A dithematic name is a single-word given name consisting of two lexemes or stems, to be distinguished from compound names, which consist of several separate words. They are commonly dated from pre-Christian times among Indo-Europeans,[1][2][3] in particular, Lithuanians,[4][5][6] Germanic, and Slavic peoples.[7][8][9]
Single-lexeme names or monothematic names are names based on a single lexeme/stem.
Polish linguist Zofia Kaleta asserts that many Old Germanic and Old Slavic dithematic given names reflected wishes for newborns.[7]
Since dithematic names are often long, they became truncted, first as diminutives, which had later become regular given names of their own.[10] Czech examples: Rostislav – Rost; Svatopluk – Pluk; Radomír – Radim; Sbyslav – Sbych; Sdeslav – Sdeš Sdenĕk (Zdeněk); Dobromil – Došek; Přemysl – Přek; Budihost – Buň.[11]
^Maria Malec [pl], Budowa morfologiczna staropolskich złożonych imion osobowych (The morphological structure of the Old Polish compound names). Wrocław, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, 1971.
