Comments | the_grynne: question for you russologists (i know you're out there)

the_grynne

question for you russologists (i know you're out there)

Oct 20, 2007 18:56

...and a bonus if you also happen to watch Moonlight.

Could "Josef Konstantin" be the bastardised/abbreviated/anglicised version of a Slavic or Germanic name? Conceivably belonging to an Ashkenazi Jew?

(I add the last because I don't think "Josef" could be a particular common name among gentiles in the 17th century, even if it may be today.)

( Read more... )

josef, [tv] moonlight

Comments 8

(The comment has been removed)

the_grynne October 20 2007, 09:14:24 UTC

Thank you! That is such classic Vampire RPG Lore: using non-English first names as surnames. I'm trying to speculate on some kind of background, and it's very difficult when you have lazy writers who don't bother to give us anything.

alexandral October 20 2007, 10:15:36 UTC

Hmm, the name originates from Greek (Iosephos) and Hebrew (Yosef). The way it is used in Russian it sounds more like Yosef, may be even Iosef. In Russia this name is used more by Jewish people.. So yep, it seems more of Greman variety, right???

the_grynne October 20 2007, 10:26:35 UTC

That is very helpful, thanks for confirming that. It's likely that "Konstantin" isn't originally his surname at all. (Why would someone as paranoid as Josef keep his name the same over 400 years?) Maybe it's a reference to the city, or a family member, or a middle name.

I do love my f-list. :) *hugs*

vaznetti October 20 2007, 11:53:25 UTC

A Jew probably would not choose a name to do with "Constantine," though. Think about it. But if it was originally something like "from Constantinople," it might make sense that he came back to the name when he was sorting through possible aliases.

the_grynne October 20 2007, 11:56:51 UTC

A Jew probably would not choose a name to do with "Constantine," though.

I swear it feels like they put those two names together just to fuck with us. :)

(The comment has been removed)

the_grynne October 20 2007, 14:24:06 UTC

Excellent point. Hmm. That does greatly open up the possibilities. Thank you!

agentmaly October 20 2007, 17:07:42 UTC

Here via boz4pm's friendslist...

Josef and Konstantin are both the correct Czech spellings of those names, and both are perfectly plausible. In fact they'd be plausible for a lot of Slavic languages, but I know they match Czech exactly.

the_grynne October 20 2007, 22:18:30 UTC

Awesome! You've been very helpful, thank you. :)