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...
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ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your kind comment.
DeleteSeems crioch(Irish) and kraj(Serbian) match up with encroach(English) and perhaps crux, both referring to coming upon a borderline.
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/encroach
Delete" Old French encrochier (“to seize”), from en- + croc (“hook”) + -ier. "
ReplyDeleteen = 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