Re: [tied] Russian for Homerus

Message

So, Middle Greek H- gives zero in Russian, while "Western European" aspirated H- gives G-.

But Helena in Russian is Yelena, so I deduce this name came from Romance (Italian or French) where h- is soundless.Helena (Hele:ne:) in Middle Greek might be *Elini, and through Germanic h-aspirated influence might be *Gelena.

Joao SL

----- Original Message -----

From: Sergejus Tarasovas

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Sunday, January 05, 2003 7:22 AM

Subject: RE: [tied] Russian for Homerus

These are <Gomér> and <Gonórij>. An initial <g-> is traditional (one would expect <x-> in a present-day borrowing): a bulk of foreign names containing [h] were adopted in the 18th c., when Russian intellectuals used to talk a local variant of Church Slavonic to each other (except they were drunk, quarreling or discussing everyday life), and Russian Church Slavonic orthoepy ascribes a phonetic value of [G] ([fricative g]) or even [h] to what is spelled <g>, so <Gomér> and <Gonórij> seemed to fit better than +<Xomér> and +<Xonórij> (cf. also <Génrix Géjne> for Heinrich Heine and even <Gítler> for Hitler, the latter being merely traditional, as nobody spoke Church Slavonic in 1920). An older Russian name for Homer was <Omír> -- a direct borrowing from Middle Greek, but it (and many others) was completely lost out to the more prestigious form adopted from the languages of Western Europe (German in this case).

Sergei

-----Original Message-----
From: Joćo Simões Lopes Filho [mailto:jodan99@...]
Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 10:33 PM
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [tied] Russian for Homerus

What is the correct Russian transcription of Homerus/-os? GOMER, OMER or KHOMER ?

And Honorius? KHONORI, GONORI or ONORI?

Joao SL

Rio

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