Re: Ath aeldhôf-vy!
| From: | Thomas R. Wier <trwier@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, December 20, 2002, 5:52 |
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[Sent off-list]
Quoting Dan Jones <dan@...>:
> Whence the form "Kristopher" comes I'm not sure. It looks like it could be
> frivolous respelling of the traditional Chr- (along the lines of "Krystal"
> or "Kassandra") but his father insists that that spelling has been in the
> family for generations. The surname "Falkus" is Eastern-European, IIRC,
> which might shed some light on the spelling.
How is <Kassandra> a frivolous misspelling? In modern
translations of Greek epic poetry, that is the normal
rendering of the character of that name. For the same
reason, one now writes <Alkinoos>, not <Alcinous>.
<Kristopher> seems to me entirely expected if the family
hails originally from a non-Anglophone Germanic country.
=========================================================================
Thomas Wier "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637
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