Onymy of Pavao Ritter Vitezovi？’s Latin Verse Epistles

Sa？etak This paper explores the onymic data attested in the Latin verse epistolary collections written by the Croatian polymath Paulus Ritter Vitezovi？ (1652 – 1713). Given that they abound in vernacular onyms, both from Croatian and other languages – in various grades of adaptation to the Latin language – the question arises to what extent the variants were of practical use in the neo-Latin context. Personal names and place names are the most frequent onyms in these epistles, along with various forms of adjectives derived from them. Certain derivations are based on alternative forms of the same Latinized or vernacular onym by means of various Latin suffixes, some of them possibly the author’s invention due to the lack of appropriate Latinized forms. The attested naming formulas have been presented and the onomastic data systematised in order to demonstrate the author’s attitude towards onomastics in the neo-Latin context. In addition, the paper addresses the question of the interrelationship between Vitezovi？’s orthographic solutions for certain phonemes of the Croatian language and his Latin verses, as well as his ideas on prosody of the Croatian onyms inserted into Latin verses