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Re: Hi from Ukraine

From:Y.Penzev <yitzchaq@...>
Date:Wednesday, November 28, 2001, 10:20
> Re: Andreas Johansson on Wednesday, November 28, 2001 9:12 AM
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> Correct that _Ukraine_ and _Krajina_ are related, or just that _Ukraine_ > means borderland?
'Kra(j)ina' in many Slavic langs (including Ukrainian and Serbian) means just 'land'. The prefix 'u-' is pretty polysemantic, but in this context almost surely means 'near', 'next to'. So, 'Ukraine' (or, 'Ukraïna' [ukra'jina] in Ukr.) may mean 'neighboring land', 'borderland', even 'frontier'. In many ways it seems synonymous to Russian 'okraina' [V'krain@] -- 'outskirts' That's why this explanation bothers some Ukrainian archinationalists.
> As for nobody wanting to be just a borderland, tell the Danes - _Denmark_ > literally means "borderland of the Danes" (presumeably originally refering > to the border region against Germany in South Jutland). Never heard of > anybody complaining about it.
Lucky Danes!