Re: Yugoslawia

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "altamix" <alxmoeller@...> wrote:

> I wondered allways about the name of the Yugoslavian republic,

where

> from did they got this name.This compositum "yugo-slawia" appears
> clear at least for the last part the meaning being simply traced to
> the word "slav".The first part appeared unclear to me until I

learned

> that "jug" in Albanian means "south".So, I thought that it make

sense

> to see Yugoslavia (Jugoslawia) as "The South Slavic country".
>
> I would like to ask here if this is indeed the right

interpretation

> of the word or this is just a pure coincidence between "yugo"
> from "Yugoslawia" and Albanian "jug" which means "south".

Alb "jug"

> form an older *sug ?
>
> If the interpretation is right, then who called the country that

way?

> Yougoslawia is north of actually Albanian and this puzzle me a bit.
>
>
> Alex

**********
The obvious source for the name of Yugoslavia is Serbo-Croatian,
and indeed 'jug' is "south" in S.-C. It's apparently only in
Slavic and Albanian in I.-E., but common Slavic, so borrowing
Slavic ----> Albanian makes more sense than the reverse.
Buck says "etymology dubious". Anybody here have suggestions?
Dan Milton