Sunday 6 March 2016

End

I have been passing by this traffic sign every day for years. I think it deserves a post in my blog. 


The Irish word "críoch" means "end, boundary, limit, aim, purpose, confines, territory, district, land". The word comes from Old Irish "crích" with the same meaning (compare Scottish Gaelic crìoch). Apparently it has no cognates in other Indoeuropean languages.

However :)

In Serbian the word "kraj" means "end, border, edge, brink, brim, fringe, side, rim, land, country, bank, near (the end, edge), beside (by the end, edge), despite (after the end of all that)"....

The word comes from the Proto-Slavic "krajь" and is found in all the other Slavic languages with the same meaning:

East Slavic:

Old East Slavic: краи ‎(krai)
Belarusian: край ‎(kraj)
Russian: край ‎(kraj)
Ukrainian: край ‎(kraj)

South Slavic:

Old Church Slavonic: краи ‎(krai)
Bulgarian: край ‎(kraj)
Macedonian: крај ‎(kraj)
Serbo-Croatian: kraj
Slovene: kràj

West Slavic:

Czech: kraj
Kashubian: krôj
Polish: kraj
Slovak: kraj
Slovincian: krɵ̯̏·i̯, kråj
Lower Sorbian: kraj, kšaj
Upper Sorbian: kraj

The cognate of the word "kraj" meaning "end" in the Slavic languages is the word "kraj, kroj" meaning to cut, to create end, to create edge...

Apparently, according to the official etymologies, these two words (the Irish "críoch" and Slavik "kraj"), which both have the same meaning, are not in any way related...

Interesting don't you think...

5 comments:

  1. I love your blog so much, thank you for the excellent work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Seems crioch(Irish) and kraj(Serbian) match up with encroach(English) and perhaps crux, both referring to coming upon a borderline.

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  3. " Old French encrochier ‎(“to seize”), from en- +‎ croc ‎(“hook”) +‎ -ier. "

    en = enter/entry/end/in/endu(Mbuti)/endu.ra(Mbuti) interior to edge
    engl/angl/anchor, cleg(Sct) staff with small hook for sheep's hock
    hook/haak(ON)/hang/bend/boundary

    ReplyDelete