Re: [tied] Re: Apollo

On Thu, 20 Sep 2001 18:54:59 -0000, "Piotr Gasiorowski"
<gpiotr@...> wrote:

>>Family names like Kos'ciuszko or Jagiel/l/o are of eastern origin (in
>these cases, Belarusian and Lithuanian, respectively). They are
>declined like *-a-nouns (which is sometimes might seem to reflect
>their etymology, e.g. Lith. Jogaila). So is the nursery word
><tato> 'dad' (gen. <taty>). However, this usage is also quite recent.
>Before the 17th century the genitive of such names ended in <-a>, the
>instrumental in <-em>, etc. Archaic forms like <Kos'ciuszka,
>Kos'ciuszkowi, Kos'ciuszkiem> occurred sporadically as late as the
>19th century.

But it "makes no sense". Why did 17th c. Polish switch from a
sensible declension (Fredro, Fredra ...) to something crazy like
Fredro, Fredry...? There is no model in Polish morphology (or Slavic
w ogóle) for anything of the kind. The etymology of Jagiel/l/o can
hardly have been a factor. About the only trigger I can imagine is
Belorussian (Belarussian) akanie...

Another question: what was it about Lithuanian /l/ that made it sound
double to Polish ears? We have Jagiel/l/o, Radziwil/l/,
Kiez.gajl/l/o, Skirgiel/l/o, Wol/l/owicz, etc., none of which, as far
as I know, would have /ll/ in Lithuanian.