Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2013 July 6

= July 6 =

Terdoslavich
Watching the Phillies versus Atlanta, I saw Joseph Terdoslavich brought up from the minors for the first time to play for the Atlanta Braves. I laughed when the name was first pronounced TERDoslavich, and though I bet it's terDOslavich. Within 30 seconds the announcers corrected themselves, saying that according to the press office, it was actually terDOslavich. Can anyone confirm the name is Russian as I suspect, or Identify another origin? Thanks. μηδείς (talk) 06:07, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
 * No, it does not look like Russian at all. Serbo-Croatian Tvrdoslav / Tvrdislav is the most probable.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 06:47, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Where's the -ich coming from then? μηδείς (talk) 17:06, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
 * From our article on Serbian names: "The -ić suffix is a Slavic diminutive, originally functioning to create patronymics", so Terdoslavich is the "little son of Tvrdoslav" 92.81.68.23 (talk) 18:17, 6 July 2013 (UTC)''
 * Are we entitled to assume the name is really Tvrdoslav- instead of the way he spells it? μηδείς (talk) 23:04, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
 * If you mean how was it originally spelt - yes, probably. But however he spells his own name now is what it really is now.  --   Jack of Oz   [Talk]  00:00, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * BTW, he's known as Joey Terdoslavich. --Xuxl (talk) 12:17, 8 July 2013 (UTC)
 * It's a plausible, but very rare Croatian surname; etymology from Tvrdoslav (a fairly rare name today, but more common in the past) is highly likely. However, Croatian onomastics portal records 3 Terdoslavić's in Croatia today, and 12 in 1950s (all from Dalmatia, an area of strong emigration to US), so that sound alternation likely occurred even in the homeland (well, it ain't so easy to pronounce even for native speakers). On the other hand, surname Tvrdoslavić only produces three Ghits, all from historical sources. 85.73.252.110 (talk) 12:26, 12 July 2013 (UTC)