Latin Georgius and Greek Georgios underwent
similar changes in post-Classical times: the [g]'s were palatalised, eventually
producing a palatal fricative or approximant [j]. Thanks to
spelling-pronunciation one or both [g]'s were later restored in various
languages, hence e.g. Modern German Georg or Russian Georgij. The Polish and
Czech versions look like a blend between dialectal German [jörg] or [jürg]
(Jurga occurs in Polish as a surname) and the Mediaeval Latin pronunciation of
Georgius as [jeorius]. (I have actually found the Latinised spelling "Jeorius"
for Georg in 15th/16th c. German documents!) *JirIjI would easily account for
both (Old Polish ir/irz > Modern Polish er/erz).
East Slavic Juri < *Jur(j)IjI seems to
be the same as South Slavic Djurdjije or Djordjije (cf. Hungarian
György), which goes back to the OCS representation of
Georgios/Giorgios with palatal consonants.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, November 12, 2000 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] Vikings in Russia
Do you know why GEORGIUS > Polish Jerzy, Czech
Jir^i and Russian Yuri ?
I think there was an intermediary *JORGIUS or
JORIUS.