NOMEN EST OMEN: MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL OCCUPATIONS IN SLOVENIAN FAMILY NAMES

The heritage of Slovenian house names and surnames reflects, among others, the former medicine and pharmaceutical occupations, midwifery, and folk medicine practices, and besides that, also health status and illnesses of people. Surnames, which are especially strongly intertwined with family, local and social history, are closely related to folk medicine and magic. Unlike house names (vulgo), which are the usual nicknames for physical and mental characteristics and abilities, surnames denote medical occupations and medicinal folk practice as such. According to the most recent data (as of January 1, 2020) of The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, at least 40 surnames reminiscent former medical or pharmaceutical professions. These newly discovered digital data in open access are precious for the history of medicine because they allow comparing surnames geographically, by frequency, and through the time.


On surnames derived from occupations
In Slovenia, last names were established in the 16 th century among the peasantry, and earlier in the bourgeoisie and nobility. In the Slovenian onomastics, surnames are traditionally divided into four groups according to their meaning: 1. Surnames deriving from birth names (e.g. from ancient pre-Christian names, from saints' names, from baptismal names), 2. Surnames deriving from occupational names, crafts, and activities, 3. Surnames deriving from local, provincial, and ethnic names, 4. Surnames deriving from nicknames (e.g. from house names or according to physical or character characteristics like colour of skin or hair) 1 .
Occupational surnames indicate an occupation, craft or craft activity, as well as temporary employment of the first holder of such surname. The socio-political situation of Slovenian people in the city and the countryside during the feudal era, when almost every major settlement had its mayor, blacksmith, weaver, shoemaker, innkeeper, miller and wheeler, explain why the surnames, derived from occupations, are so common. Many surnames have two forms, Slovenian and German, sometimes they are also in Italian, Friulian or Hungarian language. This is because foreign lords have written down the surnames in their land and tax registers (in Slovenian urbar) in both languages. Whoever said his or her name and profession before the authority, the authority wrote down the name of the profession as a last name. The use of foreign surnames was supported by everyday linguistic use because Slovenian people, under the influence of ruling foreigners, called craftsmen with foreign terms. In doing so, the foreign surname remained on paper, but the people used the Slovenian name. In some places, there has been a long struggle between the local and foreign names, which of them will eventually prevail. Many surname variations have evolved from the occupational names. 2

On the medicinal occupations in Slovenia
In a historical region Carniola, faculty-trained doctors were not known until 1516. Their hierarchy was as follows: the highest was medicus, then ranocelnik -city surgeon, body-surgeon, barber-surgeon and quack doctor who 1 Torkar, Silvo (2002 Bunc, Stanko (1963). O nastanku, razvoju in pomenu priimkov, Jezik in slovstvo 8 (6), 175, 176. performed the simplest surgeries. Peasants usually did not call the foreign doctors, because they were too expensive for them and often unavailable linguistically. Healthcare of the majority of the population was in the hands of the lower layer of doctors, secular, and convent surgeons. The surgeons learned their crafts with older experienced masters. It was not until the second half of the 17 th century that the authorities required regular exams at educational institutions from the healers (ranocelniks). They used to prepare and sell medicine and various mystical and magical remedies. 3 The barber-surgeons were craftsman and were organised in guilds. The interrogated surgeons differed from other surgeons in that where they were finally questioned: in college, at the guild's tribunal, or before the doctors. Towards the end of the 18 th century, surgery became equivalent to other medical professions. The status of the surgeon equalled that of other physicians. In Austria, in 1784, Emperor Joseph II. ordered that internal medicine should be combined with surgery. 4 In 1888, there were few educated doctors, and in 1890 there were exactly 50 in Carniola. In addition, there were 27 healers and about 350 midwives. There were 5,913 patients per one doctor in Carniola, which at that time had a population of almost half a million. In the other administrative provinces of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, it was worse only in Galicia (7,005 patients per doctor) and Bukovina (7,129 patients per doctor). In Styria, one doctor took care of 2,276 patients, in Carinthia 3,225, in Gorizia 4,555, and Trieste with its surroundings 1,403 patients. 5 The population suffered greatly from illnesses and accidents due to a lack of doctors. The economic consequences of this situation were also severe. The work of fake midwives flourished, and many childbirths ended tragically because of unexamined midwives.
Until the end of the 19 th century, academically educated physicians gained the confidence of the people with difficulty. Only a doctor who knew the techniques of folk healers succeeded, above all if he knew how to diagnose diseases with palpation, urine examination, bloodletting, etc. Even in these cases, the poor material condition of the majority of the population caused people to resort to healers rather than academically educated doctors. 3 Kotnik, France (1952). Iz ljudske medicine. In: Grafenauer, Ivan, Orel, Boris (Eds.).
Zgodovinski časopis 53(4), 461. The doctors were more expensive and prescribed the costly medicines, and on the contrary, the healers advised the patients to use homemade remedies and herbs that were cheap or even free. Some folk doctors were known for their "specialisations", for example, for a sprain, broken bones, for the treatment of spells, oedema, tuberculosis, snakebite, rheumatism, and the like. They were also visited by patients who were several days away. They were allowed to receive a payment if patients offered it themselves, and some folk healers were wealthy 6 . Usually, folk healers carefully hid their knowledge so that they retained a kind of monopoly in healing, and many just handed over their books of spells and other books to their sons or relatives when they were on the deathbed. 7 On the origins and remains of medicinal heritage in family and house names in Slovenia The activity of folk healers was transmitted in various ways and became part of the local heritage and folk culture. The remnants of past healthcare activity are preserved in house names, such as at Bali (derived from archaic term balovati, balusati, to heal), at Lečnik (derived from lek, zdravilo; lečnik is an obsolete word for a doctor) 8 . The word bali is known to all Slavic languages. Originally, it has the same meaning as a sorcerer (vrač): someone who heals with words. The Freising manuscripts (Brižinski spomeniki, the first Latinscript of a continuous text in the Slavic language and the oldest document in Slovenian language, probably written in the 9 th century) still know the word in this sense, but later its meaning was changed. The memory of the word bali has remained in other archaic words, such as: baje, bajanica, bajanje, bajati, bajže, basin, bajavec 9 . Some surnames Bajc, Bajec, Basnava and Čare are preserved and present in the Western part of Slovenia, and they derive from the verbs bajati (to heal) and čarati (to spell) 10 . They testify that there is a thousand-year presence of (old) Slovenian words doctor and medicine, which got its place in family and house names.
Secondly, before the Second World War people from Dravsko Polje and Slovenske Gorice in the Eastern part of Slovenia used to say that they go to 6 Möderndorfer, Vinko (1964). Ljudska medicina pri Slovencih = Volksmedizin bei den Slowenen, Ljubljana; Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, 9. the pharmacy to get vraštvo (remedy, medicine), which would cure their illness since vračiti is an old term for healing. The man who healed was called vrač or vračnik, and a woman was vračnica or vračarica. 11 The healer, vrač, called for supernatural forces to nullify spells and curses they believed to harm health. The given two examples and language comparisons show us that the word healer has multiple meanings and that it depends on the time and other socio-historical circumstances in which it was used. The common to all denominations is the treatment of humans and animals where the experiential and magical methods of healing were orally transmitted from one person to another and through transcripts of folk medicine books. In addition to using herbs, animals, and minerals, the healers also used preventive and curative magic to prevent contact with evil spirits and to drive them out. It is assumed that they had supernatural power and could also influence the weather. The healers could also intentionally harm people. Today the word vrač is considered mostly offensive and degrading. Many times it is replaced with a more correct one, such as a traditional healer (zdravilec). In professional ethnomedical descriptions of healing in the Slovenian territory, some authors often use a restrained or worsening tone towards such healing. In the table below, we can see the aforementioned multi-meaning. 11 Kotnik, France (1952), 123.
House names in connection with health and disease in Slovenia indicate the activity of local doctors, pharmacists or midwives 12 . Such names are, for example: Padarovi, Padarčeva domačija, pri Padarji (padar in Slovenian language means quack doctor, quack or is an archaic term for barber-surgeon), pri Apotekarjih, Potikarovi, Potekarjevi, Potekarovi (apoteka is an old term for pharmacy), pri Babici, pri Babc, pri Babci (babica is the term for midwife).
Houses were named according to the physical characteristics of their owners. The research, based on 3,300 Slovenian house names 13 , found that the majority of houses were named after: -body characteristics, especially on the body and head; -as a result of injuries; -because of the speech peculiarities of the house residents. House names also point to the health problems and injuries of its residents. One of the most frequent namings expresses injuries or possible congenital defects of the legs of the masters of the house. These injuries manifested themselves in limping and consequently using walking crooks (or home-made crutches), hence so many names that describe walking problems. One of the possible explanations of frequent leg injuries is general physical burnout, untreated small injuries, and worn shoes and socks. Some house names denote the inconvenience, caused by involuntary, uncontrollable, repetitive sudden movements, twitches or tics. Slowness and laziness (at work or in general) are also quite noticeable features in Slovenian house names. Physical features are described with a fair amount of humour. Many of them are related to the residents of low height or those who were fatter and bigger. The memory of overweight people is kept in house names as a comparison with round objects, such as instruments (drums) or with plants (pumpkins). The owner's body hair was also a very recognisable feature, with hair, moustache, and beard being the most noticed. The most noticeable hair colours were silver or white and red. A darker complexion was also noticed, hence houses got names after the owner's brown skin tones. 14 And finally, if we look at today's remains of such naming, we can creatively use the on-line database of house names and surnames of The Statistical Office of Republic Slovenia 15 where Ludwig Wittgenstein's revolutionary 12 Kapus, Jerica (2011), Domača hišna imena na Slovenskem -v šolskem letu 1987/88. Zbral Roman Gašperin. Diplomsko delo. Maribor; Filozofska fakulteta Maribor, Oddelek za slovanske jezike in književnosti. 13 Kapus, Jerica (2011). 14 Kapus, Jerica (2011). 107, 108-109, 114, 119, 121, 170, 182, 189, 193, 228, 277. 15 Statistični urad Republike Slovenije. https://www.stat.si (Accessed: 23 January 2020).
idea that "the limits of my language are the limits of my world" comes to power. In the meanings of surnames, relating to former medical professions, former life is captured and preserved. The table below confirms this thought.
Surnames denoting former (folk) medicine and pharmacy activities in the territory of today's Slovenia (in the brackets is the number of family names, as of January 1, 2020) and the statistical region where this surname is the most frequent.

Mažar (8) Central Slovenia region
Zdravić (8) no region mentioned due to statistical confidentiality / Central Slovenia region according to Phonebook Barbir (7) no region mentioned due to statistical confidentiality / Mura region according to Phonebook Bajalo (7) no region mentioned due to statistical confidentiality / Mura region according to Phonebook Žaubi (5) no region mentioned due to statistical confidentiality / Savinja region according to the Phonebook Lečič (less than 5 names) no region mentioned, less than 5 names / Central Slovenia region according to Phonebook Lečič with a frequency less than five (<5) existing surnames and no supporting geographical data. The terms listed for medical doctors and folk healers indicate that the medical business was related to magic. It is likely that some were more interested in magic, others in medicine. Thus, some were more involved as physicians, others more as diviners or as general magicians.
The geographic regions are quite evenly distributed among the surnames. The only missing regions in the list are the most southern and the most northern regions of Slovenia, such as Upper Carniola and Carinthia from the north, and Coastal-Karst and Littoral-Inner Carniola. Nevertheless, it would be too soon to conclude that these regions lacked trained medical doctors in the past since we do not have accurate simultaneous data for all periods and all regions. The number of self-taught "doctors" in the statistics is slightly higher than the number of academically educated physicians. This is not surprising, since effective and timely health care in a period without health insurance, predominant inaccessibility of doctors, mistrust of vaccination campaigns, paid health services, folk self-medication, and reliance on mutual help were rare.

Discusssion and conclusion
Although studies showed that medical doctors and lawyers were disproportionately more likely to have surnames that resembled their professions, and that for doctors, this influence extended to the type of medicine they practised 16  The most interesting curiosity among the findings is surely the discovery of surname Bali, which is the oldest and the first known Slovenian word for a medical doctor. Today, at least one physician carries this name. Three other physicians carry general names denoting life and health (Zdravković, Živković) or poisons (Strupi). Three examples show that there could be a potential connection between the surname and the choice of specialisation, because it was identified that one ophthalmologist's surname is Šarenac (Possibly from 16 Abel, Ernest L. Croatian adjective šaren, gaily coloured; and/or also from the Slovenian noun šarenica, iris). One pathologist is Krstonošić (Could it be someone who carries a coffin, since krsta is a coffin and nositi is to carry? Since there is ć at the end, which is not a Slovenian letter, it is more likely that the person carries krst, a cross in the Croatian language, and not a coffin, so there is no connection, and my first association was probably too biased). Then, there is one dentist Škrbinc (from škrbina, dental stub), several physicians are Fras (fras was an archaic and folk name for cramps in children), one physiotherapist is Brcar (from brcati, to kick). Other health care personnel have names associated with body parts, such as Kolenc (koleno, knee) and surgical instruments or tools, such as Pincetić (possibly from pinceta, in Croatian and Slovenian pincers), and Cvirn (cvirn, conversationally, thread).
Do these few examples out of around 2,000 examined surnames really prove that nomen est omen? In my opinion, the theory of nominative determinism where people tend to gravitate towards areas of work that fit their names is not pronounced enough in these contemporary surnames in relation to medicine in Slovenia. First, there are not enough examples of that, second, they seem to be rather a coincidence than intention, and third, are these physicians aware of historical and linguistic interlacing between their names and occupation.
However, it was not such case in the past when people got names that matched their area of work. Over time the appropriateness of occupational names has decreased because not all descendants followed their ancestors' occupations.
Nevertheless, there is a humorous side attached to the idea that names are peculiarly suited to their owners and that they really influence us that much today. Today, physicians simply had to find their inner bali in the process of becoming medical practitioners. The proverb Nomen est omen is confirmed in practice when they accomplish their degree and when the professional titles become the self-evident part of their names and identity.