Polyvariantity of personal names as a linguistic and cultural phenomenon

Abstract

The biggest layer of the Ukrainian anthroponyms consist of names that came from ancient Greek, ancient Hebrew, Latin and the languages of the nations related to Byzantine culture. With the passage of time the names, that became widespread and popular on the Ukrainian territory, appeared in different phonetic variants and divergent structural and morphological forms, in which the characteristic features of the Ukrainian language were more clearly manifested. The systemic nature of these changes led to the appearance of a number of variants of the same name, multivariance of a personal name. By the multivariance of a personal name, we mean the set of variants of a personal name belonging to the national anthroponymicon, reflected in the usus and recorded in lexicographic onomastic sources. It is characterized by a variety of morphonological forms and structural and word-forming types that appeared at a certain synchronic stage as a result of systemic language changes in the process of establishing original and development of borrowed proper names, each of which is related to a protoonym, by a set of relevant features. In the article we consider the phenomena, that took place in the system of vocalism, consonantism, at the structural and morphological levels, which was reflected in the branched system of variants of personal names. The changes that led to the appearance of variants is an indication of the dynamical cultural memory and are an integral part of the Ukrainian linguistic world picture. Therefore the Ukrainian anthroponymicon is a national treasure and deserves a comprehensive study from both an ethnocultural and a linguistic point of view.