From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 996
Date: 2000-01-19
----- Original Message -----From: Mark OdegardSent: Wednesday, January 19, 2000 9:18 PMSubject: [cybalist] Re: Odp: Odp: Slavic or Slavonian?Piotr writes: BTW, there are also Slovenians, Slovaks (who call their country Slovensko) and Slovincians(an extinct ethnos close to the Kashubians in northern Poland).
Simona comments: I've been taught that I should call myself and the language I speak Slovene when speaking English. But recently the adjective Slovenian can be seen as well. I don't think it's very common to use it as a noun.Piotr further responds:
Thanks for the correction, Simona. Of course Slovene is the correct word for an inhabitant of Slovenia. As a brother Slav I should have known better, but I was writing in haste. Nevertheless, Slovenian for the language can be found very often, especially in American sources.
Yes, most Americans would say 'Slovenian' as the adjective and noun for the nationality and language. We Americans need to be reminded what other peoples prefer to be called in English; sometimes, though, as with any language, moving us to the 'preferred' word is a lost battle.For myself, I treasure the name Carniola. This is what Franz Joseph called what is essentially modern Slovenia. Carniola is as redolant of exotic Middle European places as is Transcarpatian Ruthenia, Eastern Rumelia or Bukhovina, to mention just a few.
Mark.
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? Talking of correctness, "Bukovina" is just this, no "kh". It means, literally, Beech Forest. You could perform aspirate metathesis at a distance and add an "h" in Transcarpat...ian.Piotr