From: Mate Kapović
Message: 28848
Date: 2003-12-28
----- Original Message -----
From: "Piotr Gasiorowski" <piotr.gasiorowski@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2003 9:45 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] RE: etyma for Crãciun,RomanianforChristmas
>Among the evidence discussed so far, East Slavic -oro- is a strong
> argument in favour of original *-or-, and therefore in favour of Slavic
> origin, but as far as I'm concerned, it would be premature to rule out
> alternative explanations.
For me, this is *crucial* evidence. How could Latin creatione-, Romanian
crăciun or anything in between which has -raC- or similar go to Slavic
*-orC- which is primary as attested by East Slavic polnoglasie (Russian
korocˇun)? There is no way possible, as I see it.
> Yesterday you wrote: "But there is no such word in Croatian or Serbian.
> Only as somekind of a name not necessarily related, not in the meaning
> Christmas". That's a bit vague. Does it or doesn't it exist in Croatian?
It does. I wrote that before I got hand of the other data some of which I
cited.
> If it does, what does it mean there?
In Croatian it is a name and something like a (door) latch. There is also a
verb zakracˇunati. The semantics is probably from something like "bent,
twisted" which is the meaning attested in other Slavic lgs.
>To decide either way I'd have
> to examine its forms and meanings in those Slavic languages that have
> it. >
Here we go:
except Croatian there are also Bulgarian kracˇun "Christmas Eve; 8th or 21th
of July; sommer/winter solstices", dialectally also "big foot". Slovene
kracˇun "wedge", Slovakian kracˇún, kracˇunˇ "Christmas", Old Russian
korocˇun7, korocˇjun7 "prechristmas fast", Russian karacˇun "solstices; 12th
of December; st. Spiridon", dial. karacˇun "Christmas ceremony", "Christmas
fast", "sudden death", "evil spirit, demon, child that crawls".
Ukr. kracˇun, kerecˇun, krecˇun, gerecˇun, grecˇun "a bun made on 24th of
December", Belorussian dial. (Polesie) karacˇun "something bent; bent wood;
short man; man with twisted legs".
Also Albanian kërcun "log" (cf. Croatian Badnjak "Christmas Eve"~ badanj
"log").
Semantics "which treads, steps, strides" (> "big foot" etc.) > "death,
depart", "leaving, going from the sun to the winter etc." also "a new step,
a step into smth new, a new beginning".
So we have the word in various meanings (which would be very strange if it
were a late loan from Romance) in Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovene, Slovakian,
Russian, Ukrainian and Belorussian. The semantics itself is a point to its
Slavic origin, I think and the connection with *kork7 is pretty clear. Also,
polnoglasie proves there was a primary *-orC- here.
I think this word is Slavic and it was loaned into Romanian but I am not a
Romanian expert so there may be some mixture with Romance offsprings of
Latin calatione-, creatione-. I don't know. But in Slavic lgs I think it is
definitely not loaned.
Mate