Gontar

Gontar is a Russian occupational surname that refers to a roofer or shingler, analogous to German Schindler. The occupational usage is obsolete. It derives from Russian gont (гонт), shingle, from Polish gont, shingle, from Middle High German gant, beam, from Latin cantherius, rafter, from Greek kanthelion (κανθήλιον), rafter. The English word gantry also derives from the Latin cantherius. The same slavic word for shingle, and the surname, also exist in Ukrainian as both gont and hont, Gontar and Hontar, and in Polish, gont, Gontar. Ukrainian Гонтар may be approximated by Hontar, as Г in that language indicates an 'h' sound that is slightly fricative. In Russian, Г sounds as a hard g, written in Ukrainian by a Ghe with upturn, Ґ. Many people in Ukraine, however, appear to use the Gontar pronunciation. The usual Russian Cyrillic spelling is Гонтарь.

As spelled Gontar, 75% of people bearing the surname live in Russia, at 3,192. Yet 99% of people bearing the Hontar spelling live in Ukraine, and more than double the bearers of the Gontar spelling worldwide.

Notable people with the surname include:


 * Abram Yutkovich Gontar (1908–1981), Soviet Jewish poet and novelist of Ukrainian origin, participant in the Kengir uprising
 * Anastasiia Gontar, Russian Paralympic swimmer
 * Anna Hontar, Ukrainian Paralympic swimmer
 * Nikolai Gontar (born 1949), Russian footballer
 * Olga Gontar (born 1979), Belarusian rhythmic gymnast