The Eastern Orthodox monastery of Iviron, located in northern Greece, was founded in the late tenth century. Documents associated with the first hundred years of the monastery's existence are collected and analyzed in:
Jacques Lefort, Nicolas Oikonomidès, and Denise Papachryssanthou, ed.s, with the collaboration of Hélène Métrévéli, Actes d'Iviron des origines au milieu du XIe siècle, Paris, P. Lethielleux, 1985.
The documents are primarily in Greek, with some text in Latin and Georgian.
In this article, we give some examples of different name constructions found in the documents from Iviron. These constructions are suitable for Byzantines living around the year 1000. We have transliterated the names we analyze from Greek. Greek grammar changes the form of a name depending on its function in a sentence; we have converted all names to the nominative form, as necessary.
Titles and Occupational Bynames
Many of the men mentioned in these documents are identified by their role in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, such as monachos 'monk' or presbyteros 'priest'.
Examples
- Auxentios presbyteros
- Iōannēs monachos
Patronymics
A few men are identified as their fathers' sons, using the constructions
[given name] + [tou 'of the'] + [father's name in the genitive case]
or
[given name] + [father's name in the genitive case].
Examples
- Nikolaos tou Christophōrou
- Dimitrios Theoklētou
There are a couple of examples of women identified as their fathers' daughters. Though the identifying information given for the women and their parents is complex, including bynames such as chēra 'widow' and monachē 'nun', the basic structure is
[given name] + [thugatēr, 'daughter'] + [father's name in the genitive case].
Examples
- Maria chēra thugatēr Nikikeita papa tou Sidirokausitou
- Maria monachē hē kai gnēsia thugatēr Stephanou tou kai Sthlabota
Locative Bynames
Some men are identified by an adjective for people from a specific town or region, using the construction
[given name] + [ho, 'the'] + [adjective].
Examples
- Euthymios ho Ibēr
- Iōannēs monachos ho Phakinos
- Symeōn monachos ho Loutrakinos
Some men are identified by the name of the place they are from in the genitive case, using the construction
[given name] + [tou 'of the'] + [place name in genitive].
If the place name is plural and/or feminine, other forms of the definite article may appear in this context.
Examples
- Paulos monachos tou Xiropotamou
- Nikēphoros monachos tou Zygou
