What Do Names Tell Us About Our Former Occupations?
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Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 1 (2004) 161–170 UDC 811.163.42'373.232:81'373.237 Review What Do Names Tell Us About Our Former Occupations? Dunja Brozovi} Ron~evi} Linguistic Research Institute, Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia ABSTRACT The paper will analyze some linguistic, primarily onomastic evidence of still existent or extinct crafts and occupations within the framework of the former social structure. Many onetime crafts became extinct in the course of time, but traces of their former dif- fusion and importance can be reconstructed from their onomastic, primarily, anthro- ponomastic reflections. Similar surnames motivated by occupation can be found all across Europe. Some surname statistics in various European countries are given in the paper. Key words: onomastics, anthroponymy, occupational surnames, Croatian surnames, crafts Introduction In many ways names express the iden- other members of the local community. tity of a community. From a historical Today, when we view Croatia that group perspective they bear witness to valuable of surnames covers about 10% of all fam- non-linguistic information on cultural, ily names1. Most of them originate from social, religious and other levels. So-cal- the period of the late Middle Ages, the led occupational surnames represent an age of a highly developed feudalism in especially interesting group of names found which craftsmen settled at market places all across Europe. Many former long for- and around medieval towns. At that time gotten occupations and local crafts are ex- they started to play an important role tinct, but the memory of their former im- within the framework of the feudal social portance is well preserved in onomastic structure. Since for centuries crafts and evidence, mostly in surnames. occupations were mostly hereditary, a Originally, in the »pre-surname« peri- group of family names motivated by them ods, names motivated by occupation used in most European countries developed to be a sort of nickname given to crafts- and hence they represent one of the earli- men in order to distinguish them among est groups of hereditary surnames. It is Received for publication December 15, 2003 161 D. Brozovi} Ron~evi}: Names Based on Former Crafts, Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 1 (2004) 161–170 especially true for the period after the able to produce its own goods. In most vil- Council of Trent (1545–1563) when the lages, until the end of the 19th century, majority of family names obtained an offi- crafts often used to be just a complemen- cial status and gradually, throughout the tary seasonal activity in periods in which 16th and 17th century, became not only he- the farmers were not fully involved in reditary but also an obligatory part of the farming, or cattle breeding. From the 19th naming formula2. century onwards, in rural areas crafts- men gradually differentiated from farm- ers. Still, the market was too small to ini- The Development of Medieval tiate the growth of manufactures, and Crafts craftsmen mostly traded within their own In most of Europe, crafts gradually regions. In spite of their undefined sta- emerged by the end of the 10th and at the tus, or better, as a result of that status, beginning of the 11th century, a time in many of those »seasonal craftsmen« ob- which medieval towns developed into cen- tained nicknames that later became sur- ters of trade and manufacturing. From names, that differentiated them within the 11th to the 14th century, the urban set- their communities. It should be noted that tlements were in a constant rise all in the 18th and 19th centuries, the differ- across Europe. That situation was some- entiation of craftsmen in rural environ- what changed due to an economic and de- ments had a somewhat negative conno- mographic depression in the 14th century, tation3. Those were the people that be- but already by the middle of the 15th cen- came craftsmen not because of their skills tury many urban settlements were offi- but out of necessity since they had lost cially given a kind of an urban epithet their land. They were often treated with and that represented the culmination pe- contempt within their communities and riod of medieval crafts. However, the Ot- the nicknames motivated by crafts were toman army invasion in the 16th century, somewhat pejorative. and the Turkish conquest of the large por- Many craftsmen came to Croatia about tions of the South-Eastern Europe and the 13th century. In the northern part of Hungary, brought depression and stagna- Croatia, king Bela the Fourth (1235– tion of many former urban settlements. 1270) invited them to »his« territory as Well-established trade routes were sus- so-called »hospites«. Many of them were pended which in turn meant in many of foreign, often German origin* and most towns a downfall in production for crafts- medieval towns very soon became partly men. There were, however, European cit- cosmopolitan settlements. Shortly after- ies in which the crafts were kept from de- wards craftsmen started to form market cay almost in the continuity from the late districts within the cities and organize Antiquity until the present. This refers themselves into brotherhoods on an eth- mostly to Italy, but also to some of the nic or occupational basis. However, it Dalmatian cities that were under Byzan- seems that the first brotherhoods were tine and later Venetian rule. more religious and social organizations. The situation was, of course, quite dif- In Zagreb »the Croatian Brotherhood« is ferent in the rural communities where mentioned in historical records of 1355, the local population was for the most part »German« in 1357, and »Latin« in 13844. * Many German craftsmen stayed in Croatia for centuries, and only at the beginning of the 20th century their number rapidly declined. 162 D. Brozovi} Ron~evi}: Names Based on Former Crafts, Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 1 (2004) 161–170 At that time the term Latin was mostly by the responsible municipal authorities, referred to Italian builders, such as sto- or by the ruler, Croatian historical re- ne-carvers from Florence who came to cords give us valuable information on the Zagreb to build the cathedral. A memory importance of certain crafts and the order of that ethnic group is preserved in the in which they were established, until name of one of the major Zagreb streets, their abolishment in 1872. According to Vla{ka ulica, as well as in the name La{- historical records in the Zagreb region ~ina that used to be a village where the there were 28 guilds, most of them con- Italians had their properties. Germans, centrated in Gradec*, although the num- on the other hand were often shoe-mak- ber of various crafts that were present in ers so the district they settled was known the Croatian capital from the 13th to the as »German« or [o{tarska ves (Shoema- 19th century certainly surpasses that kers Lane). In later periods, when the number. In the 15th century Gradec regis- craftsmen suburban settlements became tered 38 different crafts, while the histor- integrated districts of the cities, a mem- ical records of Vienna from 1454, that at ory of their former importance is often, to the time had about 20,000 inhabitants, the present day, preserved in numerous list 68 different crafts that were orga- street or district names that were named nized within 55 guilds. The number of after them. Thus we find, for example in craftsmen is of course proportionally re- the Croatian capital Zagreb, street names lated to the level of the urban develop- like Ko`arska (ko`ar 'leather-worker'), ment of a certain town. Lon~arska (lon~ar 'potter'), Mesni~ka The situation in Zagreb5 mostly corre- (mesar 'butcher'), Mlinarska (mlinar 'mil- sponds to the situation in other north ler'), [o{tarska ({o{tar 'shoe-maker' ¬ Croatian towns. For example, according Germ.), [loserska ({loser 'lock-smith' ¬ to a number of registered craftsmen in Germ.), Zvonarni~ka (zvonar 'bell-maker' Vara`din, the most numerous were but- used in the sense of bell workshop) and so chers, then came blacksmiths, shoe-mak- on. In Rijeka we had U`arska (u`ar ers, tailors, small shop-keepers, millers, 'rope-maker'), in Dubrovnik Crevljarska salt-producers or salt traders, weavers, (crevljar 'shoe-maker'), Zlatarska (zlatar bathers, goldsmiths, joiners, bow-makers, 'goldsmith'), in Zadar Kova~ka (kova~ armoires, strap-makers, furriers, carpen- 'blacksmith') etc. Since those names, that ters, organ makers, gun-smiths, stone- date back hundreds of years, very explic- carvers, barbers, vessel makers, cart itly bear witness to a historical develop- wrights, etc.6 ment of medieval towns, and represent The southern, coastal part of Croatia an important part of their history, they was in general, economically more pros- should not be renamed as they unfortu- perous then the north. The indigenous nately often are. Romance population of Dalmatian towns In the 15th century craftsmen began to was mostly assimilated before the coastal form guilds, occupational associations territory came under the political and ad- with the same or similar crafts that func- ministrative influence of Venice. The tioned as sort of medieval unions. Due to Croats, who originally lived outside the the fact the guilds had to be authorized city walls gradually entered the cities * The capital of Croatia that was until 1860 divided into Gradec (the royal free city on basis of a charter granted in 1242 by King Bela IV), the capitular part of the town called Kaptol, and the Vlaška district that was under the Bishop's jurisdiction. 163 D. Brozovi} Ron~evi}: Names Based on Former Crafts, Coll. Antropol. 28 Suppl. 1 (2004) 161–170 and started to participate in the urban surname geographical distribution we economic life.