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Re: golova, Golovin, Veen
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JM: Summing up, the letter H in Russian was borrowed from the Greek as an indicator for how an initial E should be pronounced
It wasn't. As you may know, the Glagolitic alphabet (the Cyrillic's prototype) was devised by brothers Cyril and Methodius who lived in the 9th century and were Greek missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic people. The letters ex, wye, zed and some other are missing in it. There are other letters instead. Some Cyrillic letters look exactly like Latin ones but are pronounced differently. Cyrillic H (nash of the old Russian alphabet) actually corresponds to Latin N (which looks like mirrored И, the Cyrillic counterpart of I), and Cyrillic X (kher), to Latin H (your wretched "aitch"). According to the poet Trediakovski, there should be two G letters in Russian alphabet: ga and glagol' ("gallows;" Rusian letter Г indeed looks like gallows and was called thus in the old alphabet). Lomonosov, who didn't subscribe to the idea, wrote a poem about it: скажите, где быть га и где стоять глаголю.
az, slovo
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It wasn't. As you may know, the Glagolitic alphabet (the Cyrillic's prototype) was devised by brothers Cyril and Methodius who lived in the 9th century and were Greek missionaries of Christianity among the Slavic people. The letters ex, wye, zed and some other are missing in it. There are other letters instead. Some Cyrillic letters look exactly like Latin ones but are pronounced differently. Cyrillic H (nash of the old Russian alphabet) actually corresponds to Latin N (which looks like mirrored И, the Cyrillic counterpart of I), and Cyrillic X (kher), to Latin H (your wretched "aitch"). According to the poet Trediakovski, there should be two G letters in Russian alphabet: ga and glagol' ("gallows;" Rusian letter Г indeed looks like gallows and was called thus in the old alphabet). Lomonosov, who didn't subscribe to the idea, wrote a poem about it: скажите, где быть га и где стоять глаголю.
az, slovo
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/