OCS, Polish, and other Modern Slavic languages

[JoatSimeon at aol.com]

OK, as is commonly known, the Slavic languages are closely similar, and were
sharing common developments rather late:

Exemplia gratia:  the Germanic proper name "Karl" (as in "Charlemagne"),
which was loaned into Proto-Slavic and became the generic term for "King",
for obvious reasons.  (Rather as "Caesar" became "Emperor" in several
languages.)

This can be dated fairly precisely, since we know Karl the Great's dates
(742-814).

It then underwent the characteristic shifts of the various branches of
Slavic.  Which, of course, it wouldn't do if it had been borrowed later.

So Common Slavic form would be *korlja, from which we get (Bulgarian) kral,
(South Slav) kralj, (Russian) korol, (Czech) kral, and (Polish) krol. (Sorry,
no accents on this email system).

Therefore the characteristic developments of the various Slavic languages
must post-date the early 9th century, at the very least.  QED.

Just to illustrate how close the Slavic languages _still_ are, the first line
of the Lord's Prayer, and keeping in mind that languages get more different
over time:

OCS:  Otice nasi ize jesi na nebesichu: da svetitu se ime tvoje.

Polish:	Ojcze nasz ktorys jest we niebiesiech: swiec sie imie twoje.

Czech:  Otce nas kleryz jsi v nebesich:  posvet se jmeno tve.

Russ:	Otce nas suscij na nebesach:  da svjatitsja imja tvoje.

Serb:	Oce nas koji si na nebesima:  da se sveti ime tvoje.

Bulg:	Otce nas, kojto si na nebesata:  da se sveti tvoeto ime.

-- indicative, one would think, fairly clearly, of the closeness of the links
we're talking about (far closer than between the Romance languages) and of
reasonably complete mutual comprehensibility if we roll back twelve hundred
years or so to OCS times.