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University teacher interested in diachronic linguistics (especially Slavic), also musician and poet, angler (I love flyfishing)

[porthoscz]

Hello, I am a university teacher specializing in diachronic linguistics (especially Slavic), a musician, a poet, and an angler (fly fishing is my life) :-). And my homeland is in the heart of Europe - the Czech Republic.

[yvanspijk]

Cipher and zero are etymological doublets: they both stem from Arabic ṣifr, which means 'empty, 0'. Ṣifr was borrowed into Medieval Latin two times: as cifra and zephirum. The descendants of cifra later lost their meaning '0' to those of zephirum. Here's how.

[porthoscz]

In the scholarly literature, there is often stated that the inspiration for the Glagolitic letter "g" can be found in the Greek "gamma", especially in cursive writing. Yes, this assumption can be accepted, but one has to count with a little modification of the shape - above all, the noticeable circles. Nevertheless, we can see the letter "g" within the context of some other letters that vary in a combination of the same shapes: "g", "х", and "c" (see the lower part of the picture). All these graphemes consist of sharp up-and-down lines (alternatively inclined) and circle(s). The Slavic name of the letter "g" sounds "glagoli" which is the imperative of the verb "glagolati" - "to speak". This root "glagol-" (Proto-Slavic *golgol, derived with reduplication) gave the name for the whole alphabet. Its numerical value is 4.

Note: when monks in the monastery "Na Slovanech" at the end of the 14th century began to write Old Czech with Glagolitic, the letter "g" was pronounced as "h". One or two decades later, they adopted the Cyrillic letter Г for the Czech sound "h".

[porthoscz]

10 posts!

[porthoscz]

The Glagolitic letter for "v" has the numeric value 3. Its shape consists of typical small circles placed at the top and the connecting line pointing downwards and back. Some scholars point out the possible similarity with the Latin "v", but it may be rather coincidental since no important influence of Latin script to Glagolitic is attested. The Slavic name of the letter is vědě which is an archaic form of 1st person sg. the present tense "I know". The first three names of Glagolitic letters - azъ buky vědě - give a perfect sense: "I know the letters", and show that the Slavic names were also meant as a mnemotechnical tool.

[porthoscz]

The Glagolitic letter for "B" could not have been inspired by the Greek alphabet, since Byzantine Greek did not have a letter for the consonant b - Greek β ("beta") was read as "v" because of an earlier sound change. The inspiration for the shape of the letter has been searched in various oriental scripts (Phoenician, Hebrew, Samaritan). The letter has the Old Church Slavonic name "buky" (‘a letter’) or "bukъvi" (plural), but according to some alphabet poems it was perhaps originally "Bogъ" (‘God’). The name was later changed - any disrespectful use of sacral names was prohibited. The numerical value was 2.

[porthoscz]

[porthoscz]

The letter "A" in the shape of a cross - the basic Christian symbol - is the first letter of the Glagolitic script. Some scholars searched for the origin of the letter "A" in various oriental alphabets, but most likely it is the symbol. As every Christian prayer begins with the sign of the cross, the Glagolitic alphabet does it as well. The numeric value is "1", and the Old Church Slavonic name sounds "azъ" which means "I or me".

[porthoscz]

Metaphor and Metonymy in Czech Fishing and Angling Terminology

The study analyses a specifi c part of Czech lexical system which is comprised of terms concerning farm fi shing and angling. Special attent

The Czech fishing and angling terminology is an excellent source for etymological research. Names of fish (especially vernacular), nets, and other equipment.

[linguisticdiscovery]

Grambank shows the diversity of the world's languages

An international team has created a new database that documents patterns of grammatical variation in over 2400 of the world’s languages.

Grambank shows the diversity of the world's languages

Using the Grambank database an international team studied the processes which underlie language variation

[uskok]

The Hrvoje’s Missal (Croatian: Hrvojev misal) Is a 15th-century Croatian Glagolitic missal, often considered the most beautiful and the most interesting Croatian Glagolitic book.

This liturgical book was written in Split by the resident calligrapher and glagolitic scribe Butko in 1404 for Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić (Kotor around 1350–1416) who was a Ban of Croatia, Grand Duke of Bosnia and a Herzog of Split.

Hrvoje Vukčić was the most prominent member of the House of Hrvatinić and the strongest of the three main large feudalists of early feudal medieval Bosnia. Hrvoje’s Missal was written in Croatian Cyrillic with a Glagolitic introduction. This document is both dedicated to Hrvoje Vukčić, and are of great significance to Croatian history.

Hrvoje’s Missal was plundered by the Turks and taken to the Library of Turkish sultans - Topkapi Sarayi library in Constantinople today’s Istanbul, where it still remains. Once bound in precious covers, from 19th century Hrvoje’s Missal is in leather binding. Hrvoje’s Missal is considered as one of the most beautiful Croatian Glagolitic books. It contains 247 folios, which includes 96 miniatures and 380 initials and many more small iitials. Some details are made of golden leaves. It is written in two columns on 488 pp (22.5x31 cm), and contains also some music notation. Some initials contain architectural elements of the Dalmatian city of Split.

The particular value of the Hrvoje’s Missal lies in its combination of eastern and western principles in terms of composition and contents, thus making it a truly deluxe work and securing it a place in the regional and transregional history of art.

[porthoscz]

New glagolitism :-).

[porthoscz]