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ArchivesRe: Surname in my family, where does it come from???
in reply to a message by Vanesme
I think it unlikely that the name is from Malaga.
There is a place in Northern Italy called Melegano, but I think it would be unsafe to make any assumptions based on that.
One big problem for me is that it's difficult to search for a Greek name without knowing the spelling in the original Greek letters. There are two Greek letters that could be rendered as the Roman letter E, and two letters for O,long and short.
Another problem is that there is very little information available about Greek surnames and their meaning.
A third problem, it seems to me, is that often a Greek surname is based on a word in another language, e.g. Albanian or Turkish. Your grandmother's origins in Macedonia means that she lived in a country where a Slavic language unrelated to Greek is spoken, though her surname doesn't appear to have been adapted from the Macedonian.
There is a place in Northern Italy called Melegano, but I think it would be unsafe to make any assumptions based on that.
One big problem for me is that it's difficult to search for a Greek name without knowing the spelling in the original Greek letters. There are two Greek letters that could be rendered as the Roman letter E, and two letters for O,long and short.
Another problem is that there is very little information available about Greek surnames and their meaning.
A third problem, it seems to me, is that often a Greek surname is based on a word in another language, e.g. Albanian or Turkish. Your grandmother's origins in Macedonia means that she lived in a country where a Slavic language unrelated to Greek is spoken, though her surname doesn't appear to have been adapted from the Macedonian.
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Replies
I'm certain he was referring to the region of "Macedonia" in Greece, not to Macedonia the country. They are two different things, with different languages. Therefore, a Slavic language (unrelated to Greek, as you say), is not spoken by any significant part of the population in the area where that name comes from.
It's an easy confusion to make. :)
It's an easy confusion to make. :)
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First I've heard of this. I know that nationalistic Greeks like to pretend that there is no such country as Macedonia. I do know that the Greek state forced their Macedonian minority to adopt Greek or Greek looking names (i.e., Yankoulas for Jankovski), but I did not know that Greece's Macedonian minority was losing its language. I have heard Greek seamen speaking a Slavic language which I assumed was Macedonian.
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The region of Macedonia in Greece didn't have a Slavo-Macedonian minority for quite a while... In 1926 for example, the place was 88% Greek, and it only increased since.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_(Greece)#Demographics
Moreover, the particular town Kastoria doesn't have any Macedonian minority that I know of - of course I could be wrong, but geographical proximity to a country/language doesn't guarantee the existence of a minority, and I think this is the case here. :)
Anyway, after, and during the Balkan and World Wars, many Balkanic countries engaged in population exchanges in order to "purify" their territory, and Greece was definitely not an exception. One thing is for certain - nothing is certain in the Balkans! ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_(Greece)#Demographics
Moreover, the particular town Kastoria doesn't have any Macedonian minority that I know of - of course I could be wrong, but geographical proximity to a country/language doesn't guarantee the existence of a minority, and I think this is the case here. :)
Anyway, after, and during the Balkan and World Wars, many Balkanic countries engaged in population exchanges in order to "purify" their territory, and Greece was definitely not an exception. One thing is for certain - nothing is certain in the Balkans! ;)
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Hey,
Sorry to say, but I agree with YesIAm. Kastoria is purely a Greek town, and sure, its only natural that two bordering countries, at their borders may have some populations that speak different languages. All of Greece for example, has many Albanian residents (illegal and not)., but that doesn't in any way lessen the Greek identity of Greece.
As for the name, its wrong to try to hog a term that refers to a whole geographical area that in includes three different nations, and make it refer to one. Macedonia is an ancient name, and as for its origins and meaning, it is Greek. See, the problem isn't with FYROM wanting to have a part in the term, because yes, geographically, their country is a significant part of Macedonia. The problem is when they want to use the name exclusively for themselves, when it rightfully applies to a region.
This also causes misunderstandings and confusion (for example as demonstrated in the above posts).
Sorry to say, but I agree with YesIAm. Kastoria is purely a Greek town, and sure, its only natural that two bordering countries, at their borders may have some populations that speak different languages. All of Greece for example, has many Albanian residents (illegal and not)., but that doesn't in any way lessen the Greek identity of Greece.
As for the name, its wrong to try to hog a term that refers to a whole geographical area that in includes three different nations, and make it refer to one. Macedonia is an ancient name, and as for its origins and meaning, it is Greek. See, the problem isn't with FYROM wanting to have a part in the term, because yes, geographically, their country is a significant part of Macedonia. The problem is when they want to use the name exclusively for themselves, when it rightfully applies to a region.
This also causes misunderstandings and confusion (for example as demonstrated in the above posts).
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Very well put :-)
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