the two mirs

[Andrew Jameson]

99% of the population neither know nor care about the
etymology of the words they are using.
It is the etymology that is ascribed to a word that
is of cultural significance.
In the case of Valdemar, the name was re-etymologised
in the course of transmission from Germanic to Slavic.

It is a pity that a distinction is not always made between
two different types of folk etymology.

One is the imagined etymology dreamed up by the amateur
philologist in his/her study, writing books or articles.

The second, and more interesting, is the instinctive application
by the native-speaker of their language intuition to unknown (perhaps
foreign or archaic) lexis and the re-etymologisation which then
sometimes results.

Andrew Jameson
Chair, Russian Committee, ALL
Languages and Professional Development
1 Brook Street, Lancaster LA1 1SL UK
Tel: 01524 32371  (+44 1524 32371)

----------
From: Patrick.Seriot at SLAV.UNIL.CH
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: the two mirs
Date: 29 September 2000 10:49

>I do not know the basis of your suspicion but the standard interpretation
>of "Vladimir" that they used to teach elementary and middle school
>students is from own/master the world.  Edward DUMANIS dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu

The etymology of Vladimir / Wolodimierz is the German surname Voldemar, so
Vladimir has nothing to do neither with peace nor with world. Folk
etymology is a dangerous game.
Patrick SERIOT
e-mail_Patrick.Seriot at slav.unil.ch
http://www.unil.ch/slav/ling

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