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ArchivesRe: Bagoly
in reply to a message by Joyce
According to my dictionary Bagoly is the Hungarian for "owl". Perhaps a nickname connoting wisdom in the original bearer, or perhaps referring to a particular look. I'm trying to think of other cultures that have owl as a surname. I can only think of Russian, maybe Ukrainian.
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... and Polish. I personally know one person called Owl (Sowa). But names of animals (especially those having some specific features)are popular surnames in many cultures, aren't they? In Poland we've got cats, wolves, foxes, spiders, birds, magpies, crows, sparrows, flies, even bedbugs amongst people. Also many surnames are derived from the names of animals.
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Now I'm confused! I was thinking of Pugatch and Pugatchyov. After reading your posting I looked up "owl" in the Russian dictionary, and it's sova (but in cyrillic letters, of course). Also, a list of Ukrainian names has Sova, "owl". So where did I get pugatch from, and what does it mean? It's not in my Russian dictionary, only pugat', and that's a verb.
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Actually, you were very close. Pugatch is a popular name for a kind of an owl [I'm not sure it's English name, my old dictionary says "eagle owl"(?)]. In Polish it's "puchacz".
By the way, your linguistic knowledge is very impressive!
By the way, your linguistic knowledge is very impressive!
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Another spelling might be BOGALY. In the 1910 Census, my relatives (BAGOLY) are spelled as BOGALY. Later changed by the family to BOGI. In Hungary, this surname BAGOLY,(literally translated as "owl") is uncommon. Animal surnames in Hungary are thought to be very old, older than occupational surnames. Best wishes on your research!
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Tbanks for the clarification. My "impressive" linguistic knowledge is mainly a fondness for dictionaries.
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