Queries on Czech language usage (fwd)

[Geoffrey Chew]

Forwarded from Jim Naughton with his permission

Geoff

 Geoffrey Chew
 Music Department, Royal Holloway, University of London
 Internet: chew at sun.rhul.ac.uk

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 12:51:47 +0100
From: James Naughton <james.naughton at st-edmund-hall.oxford.ac.uk>

Dear Geoff and James,

I note that the discussion has moved on to the suffix -ovna, via an
informative note citing Oberpfalcer.

The -ovna suffix conjures up the aristocracy in one's mind, and here they
do of course act as patronymics, e.g. Premyslovna, Stuartovna, in the
Czech historical context also e.g. Slavatovna.

This is what one would recall from reading Jirasek, I suppose.

Travnicek, Mluvnice spisovne cestiny, 1, 1948, p.246, says:

"-ovna, a to u jmen cisarovna, kralovna 1); pak u zen, patronymik
panovnickych a slechtickych: Eliska Premyslovna = Eliska, dcera
Premyslova; podobne Stuartovna, Slavatovna...
Jinak se tohoto tvoreni uziva jen individualne: Ullikovna (C-Chod) =
Ullikova dcera [i.e. in Capek-Chod, Turbina]

1) Tata dve jmena znamenala puvodne "císarova, králova dcera"; byla to
tedy patronymika jako jmena ostatni. Ve vyznamu dnesnim [he means in the
sense "wife of..."] se v stare cestine rikalo ciesarová, králová; sr.
dnesni (paní) doktorová...

Hence the place name Dvur Kralove. The term Ullikovna in Capek-Chod is
surely intended to have that aristocratic touch.

JDN

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