[BurdenRobert]

And Dmitri etc... in English is also the name James I believe?

Dear Irene,

No- James is the way we say Jacob.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

This is one of those confusing anglicization things about Greek names. James is the translation of Iakovos (or Jacob). However (according to an old college roommate who is now a priest in the Greek Church) when the Greek people immigrated and began to assimilate, they heard "Jimmy" as being similar to the name "Dzimi" which is a diminutive form of Demetrios. Dzimi became Jimmy which became Jim which became James and so there is now this confusion among Greek Americans as to whether Jim is Demetrios or Iakovos. (As for my friend, he is Fr Demetrios)

Fr David Moser

[engacenus]

This is one of those confusing anglicization things about Greek names. James is the translation of Iakovos (or Jacob). However (according to an old college roommate who is now a priest in the Greek Church) when the Greek people immigrated and began to assimilate, they heard "Jimmy" as being similar to the name "Dzimi" which is a diminutive form of Demetrios. Dzimi became Jimmy which became Jim which became James and so there is now this confusion among Greek Americans as to whether Jim is Demetrios or Iakovos. (As for my friend, he is Fr Demetrios)

Fr David Moser

Once I was with Greek friends having a picnic in the hills outside of Komotini in northeastern Greece. Noticing a dent in the front bumper of their car I asked what had happened.

The answer was that the car was hit by a 'dzeep.' When I asked, "a sheep or a jeep" the same answer was made, " a dzeep." Eventually after much laughter on all sides I gave up asking.

To this day I still cannot tell you what hit their car.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

[Emapymosy]

And Dmitri etc... in English is also the name James I believe?

No, Dimitrios is Dimitrios. But in English speaking countries, a petname for Dimitrios is Jimmy. Dimi=Jimmy. Sounds similar. I believe though that this changing of names is slowly changing. Dimitrios/Dimitri is not a difficult name. Same goes for other names. I would rather call someone by their proper name e.g. Vladimir (the only one that came to mind) and not Vlad or whatever.

As Father Moser said St. James is ΙΑΚΩΒΑ/ΙΑΚΩΒΟΥ (Greek grammar endings again) which is Jacob (No J sound in the Greek alphabet).

Father Moser, looking up the last bit of information I noticed that in Greek the Letters of James, The first letter of Peter etc. are called the Catholic Epistles of James, Peter, John, Judas. Strange that I never noticed that before.

Effie

[Eromaveabeara]

Once I was with Greek friends having a picnic in the hills outside of Komotini in northeastern Greece. Noticing a dent in the front bumper of their car I asked what had happened.

The answer was that the car was hit by a 'dzeep.' When I asked, "a sheep or a jeep" the same answer was made, " a dzeep." Eventually after much laughter on all sides I gave up asking.

To this day I still cannot tell you what hit their car.

In Christ- Fr Raphael

It would be better if a sheep had indeed hit their car - or their car had hit it..................

If you're on a country road and kill a sheep you end up paying so much for it, it might as well be prime beef. AND you don't get the sheep - the villagers keep it and cook it (if there's anything left to cook, of course).


The jeep would be covered by insurance.

[ViktorialHDY]

On the subject of dz, one of the cutest things is hearing a true Greecian say the name "George"



In Christ
Karena

[Vokbeelllicky]

Oh, do not even get me started on how people pronounce other people's names, or words in other languages! It is so hilarious and so many (the cross-linguistic/cultural mispronunciation) that I can even write a book about it.

My favs are some people saying some Italian words, food. Not to mention French, Spanish etc.

[lalffibra]

Another of my pet peeves (grumpy old woman that I am ...) is the James/Dimitri phenomenon, where an alternative name in another language is given without an understanding of its origin. As well as James/Dimitri, I have come across Natasha as a substitute for Anastasia (Natasha is a diminutive of Natalia), Jonathan where the baptismal name is John (two entirely different names, folks!), and attempts by parents to have their children baptised using a diminutive form of name such as Sonia instead of Sophia.

Further to Greek pronunciation of J: Standard Greek does not have this sound, but it is a sound heard in various Greek dialects, particularly in the north of Greece. Such dialects also have the sounds ch, sh and zh, which are otherwise not part of standard Greek.

[strmini]

In Germany Russian names like Anya, Sonya, Katya, Natasha are currently very popular, and are considered completely different names from Anna, Sophie, Katerina etc. It gets very confusing for me. It must be even worse for German Orthodox priests reading prayer lists.

[911_993_911]

Well, how about this for name mix-ups.

My mother's baptismal name is Hionati/ Χιονατη which translated into English means Snow-White (remember the fairy tale?). Her petname is Hionia (all Hionatis up here are called Hionia), which translated into English becomes Sonia. She has always been called this in English. From Hionati to Sonia is quite a step, isn't it. But what else could she be called - Snow White?

She is a snow white, blue eyed blonde and the name fits, but really! No one is ever called this.

Effie

[animilius]

Another of my pet peeves (grumpy old woman that I am ...) is the James/Dimitri phenomenon, where an alternative name in another language is given without an understanding of its origin. As well as James/Dimitri, I have come across Natasha as a substitute for Anastasia (Natasha is a diminutive of Natalia), Jonathan where the baptismal name is John (two entirely different names, folks!), and attempts by parents to have their children baptised using a diminutive form of name such as Sonia instead of Sophia.

Further to Greek pronunciation of J: Standard Greek does not have this sound, but it is a sound heard in various Greek dialects, particularly in the north of Greece. Such dialects also have the sounds ch, sh and zh, which are otherwise not part of standard Greek.

The nearest sound would be τζ tz - as in tzami - minaret.