RZOTTO@DKNKURZ1.BITNET (Otto.Stolz) (09/07/90)
Hello amateur linguists,
my note of yesterday was a near miss or (stated euphemisticly) almost
correct. A browse through our library's dictionaries during
lunch-break revealed that the exact spelling KONIEC is used only in
the West-Slavic languages Polish and Slovac, not in Serbo-Croatian as
I had erroneously assumed. In particular, the Bulgarian word is
spelled differently and has a completely different meaning (see
below); this might be of interest to virus researchers, as we have
read of many viruses originating in Bulgaria.
Btw. the C is pronounced like a TS (definitely not like a K or G) in
all slavic languages using the Latin script; hence there is no
connection with the Germanic root KING/K
by somebody else.
I hope this will settle the discussion. Best wishes
Otto
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Appendix: Summary of KONIEC root
East-Slavic Languages:
Russian * KONJEC End, tip, point; distance, way (between 2 points)
Ukrainian * KINEC' end, termination, conclusion, limit;
extremity, point
Bjelo-Russian not checked
West-Slavic Languages:
Polish KONIEC End, tip, termination
Czech KONEC End, termination
Slovac KONIEC End, termination
Minor West-Slavic languages not checked
South-Slavic Languages
Slovenian KONEC End, termination, aim; thread
Serbo-croatic KONAC End
Makedonian * KONJEC Thread (KRAJ = end)
Bulgarian * KONJEC Thread (KRAJ = end)
* These languages use the Cyrillic script,
where JE is one single letter