We are all aware that Macedonian and Bulgarian (and i think Russian) have the participle ending thing.

eg.
-ot -to -ta
-on -ono -ona
-ov -ovo -ova

My particular focus right here is the third case of this linguistic feature, the reason being our surnames.

it is obvious that when we hear

Ǵorǵi Jovanov we think that Ǵorǵi belongs to the Jovan group.

When we hear Ǵorǵi Jovanovski it is a more formal way of saying this.

this is ok because in Macedonian ,Bulgarian and Russian we have names that end like this.


Here is my question though. If Serbo/Croatian does and did not have this participle ending,

why do we see surnames ending like "Ivanović" "Maksimović" (the list could go on forever).

If the linguistics of Serbocroatian did not contain the participle ending at one stage, why are these people not called simply Ivanić or Maksimić ?

There are two possible options based on what i understand.

1. Serbocroatian has never had participles and these names with -ović are serbo-croatianised names that were originally Macedonian or Bulgarian in origin. (This is themethod that the serbs used to change Macedonian names in the pre-Tito periods eg. Stefanović Apostolović etc.)

2. Serbocroatian used to have participles and they dropped them over time.

The same thing goes for particular placenames in the serbocroatian speaking regions in the balkans. The prime example here is Kosovo

Serbs from Bosnia, Croatia and Montenegro have completely different surnames then those from Serbia.

woops didnt catch that delete

No MKD, they did have it. In Serbian and Croatian there is no -ski traditionally. If you see -ski then that name is of any other Slavic origin but Serbo-Croatian. But instead of -ski they have -ić. The Eastern Slavs have -ič. Western Slavs only have -ski, but we Slovaks don't have it, not even -ov. These endings (-ć and ič) represent father's or mother's first or last name, hence for example both Ivanić and Ivanović. It represents the tribe's chieftain or great ancestor and from that to the name the ending is added.

Slovak, I think you missed MKD's valid point that a name like Ivanovic in serbia still contains "ov" even though it has no linguistic merit in their language. So why isn't there more Ivanic names as opposed to Ivanovic?

Because -ov fell out of use. In Slovak for example it is arbitrary. You can write your surname with -ov or not. My surname is Spevák but I can write it Spevákov if I want to. In Serbian and Croatian it fell out of use and those names that already had it to most -ić was added later.

So the correct answer is:
2. Serbocroatian used to have participles and they dropped them over time.

aha.. thanks slovak

"If you see -ski then that name is of any other Slavic origin but Serbo-Croatian. But instead of -ski they have -ić. "

So you seriously mean that Zrinski isn´t a croatian name?

There is a surname in Slovak Zríni, so Zrinski might be 'the one of Zríni'.

As far as I am aware I haven't met many Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins or Bosnians that have -ski in their surname. It is very rare and usually indicate foreign origin. So your safe.

some serbs have ov at the end of their surnames ?

Slovak, i'm curious, if Serbocroatian used to have participles, did they also have declension at the same time?

I would have thought that the two features would overlap.

I think you used the word participle wrong. Participle is 'častica' in Slovak and they mean a completely different thing. -ov and -ev are adjective case endings. They exist today but not to construct surnames. You still have like Jovanov which is Nominative singular masculine for adjectives, meaning 'belonging to Jovan', but you would no longer have a surname Jovanov in Serbo-Croatian except if it was from Bulgarian or Macedonian. In Serbo-Croatian it is now Jovanović.