among grammarians, is applied to such names of men or women as are derived from those of parents or ancestors.

Patronymics are derived, 1. From the father; as Pelides, i.e. Achilles the son of Peleus. 2. From the mother; as Philyrides, i.e. Chiron the son of Philira. 3. From the grandfather on the father's side; as Æacides, i.e. Achilles the grandson of Æacus. 4. From the grandfather by the mother's side; as Atlantiades, i.e. Mercury the grandson of Atlas. 5. From the kings and founders of nations; as Romulidei, i.e. the Romans, from their founder king Romulus.

The termination of Greek and Latin patronymics are chiefly four, viz. des, of which we have examples above; as, as Thaumantias, i.e. Iris the daughter of Thaumas; ir, as Atlantis, i.e. Electra the daughter of Atlas; and ne, as Nerine, the daughter of Nereus. Of these terminations des is masculine; and ar, ir, and ne, feminine: des and ne are of the first declension, as and ir of the third.

The Russians, in their usual mode of address, never prefix any title or appellation of respect to their names; but persons of all ranks, even those of the first distinction, call each other by their Christian names, to which they add a patronymic. These patronymics are formed in some cases by adding Vitch (the same as our Fitz, as Fitzherbert, or the son of Herbert) to the Christian name of the father; in others by Of or Ef; the former is applied only to persons of condition, the latter to those of inferior rank. Thus,

Ivan Ivanovitch, Ivan Ivanof, is Ivan the son of Ivan; Peter Alexievich, Peter Alexeof, Peter the son of Alexey.

The female patronymic is Efna or Ofna, as Sophia Alex- Alexeevna, or Sophia the daughter of Alexey; Maria Ivanovna, or Maria the daughter of Ivan.

Great families are also in general distinguished by a surname, as those of Romanoff, Galitzin, Sheremetev, &c.