Abstract
The names of wives in Belarusian Narew dialects were most often formed
from the husband’s name using the formatives -iχa, -ča and -ka. These forms were neutral in
the past, and the formatives in questions were a maritonymic indicator. During the post-war
period, particularly in the nineteen-seventies, a tendency for the gradual disappearance of
wives’ names with the formatives -iχa, -ča and -ka was observed. The names of this type
now refer almost exclusively to old women. They are used by persons of the oldest generation.
In this usage, the names in question retain their maritonymic function and a neutral
tinge. The names of wives with the formatives -iχa, -ča and -ka, used to refer to old women
by young or middle-aged people, usually have an augmentative-pejorative or jocular- ironic
connotation. The names of this type are gradually becoming functionally close to nicknames.
What is conducive to the process is without doubt the archaic form of the names in
question. The archaization of the traditional names of wives with the formatives -iχa, -ča
and -ka is accompanied by the distinct activation, infl uenced by the Polish language, of
maritonymic f Keywords: Białystok region, Narewka village and its vicinity, peripheral
Belarusian dialects, mari-tonymic forms with the formative -iχa, -ča and -ka, disappearance
and change of function Narewka village and its ormatives -ova, -ava, and partly -ina, -yna.
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