Hi! Thanks for the interesting question.
In order to get a proper perspective, the suffix "sky" was actually of
Polish origin taken from the suffix "ski". If it is Polish the suffix
is "ski" while if someone is Russian or Czech, the suffix used is
"sky".
"Historically the spellings of Eastern European surnames have varied
so much -- even back home in Europe, let alone in North America --
that you can't lay out a hard and fast rule for this -ski/-sky
business. The rule of thumb, however, is that -ski usually is
associated with Poles; -sky may be associated with Czechs, Ukrainians,
Russians, etc."
"Basic Explanation of Surname Endings"
http://www.polishroots.org/surnames/surnames_endings.htm
"The rule of thumb is the name is Polish if it's -ski, and most likely
to be Czech, Russian, or Ukrainian if it's -sky. Another indicator is
religion."
"Polish Surnames"
http://www.eticomm.net/~mzapx1/surname.htm
Going back to your question, the meaning given to "ski or "sky" is as
follows:
"In surnames -ski originally indicated association with a place, but
soon came to be regarded as equivalent to French de or German von, and
so indicative of gentry status. In many but by no means all cases, the
bearer was indeed lord of the estate or manor to which the name
referred. Later, the suffix came to be used much more widely to form
surnames, being attached indiscriminately to given names (as Adamski),
nicknames, and occupational names (as Bednarski), as well as to
habitation names."
"The suffix -ski is also found as an ending of Russian surnames, but
these are generally of Polish origin or formed under Polish influence.
The Czech cognate suffix -sky is very much less common, and tends to
be more strictly associated with habitation names."
"Zalewski Surname History / Origin"
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~zalewski/info/origin.html
Search terms used:
Russian suffix "sky"
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if
you would need further information.
Thanks for visiting us.
Regards,
Easterangel-ga
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