Piotr writes:
> Carniola (Kranjska; we know it as Kraina "The Country" in Poland) is one
>of the three historical parts of Slovenia (please correct me Simona if I'm
>wrong), but certainly not the least important one. There's a well-known
>race of the European honey bee which is called the Carniola Honey Bee.
>Doesn't it sound sweet, Mark?
Simona comments:
You're right about one thing. Personally, being from Styria I don't really
feel like a member of the Kranjsko or Kranjska part of this country. But
these things are quite remoted now and we probably feel the name Carniola or
Carinthia as slightly exotic, just like Mark said.
But there's this: if I've got you right, you are comparing the Polish word
kraina with the Slovene word Kranjsko. I think that the word kraina, like
Slovene pokrajina, is of Slavic origine, derived from the word kraj'
('place, spot', later also 'end'). Kranjsko, on the other hand, is a
pre-Slavic name (Carnia). Some think that it derives from the Celtic carn
'horn'<pie.*ak' 'a sharp stone'. It's also possible that the origine of this
name is a substratum word for a rock or stone, *kar(r)a-, related to the
Illyrian-Venetan karuant- 'rocky, stony'.
Simona
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