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Help[Facts] Re: Natassja -- and note to Mike C
in reply to a message by Nana
You're very welcome :) Its great that Diocletian (my favorite Roman emperor after Nero -- I'm not kidding!)chose your home town for his castle. By the way, I had assumed from your e-mail address (Karas) that you might also be of Greek origin.
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No, I don`t think I have any greek ancestors. I always thought my surname was of the Slavic origin. I met people with this name from Croatia, Slovenia, Chech republic, Poland and even one from Austria (this one doesn`t fit into my theory). As far as I know, my family comes from Croatia, althrough on this crazy Balcans you never know, as it has seen so much mixing of different nations at different times in history :-)
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Its true, my fellow-Balkan, we are quite a crazy scene :) I'm glad that things seem to have settled somehow in your part of the world.
Does "kara-" mean something in Slavic languages? I always also wondered about the name's origin because its a very frequent surname in Greece too. And of course there are many names composed of it, both in Greece and throughout the Balkans, including the royal family of Yugoslavia Karageorgovic. I assumed you might be Greek because the "-as" ending of Karas is typically Greek.
The most immediate association that comes to mind is from the Turkish "kara-" meaning "black" or "dark". I was not able to find however the etymology of "kara-" in Turkish. Another two possibilities (stretching many centuries back)might be:
- a relation to Kar (or, Ker), the Greek Goddess of Death.
- a relation to the Greek "kara", meaning head (human or animal).
On a macabre note, let me also note that the Priest from the movie "The Exorcist" was Father Karas :)
Does "kara-" mean something in Slavic languages? I always also wondered about the name's origin because its a very frequent surname in Greece too. And of course there are many names composed of it, both in Greece and throughout the Balkans, including the royal family of Yugoslavia Karageorgovic. I assumed you might be Greek because the "-as" ending of Karas is typically Greek.
The most immediate association that comes to mind is from the Turkish "kara-" meaning "black" or "dark". I was not able to find however the etymology of "kara-" in Turkish. Another two possibilities (stretching many centuries back)might be:
- a relation to Kar (or, Ker), the Greek Goddess of Death.
- a relation to the Greek "kara", meaning head (human or animal).
On a macabre note, let me also note that the Priest from the movie "The Exorcist" was Father Karas :)
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Karas is a name of some sort of river-fish in croatian (some sort of carp, I think).
On the other hand there was a serbian hero called Karageorge, which in translation means Black George-this is probbably a turkish influence, because Serbia was occuped by Otoman empire for quite a long period of time.
Godess of death? I don`t like this meaning so much. I think I`ll rather stick to black fish :-)
On the other hand there was a serbian hero called Karageorge, which in translation means Black George-this is probbably a turkish influence, because Serbia was occuped by Otoman empire for quite a long period of time.
Godess of death? I don`t like this meaning so much. I think I`ll rather stick to black fish :-)
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