--- In cybalist@..., "Sergejus Tarasovas" <S.Tarasovas@...> wrote:
> --- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> > Combined with nasal dissimilation? *danc^anin > datc^anin
> (influencing datskij)?
> >
> > Piotr
> >
>
> I was going to offer the same solution. 'Dutch'-explanation would
be
> problematic - where (except English, to some extent) do we find
> pronunciation close to Russian [a]?
>
> Sergei
Probably in Dutch <Duits> "German", pronounced approximately <däüts>,
earlier <döyts> (Dutch speakers are welcome to protest here). Dutch
used to refer to their language thus, but that was before the golden
century and their presence in Russia.
Hm! Still like my explanation better. If the best chronicler minds in
the Middle Ages could confuse Danes and Dacians, why shouldn't
couldn't (erh?) the Russians? (The other example besides Dudo was a
someone-or-other Dane called "de Dacia" studying in Paris.)
Torsten
BTW shouldn't it really be St. Pietersburg? Finns call it Pitari, and
I've heard that Russians call it Piter? St. Petersburg seems like a
Germanification of something very sea-oriented? Catharina?
And the island Gogland would be Hoogland?