of Yaroslav, ancestor of the great Vladimir. Although in oral speech patronymics of ancient people sounded similar to modern pronunciation, for example, Vladimir Svyatoslavich.

In informal conversations between well-known people, it has long been accepted and has survived to this day to respectfully address a person only by patronymic, without a name: Petrovich, Andreich, Glebych, etc.

Basically, patronymics in people are formed from the name of the father. This is due to the tradition that existed in ancient times, when the father was the only breadwinner and head of the family. However, there were cases of the formation of a patronymic and on behalf of the mother: Pavel Nastasich, Ivan Efrosinevich. Often such patronymics on the mother's side turned into surnames.

Currently, all patronymics are formed only from the name of the father. But as before, so now a person is called by his patronymic only when he grows up. Small children and teenagers are called only by their first name.

However, it must be said that the patronymic names found in the lists of ambassadors were not the same as now, which we talked about in the previous article, they were descriptive, that is, they called the name of the father in combination with the word “son”, in other words, they were phrases by type: Ivan, son of Gleb; Basil, son of Peter, etc. This is the same thing that we have today, for example, among some Turkic peoples: Abai Kunanbai uly - in Kazakh, where “uly” means “son” (in a possessive form), that is, Abai is the son of Kunanbai; Ahmet Erdogan oglu - in the Azerbaijani and Turkish languages, in which "ogly" is a son, etc. The same is true of the Semites, cf.: the Jewish ben Gurion is the son of Gurion, where "ben" is the son; Aramaic bar Yochai - son of Yochai, where "bar" - son; Arabic ibn Muhammad - son of Muhammad, etc. (Let's make a reservation right away that these names are not patronymics, which these peoples do not have in the literal sense, but surnames, which are discussed in more detail below.)

I must say that in Russia they used not only the name of the father, but also the grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, etc. But this was mainly the name of the princes, and the more ancient the family of the prince was, the longer his full name and patronymic sounded, the more majestic he looked. So, for example, the Kyiv prince Vladimir was called Vladimir, the son of Svyatoslav, the grandson of Vsevolod, the great-grandson of Oleg, the great-great-grandson of Svyatoslav, the great-great-great-grandson of Yaroslav, the ancestor of the Great Vladimir (the same Red Sun). Those who are familiar with the ancient Russian epic of the 12th century “The Tale of Igor's Campaign” remember its exact name: “The Tale of Igor's Campaign, Igor the son of Svyatoslavl, the grandson of Olga” (“Svyatoslavl” is an old Russian form of the possessive adjective “Svyatoslav”, or "svyatoslavich")

However, this tradition did not find wide distribution and, as a norm, did not take root - for a completely understandable reason: it was very long, and therefore practically inconvenient (while you turn, you will forget what you wanted to say).

Thus, the “one-story” patronymic was fixed only by the father, although it underwent long history of their formation, turning into "-ovichi / -evichi" and "-ovn / -evn" in combination with the name of the father - in those of their functions that we talked about in the previous article. Although it must be said that in life there were cases when the “patronymic” was also formed on behalf of the mother (in this case it would be more accurate to call it the word “motherhood”): Pavel Nastasyevich, Mikhail Katerinin, etc. But this form was not fixed in the tradition for quite understandable reasons: in Russia, as in other peoples, the family, hereditary line, at least in the historical era, has always been carried out according to male ancestors. The presence of such patronymics in the past is indicated by the corresponding surnames, into which they eventually turned: Katerinin, Maryin, Aproskin (from Aproska - a phonetic modification (variant) of the name Ofroska from Efrosinya / Ofrosinya / Poprosinya / Poll /, and taking into account akanya in South Russian dialects - Aproska).

Since the same ancient Russian times, patronymics have also been known for women, and also, no doubt, as their greatness. Remember, in the same "Word about Igor's Campaign": "Yaroslavna cries early in Putivl on the visor of the arch ..." ("Yaroslavna cries early in Putivl on the city wall, saying / lamenting ..."). Clear, simple woman from the “mean” (i.e. “low”, the root “under” - in the ancient river meant “bottom”, cf. “hearth bread”, baked on the hearth, that is, on the “bottom”; sole - lower often shoes) they wouldn’t “dignify” because ordinary people did not have the right to use patronymics, but epics were not written about such, another thing is the prince’s wife.

Gradually, from about the 15th century, patronymics on “-ovich / -evich” become an indicator of a special privilege, such a right was bestowed on the ignorant people personally by the king for special merits. So, in 1610, Tsar Vasily Shuisky, in gratitude for the assistance of the Stroganov merchants in annexing the Urals and Siberia to the Moscow State, ordered Maxim and Nikita Stroganov, their descendants and the descendants of Semyon (Ioannikievych) Stroganov to write with “vich” and bestowed on them the special title of “eminent of people". In the 17th century, the Stroganovs were the only merchant family to have this title.

Historically, there was such a gradation in the social status of people according to nobility: serfs had no patronymic at all; just noble people received, so to speak, a semi-patronymic: Pyotr Osipov (that is, in the modern Osipovich) Vasiliev (surname); patronymics on -ovich / -evich were officially received only by noble people, they became, as it were, a sign that the person wearing them belongs to the class, aristocratic elite. The former possessive suffix -ovich / -evich (in the sense of belonging to the father by his name) practically ceased to fully play the role of a suffix, starting to be used even independently and turning into a special indicator of privilege, ancestry of persons (estates), as is inherent in the particles "de » in French(de Gol), "von" and "zu" in German (von Bismark, zu Guttenberg), "van" in Dutch (L. van Bethofen). In accordance with this provision, "vich", as a title, could be awarded, which was what the Russian tsars did.

Starting from the reign of Peter I, the column "Patronymic" becomes mandatory in all documents. Under Catherine II, the use different forms patronymic was legally fixed. In her official list, drawn up in accordance with Peter's Table of Ranks, it was indicated that the persons of the first five classes should be written with a patronymic in -vich, from the sixth to the eighth - to be called semi-patronymics (son of Petrov, Ivanov, etc.), all the same the rest - only by name.

However, it must be said that patronymic forms in -ov / -ev (semi-patronymics) until the 19th century inclusive were used only in clerical speech and in official documents, and if in live communication, then, as a rule, in official situations (when meeting , representation, etc., which is reflected in Russian classical literature - in the same Turgenev, Pushkin, etc.). In unofficial situations, in everyday life, Russian people called each other either only by their first names (with an equal position), or, if the situations listed in the previous article required it, then by patronymics, but in such a form that became the only and familiar to us today, that is, with the suffixes -ovich / -evich, -ovna / -evna, -ich / -inichna.

It is impossible not to mention one more form of respectful address (magnification) that existed in ancient Russia and left traces in the language, but did not take root, did not become a patronymic, displaced by the patronymic form after the father, which became the only and official type Ivanovich / Ivanovna, Ilyich / Ilyinichna .

Perhaps you, dear reader, have heard such names as Petrishchev, Ivanishchev, Bratishchev, Batishchev, and so on. Have you ever thought about how they happened and what they originally meant? Judging by the suffix -ev- (a kind of suffix -ov- after a soft consonant, in this case -ш-), this is the same model by which the names Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov are formed, that is, like, say, Nikolaev, Yurtaev, Gulyaev and under. paternal names. But what could such names mean? Why not Petrov, Ivanov, Bratov, Batin (from "father") (cf. Starostin, Katerinin, etc.), but Petrishchev, Ivanishchev, Bratishchev, Batishchev? Their very model suggests that they are formed from the forms of names - respectively, Petrishch-e (and not Peter), Ivanishch-e (and not Ivan), from nouns brother-e (and not brother), father (and not father) , which, in turn, are formed with the help of suff. -search(e). So what is education?

One of the meanings of the suffix -isch (e) in Russian is an augmentative value, cf.: house - house ( big house), hand - hands (big hand), man - human being (big, outstanding person) etc. The same meaning - magnifying - had also proper names such as Ivanishche or common nouns brother (when referring to an older brother), batish (respectful to dad - father). And although today it looks rather strange, but in Russia such forms were used until the 17th - 18th centuries, numerous examples of which are given by private correspondence of this time, the study of the language of which the author of these lines devoted many years. Such formations also performed a “magnificent” role: addressing the addressee in this way, the writer (or speaker) expressed his respect for him in such a “magnifying” form, that is, as if “increased” him - magnified, turning Ivan into Ivanishche, father (father) - in the father, the older brother - in the brother, etc. And although such forms did not develop as patronymics, the fact that they existed is clearly indicated by the preserved corresponding surnames, examples of which were given above (Ivanishcheva and Bratishchev, for example, were my students at Omsk University).

But that's not all: not only did the addressee call the addressee by the magnifying form of the name, he, in order to aggravate the magnificence, called himself a diminutive-pejorative form.

Here are examples from documents of private correspondence of the 17th - 18th centuries, published by the Institute of the Russian Language of the USSR Academy of Sciences:

“To my Sovereign Dmitry Ivanovich, your little son Fedotko, I ask for blessings and beat him with my forehead ...”; “Brother, my sovereign Boris Andreevich, be healthy forever, your servant Ivashka Pazukhin beats with his forehead ...”; “To the Sovereign of my father Semyon Ivanovich, your daughter Ulyatka ... I beat with my forehead ...”; “To my benefactor Fedot Dmitrievich ... your brother Nikishka Kolomnin beats with his forehead ...”; “To my sovereign Timofey Semyonovich, your fiancé Katyushka beats with his forehead ...”; “To the sovereign of my uncle Kondraty Vasilyevich and the sovereign aunt Ulyana Ontipyevna, your nephew Fedka Glazkov with his fiancé Marfitsa and son Yashka we beat with our foreheads ...”; “To my sovereign, Father Martin Vasilyevich ... your daughter Fedorka, I ask for blessings and bang you with my forehead,” etc., etc.

Such an interesting, expressive and linguistically diverse system of expressing respectful relations between people existed in the Russian language throughout its development. However, the patronymic names in -ovich / -evich, -ovna / -evna, -ich / -inichna that exist today in three East Slavic languages ​​defeated their competitors in the long-term struggle for survival and are today the only patronymic form included in the full name of a person.

The question is natural, are there patronymics in other languages ​​of the world? Wikipedia gives an affirmative answer to this question, naming languages ​​and giving relevant examples in which full names(names) of people there is an element "son" or "daughter". Such examples from the Turkic and Semitic languages ​​were given at the beginning of the article. Wikipedia, in addition to them, also names the Scandinavian languages, Bulgarian and even Vynakh (Chechen and Ingush), referring to surnames based on former patronymic forms by father or mother with the element “son” or “daughter”, for example, Swede. Nilsson (son of Niels), Norwegian. Estridsen (Estrid's son), Svensdottir, where dottir is a daughter (Sven's daughter. By the way, "dottir" - contains the same Indo-European root as German Tochter, Russian "daughter", Lit. dukte, etc.), Snorradottir (daughter of Snorri), etc.

However, we cannot agree with this. All the given examples from the Turkic, Semitic, Scandinavian and other languages ​​named by Wikipedia are not patronymics, because they do not perform any of their inherent functions. First, and most importantly, they are all surnames. Secondly, in parallel with them, there is no one more, third form that would perform a patronymic function, naming, in addition to the generic, family surname, the name of the father (or vice versa: if we take these forms as patronymics, then in parallel with them there is no other , the third form with the meaning of a generic surname). Finally, these forms are not used in lively speech as a polite, respectful address, which is the main and obvious function of Russian patronymics - “greatness” after the father.

Thus, summing up our conversation about patronymics, we have every reason to say that the form of patronymics in the usual sense that has developed in our mentality and functions in speech behavior is inherent only in the Russian language (I repeat, in its broadest sense, under which I mean here all three East Slavic languages ​​- Great Russian, Belarusian and Little Russian). This phenomenon is completely unique as a linguistic phenomenon and very convenient in practical terms, and therefore there is not only no reason to refuse it in speech communication in Russian, but it is simply unreasonable.

Dr. R. Geiger

Ost-West-Panorama - 2012

AT Ancient Russia even the rulers had the same name (Rurik, Oleg, Igor, Olga), the patronymic appeared only a few centuries later. True, in relation to rulers, it was not patronymics that were more common, but nicknames that arose mainly in memory of military victories (Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy), but some nicknames were formed not only from military victories: Vsevolod the Big Nest, Ivan Kalita (Kalita - a bag or belt with money), Vasily the Dark, Ivan the Terrible...

However, in the light of the dominance of the structure of the patriarchy in medieval Russia, patronymics became more and more common. The short form of the adjective on behalf of the father dominated everywhere: Petrov, Matveev, Ilyin, Nikitin. And then "Ivan Petrov" meant "Ivan, the son of Peter", and not a combination of a name and a surname (the latter did not exist yet). With fatherlessness and even under some circumstances that put the mother in the first place, there appeared, as it were, matriarchal names: Maryin, Nadezhdin, Marfin. However, in some cases, the second element turned out to be not a patronymic, but a nickname: Daniil Zatochnik, Dmitry Shemyaka, Ivan Mozhaisky, Nikita Kozhemyaka ... Gradually, short forms of patronymics and nicknames took root and passed into the name of descendants, i.e. turned into surnames in the future . Stretching for several centuries, the formation and rooting of surnames caused many changes. Short patronymics ended up next to direct nicknames, and then it turned out, as it were, two surnames. In the life of the spiritual educational institutions it became a habit to change the “banal” surnames of students (mainly peasant ones) into more “elevated” ones, taken from the religious area: from here came the Rozhdestvensky, Paskhalov, Holy Cross, Trinity, etc. But not necessarily from religious life. The father of V. G. Belinsky had the surname Trifonov, but was renamed Belinsky in the seminary (according to native village Belyn), and this surname, apparently, seemed dissonant to his son, and he replaced “s” with “i”. Rarely, but there were personal, nominal borrowings: my Minsk colleague A. L. Renansky said that his grandfather, a seminarian, was very fond of reading Renan's works and from here he got his nickname. The origin of some of the names is mysterious: my father was baptized in 1884 by the priest A. Gibraltarsky (how to connect a resident of the county town of Balashov with the famous strait?!). From the middle of the 19th century, mass name changes were prohibited, but in fact they continued until the 20th century inclusive: during the First World War, many Germans changed their surnames to Russians, in Soviet years the same can be said about a significant group of the Jewish intelligentsia. All these perturbations made the surname very unreliable in Russia historical source(The extreme ease of changing all the elements of the “troika” in the first Soviet decade, as well as the inventing of new “ideological” names, often led to completely anecdotal combinations: my father had a student, Barrikada Ivanovna Lepeshkina).

And the transformation short forms adjectives into full ones created the third (according to the account it is the second) element of the name: the “normal” patronymic, standing between the given name and surname. Full patronymic forms for -ovich, -evich, -ich (Petrovich, Matveevich, Ilyich) and the corresponding feminine suffixes, apparently, naturally appeared in the upper social strata of medieval Russian society as an imitation of Western Slavic (mainly Polish) constructions, as well as , psychologically, as

A more solid and respectful form of the name. In order to be able to use full forms of patronymics in the following social strata (court officials, rich merchants and industrialists), special personal decrees were required. Then, to the concept of "magnification" (praise, exaltation), one more additional meaning was added: naming not only by name, but also by patronymic.

Simple bourgeois and peasants were not supposed to have a full patronymic, and only with the gradual consolidation of surnames and with constantly arising confusion due to the frequent similarity of the forms of a short patronymic and surname (Ivan Petrov Maksimov), the full patronymic penetrated without any decrees into the common people's world of modern times, but all However, it was used selectively: in relation to respectable old people, wealthy people, in special ritual cases (for example, naming young people at a wedding), ordinary citizens were called by their first name, and even often with a diminutive suffix - k-. V. G. Belinsky, in a famous letter to Gogol, was indignant at these suffixes, seeing in their use a disrespect for the common people or even self-disrespect: “... people call themselves not by names, but by nicknames: Vanki, Steshki, Vaska, Palashki.” "Furious Vissarion" exaggerated: the suffix - k - when naming a name characterizes in folk life not contempt, but rather a sign of close acquaintance and relative equality or seniority in age (a young man could not call an old man Vanka). It is characteristic that in the school (and even in the university) life of Russia they still use pet names towards comrades.

A funny case was recently made public in " Russian newspaper". The following box is attached to V. Vyzhutovich’s interview with our wonderful dancer N. Tsiskaridze: “Once Tsiskaridze was walking along the corridor Bolshoi Theater with his teacher Marina Timofeevna Semenova. And some corps de ballet dancer called out to him: "Kolka!" Semyonova stopped and asked her pupil: “What is your middle name?” He said. Then she turned to his colleague (he was ten years older than Tsiskaridze): “Remember: this man's name is Nikolai Maksimovich. He is the leading soloist of the Bolshoi Theatre. And for you, he is not Kolka. “And then,” Tsiskaridze recalls, “she gave me a big lecture on theatrical subordination. Never, - she said, - do not let the corps de ballet dancers talk to you in a familiar way. You are a soloist, you have a different position. On the street - please: Kolya, Seryozha ... And in the theater there should be a distance ””5.

The teacher, justly indignant at amikoshonstvo, is clearly trying to revive the pre-revolutionary class subordination, and herself, as it were, demonstrates her belonging to the hierarchical world: she refers to “you” to a not very close student (she does not know his patronymic!). The extended "poking" is an ingrained echo of the early Soviet custom of deliberately opposing "bourgeois" politeness and inequality; we will talk about this further below. (Absolutely wild appeals to strangers: “Man!”, “Woman!”, which were widely used in last years, I also explain by a latent protest opposition to all previous appeals: both the pre-revolutionary “master”, and the Soviet “citizen” and “comrade”).

Dyachenko S.V.
junior researcher
IRA them. V.V. Vinogradov RAS

Where did patronymic come from?

As you know, in the Russian speech tradition it is customary to address elders by their first name and patronymic. This is a principle of politeness, from which it is almost impossible to retreat at school, in many groups, in clinics. In addition, unfamiliar adults also address each other, in some cases, however, using only a first name without a patronymic. How did this formula come about?

Patronymic as a phenomenon appeared in Russia around the 11th century, at the same time the word “patronymic” itself arose. With the help of patronymics, the connection of children with their father, the belonging of a person to a certain genus, was emphasized. Initially, Russian patronymics were formed somewhat differently than now, for example, Vasily the son of Peter, Ivan the son of Yaroslav, and when magnifying the ancient Russian princes, not only the father was mentioned, but also the grandfather-great-grandfather-great-great-grandfather, up to the very last known ancestor in the family. For example, this was the name of the Kyiv ruler: Prince Vladimir, son of Svyatoslav, grandson of Vsevolod, great-grandson of Oleg, great-great-grandson of Svyatoslav, great-great-great-grandson of Yaroslav, great-great-great-great-grandson of the great Vladimir. The inconvenience in pronouncing such a long name led to the fact that in oral speech the names of grandfathers and great-grandfathers began to be omitted, and thus only the name of the father remained relevant.

In the first centuries of the existence of patronymics, they were used infrequently, only in exceptional cases, in order to show special respect to a person belonging to a princely family or nobility. Representatives of the merchant class for the first time were awarded the right to be called by their patronymic during the time of Peter I. Commoners are still very for a long time did not have patronymics from birth, but they could receive them as a gift from the king for special services to the fatherland.

The form of patronymic also changed. In the form in which we are accustomed to using patronymics, namely the forms on -ich at first they were used only when naming persons belonging to the very top of the aristocracy. These were kings and eminent nobles. The rest of the noble people had the so-called semi-patronymic- education on behalf of the father with the help of a suffix -ov/-ev, for example, Ivan Arkhipov son Vasiliev. In this name, "Vasilyev" is a derivative from the name of the grandfather, that is, Ivan's father was called Arkhip Vasilyev son.

Here is an example of the use of such a semi-patronymic in a small passage from a petition of the 16th century: Andryushko Yakovlev, the son of Shchelkalov, was in the ranks among the taxes from the bells.

* Look in the dictionary (V.I. Dahl, any explanatory dictionary Russian language, on the Internet) meanings of words rynda, tribute, category. What does this phrase from the petition mean? You can check yourself at the end of this article.

During the reign of Catherine II, the use of patronymics and semi-patronymics was documented. So, in accordance with the Table of Ranks, established back in the time of Peter I, the use of patronymics was prescribed for -ich in relation to persons of the first five classes, the use of semi-patronymic names - to persons of 6-8 classes, while the rest were supposed to be addressed without a patronymic at all. This state of affairs persisted until the beginning of the 20th century, however, in informal situations, people called each other with the help of patronymics on -vich/-vna, that is, patronymics in their modern form already in the 19th century. And after the revolution of 1917, the use of such patronymics was legalized, regardless of social status person. This rule is relevant in our country to this day, every person is given a patronymic at birth. According to Russian etiquette, a patronymic should be used when referring to any adult who has reached the age of 25. The exceptions are parents, close relatives and those people with whom there is a special agreement on any specific treatment.

However, it must be admitted that in recent years, under the influence of Western tradition, in which the address by patronymic is not accepted, in Russia patronymics are also often omitted. This is observed, as a rule, in some fairly young organizations and institutions, firms and communities among young people. The trend of non-use of patronymics is also expressed in the fact that in business correspondence, some modern people either they sign without a middle name at all, or indicate only its initial letter, for example, Pyotr M. Korobkov. It is possible that this state of affairs may lead to the disappearance of patronymics as such in the future.

Our answers:

Bell- a squire of noble origin under the great princes and tsars in Russia in the 16th-17th centuries.

tribute- this is an assistant squire, rynds. Sometimes the taxes were called "podrynds".

Discharge(in full - bit order) - government agency in Russia in the 16th–17th centuries, in which service people, ranks and positions were accounted for.

Meaning of the sentence: Andryushka Yakovlevich was registered with the officials as an assistant to the squires. Perhaps this person would have received a surname by the name of his grandfather - Shchelkalov.