The '-ski' addition

[mbourdes]

Can any of the linguists out there inform us as to the origins of the 'ski' addition to Macedonian names that we see quite frequently. ie Gruevski, Petkovski etc.

When did this become common practice and is their any meaning associated with the addition?

[Daskalot]

Can any of the linguists out there inform us as to the origins of the 'ski' addition to Macedonian names that we see quite frequently. ie Gruevski, Petkovski etc.

When did this become common practice and is their any meaning associated with the addition?

Interesting question, can I ask you something?

Are you the same person as the banned user Neznamides? Yes or No?

[pelagonia]

Can anyone inform us as to the origins of all the arvanite,vlach,turkish,pontian surnames that are now pure greek?

[Вардарец]

IMO

-Ski was added after the liberation of Vardar Macedonia in 1945. The surenames which got changed after the Serb occupation, ending on ICH, were reversed to the old ones EV/OV and the new one SKI.

Allthough SKI existed before that, i think it had a different purpose

(Dimitar Pop Georgiev BEROVSKI, Jane SANDANSKI, etc).

I think it was done because Macedonians wanted to differ from Bulgarians.

and... NO, i am not saying that Macedonians were Bulgarians. Macedonians had sympathy towards the Bulgarians, looking to them like a common brothers and aiders for their liberation. What the Bulgars in WW2 did in Macedonia, was occupation, fascism, jailing up many Macedonians ( The famous Bulgar saying " Mamkata ti Makedonska " ). Since then, MOST Macedonians are disgusted by our cousins in the East.

[Dimko-piperkata]

guys, guys, guys !

the term "ski" is older not less than 7000 years !
YouTube - VASIL ILJOV - HERODOT

PIR M'KED'NZKI
(5000-3500 B.C.)

The Republic of Macedonia and its expert and scholarly potential must not allow itself to forget or give up the cultural identity of its people or to change the NAME which, as MACEDONIANS, we have had at least since the time of the zet, Pir M’ked’nzki, or continually for at least about 7,000 years.
Ancient linguistics, that of the Middle Ages, and modern Macedonian linguistics must find its deserved place in every phase of the system of education in the Republic of Macedonia. Current and future Macedonian researchers must make efforts to free themselves of the illusions of the 18th, 19th, and 20th century, i.e. the past. With convincing arguments, they must incorporate the latest research regarding literacy, language, and culture, permanently into the continuity of Macedonian civilization, so that they may find their deserved place in every publication and media in our country and around the world, therefore, in the third millennium throwing an appropriate MACEDONIAN LIGHT upon EVERYTHING that is MACEDONIAN in order to illuminate the oldest canter of civilization - MACEDONIA.

http://www.unet.com.mk/ancient-macedonians-part2/nezapirliva1-e.htm

[Coolski]

Can any of the linguists out there inform us as to the origins of the 'ski' addition to Macedonian names that we see quite frequently. ie Gruevski, Petkovski etc.

When did this become common practice and is their any meaning associated with the addition?

THe -ski addition to any slavic surname is probably the most formal form of surname. It is a suffix which turns the prefix into an adjective to describe the person's first name. Several names in Macedonia ended in -ovski/evski. Mine is one of them, however within the neighbourhood/villages they don't bother with the -ski, it's usually -ov/ev or even just -o or -e suffix.

Given by the feeling i get from your question, you must be asking this question with respect to WWII and the establishment of the Republic of Macedonia within Yugoslavia. Just prior to WWII, and after the balkan wars, the Republic of Macedonia was under the control of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which treated Macedonians quite poorly with respect to self identification. Like Greeks, they tried to make Macedonians one of them. In this process (similar to the Greek process, eg. Gatzova to Gatzoulis), names were changed to sound serbian, eg. -ovic -evic.

After WWII i guess those who felt that their name had been changed and were not happy with a serbian sounding name, changed them to -ovski/-evski or -ov/-ev which was more common for Macedonians in Macedonia.

[Coolski]

I have a further question about Greek surnames.

Bakoyannis is the surname of the Greek FM, but sometimes she is called Bakoyanni. Is this a grammatical feature for females only?

[Risto the Great]

My maternal Grandparents had a "ski" on their surname.
They are from Egej.
Tito never changed anyone's names there.

[Rogi]

Jane Sandanski did not have his surname changed by Tito.
In fact, he was born before Tito.

My paternal great, great grandfather, born in the 1881 was Pavle Lozanovski from Vrbjani, Prilepsko. He too, was in fact born before Tito.

He was killed in WW1 and my great, great grandmother (who had 2 children with him, one being my paternal great grandfather) re-married years later to a man who also had a surname ending in 'ski', who was also born before Tito (this is my current surname so I won't name it).

So as far as I am concerned, the 'ski' ending has been in my family from Ottoman times (or beyond).



However, if I go back finding my "soj" (root), the old people say from my paternal side I'm from the 'Dolevci soj' (Prilepsko) and on my maternal side I'm from the 'Mindevci soj' (Mariovsko). This is going back to the 1700's and beyond, well into Ottoman times, where I am unsure of the surname endings and whether they had the 'ski' or not. I suppose Turkish archives may have this information.

[Boge]

Ski, is purely Macedonian. It does not have a reflection on the ich or any ich. To put it simply, it is a representation of belonging to a certain clan: Solunski, Bitolski, Ohridski, itn…Although, I find exceptions to the ski in old “calgiski” songs. There are lines like, “dobiv aber od Soluna grada”, and so on. We could have "una" as a surname ending as well.

[mbourdes]

Would the "ski" suffix make someone more pure Macedonian than someone who does not have the suffix, and are there any claims as such in your cultural realm?

[Boge]

No

Not event in an Ethnic realm

[Risto the Great]

Would the "ski" suffix make someone more pure Macedonian than someone who does not have the suffix, and are there any claims as such in your cultural realm?

In our "cultural realm", many options are possible.
Back in the day, the first name could easily have become the surname (without any additional endings) eg. Stefo

But the names after the Greeks changed them in Southern Macedonia are utterly comical. For many reasons.

[mbourdes]

Albanians and Turkish are facing problems with their surnames, because they were changed forcefully in the past by the previous regimes, so that it was an often practice of adding the suffix ski and viç to the surnames of the nationalities. These suffixes are characteristic for Slav surnames. This was all with purpose of showing this population as Slav population. If the difficult and long procedure of changing the surname is considered, than we have characteristic examples in some areas of Macedonia wherein Albanians are in a significant number. Their surnames do not end with the traditional prefixes i, u, a ex: Asani, Aliu, Hoxha, a large number of Albanians’ surnames have been changed with Slav suffixes as are ski and viç. This is an often case in the municipalities of Kiçevo, Skopje, Veles, Prilep, Krusevo, Bitola, Radovis, and Struga (in the cities and villages). For example: Asanovski, Hoxoski, Alioski and others.

In Macedonia Turkish use 4 different surnames, that were forcefully altered so that most of the Turkish surnames end with the suffixes as are ski, ov, and i (Selimovski, Ahmedov, and Memeti).

http://www.minelres.lv/reports/Macedonia_NGO1.htm

[Boge]

In Macedonia Turkish use 4 different surnames, that were forcefully altered so that most of the Turkish surnames end with the suffixes as are ski, ov, and i (Selimovski, Ahmedov, and Memeti).

http://www.minelres.lv/reports/Macedonia_NGO1.htm

Please explain this forcefulness?