Re: [tied] Eh, Catherine!

When dealing with 'religious' names (bibical names, names of saints),
the church becomes a force for extreme conservatism. The local
vernacular goes it happy way, changing an original Ioannes to John,
Jean, Ian, Ivan, Evan, Owen, Huon, Juan, Gian, Giovanni, etc., but the
Bible, the calander of saints reinforces the original.

One wonders why Catherine keeps the initial k-sound in Italian.
Shouldn't it be something like /tsatarin&/?

--- In cybalist@..., "João S. Lopes Filho" <jodan99@...> wrote:
> MessageMaybe a crossing between katharos and aikaterine.
> In Catholic countries the preferred form was CAT(H)ARINA,
CAT(H)ERINA. The syncope of initial vowel often occurs in Portuguese
(apotheca > bodega; episcopu > bispo), but in this case it would be
expected Gatarina instead of Catarina.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Piotr Gasiorowski
> To: cybalist@...
> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2001 1:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [tied] Eh, Catherine!
>
>
> Fair enough, but where does her Russian name come from --
*h1katerina? :))) Her original name was Marta Skavronska (a
Livonian/Latvian version of what is certainly a Polish surname).
Different versions of "Catherine" (including Polish Katarzyna <
*Katarina) have long been popular round the Baltic, so it may have
been her middle name (I don't know what the historians say), but I am
not aware of any initial E's except in this curious Russian variant.
Presumably an adaptation of Greek Aikaterine was found suitable for
her -- there _is_ a saint with that name -- St. Catherine of Sinai is
worshipped as Aikaterine in the Greek Orthodox Church, AFAIK.
>
> Piotr
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Sergejus Tarasovas
> To: cybalist@...
> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2001 2:33 PM
> Subject: RE: [tied] Catharina.Catherina etymology - Katharos or
Aikaterine - Slav
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joco S. Lopes Filho [mailto:jodan99@...]
> Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2001 3:21 PM
> To: cybalist@...
> Subject: [tied] Catharina.Catherina etymology - Katharos or
Aikaterine - Slav
>
>
>
> IFAIK the name hasn't been used in Russian till Peter the First
time. It seemes there has been no Orthodox saint bearing this name.
<Jekaterina> was adapted from German as the official name of the
second Peter's wife, whose past is rather murky (some authors call her
'a camp-follower from the Baltic region').
>
> Sergei