Slovene (Aug 2015)
Dudika, Negvar: Two German Anthroponyms in Texts from Novgorod
Abstract
According to the Novgorod First Chronicle (in entries from 1055 and 1058), a servant (xolopъ) and probably steward (tiunъ) of the Novgorodian bishop Luka had the name Dudika. The name seems to be of Lower German origin ( old Russian rob-, a virtual form like the Old Russian *Nigvarъ might have appeared. The further transformation *Nigvarъ > Negvar was induced by frequent personal name models either with the initial group Ne- (such as Nedanъ, Nevidъ) or with the first stem Něg- (such as Něgoradъ). So the Old Scandinavian Ingvarr was reflected as a loan-name in the Old Russian dialects three times: Igorь (before losing the nasal vowels), Inъgvarъ, and Negvarъ (before and after losing the reduced vowels in unaccented positions).
