--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, João Simões Lopes Filho
<jodan99@...> wrote:
>So, Middle Greek H- gives zero in Russian,
[h] had disappeared by the Middle Greek times. Naturally, an
_orthographical_ rough breathing yields zero in direct borrowings
from Middle Greek into (Old) Russian.
>while "Western European" aspirated H- gives G-.
This practice has changed since the middle of the 20th century, so
the newer borrowings have <x>.
> 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.
But the name looks like <Heléne:> in Greek, so both the formal ( <
bookish) <Jeléna> and informal ( < vernacular) <Al'óna> ( < Ol'óna <
Oléna) absolutely regularly derive from Middle Greek [eléni]. AFAIK,
<Xeléna> (or <Geléna>) occures only to render Polish <Helena>.
Sergei