Re: Russian letter names was Re: Words about Conscripts

On Thursday 02 January 2003 04:40 pm, Pavel Iosad wrote:
> Aarghh! I'm havign my OChSl exam tomorrow! (and the letter names are the
> same!). I'm giving the Russian names, and their meaning in ChSl.
        Nice timing, then, eh? :)

> Az - "I, me"
> Buki - "letter"
> Vedi - "know!" (Imperative)
> Glagoli - "words"
> Dobro - "good" (as a noun)
> Jest'  "is"
> Zhivete - "you (pl.) live"
> Zelo - "very"
> Zemlya - "earth"
> Izhe(i) - "which"
> Kako - "how"
> Lyudi - "people"
> Myslete - "think!" (imperative pl.)
> Nash - "our"
> On -"he; that"
> Pokoy - "calm" (noun)
> Rtsy -"say!" (imperative)
> Slovo - "word"
> Tverdo - "solid, firm"
> Uk
> Fert
> Xer
> Ot (omega)
> Tsi
> Cherv' - "worm"
> Sha
> Shta/scha
> Jer
> Jery
> Yat'
        Are there any meanings associated with Uk, Fert, Xer, etc.?

> Interestingly, consecutive tripolets of letter names (in the beginning)
> make a lot of sense, as in "glagoli dobro jest'", 'words/letters are
> good' (in the OChSl, 'dobro' is the subject), or 'nash on pokoy' 'he is
> our protection'
        Interesting. The first three could be taken to mean "I know the letters,"
except for the imperative. Could it have possibly changed over time? For
instance, the English ABC song ends, "Now I know my ABC's/Next time won't you
sing with me?" As for the series Zhivete-Myslete, it's very tempting to try
to make some sort of sentence out of it. "You all live on the very earth
which is how people think." ;> Rtsy-Tverdo seems to be clearly, "Say the word
firmly." (Although here I'm thinking in modern Russian, in which tverdo would
be an adverb, not an adjective. I'm not familiar with OCS grammar.) Very
fascinating...
        :Peter

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