Karkaroff

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 28873

David wrote:
 
> I haven't anything to add to Christian's excellent post on 
> Durmstrang, except to say that I find Karkaroff's name slightly 
> mystifying.  His history is obscure, but I think of these double f 
> Slavic names as having gone via France.  Slavic languages with the 
> Roman alphabet usually end in -ov, as do English transliterations 
of 
> Cyrillic; German transliterations end in -ow (compare Yasov and 
> Jasow).  French names of Slavic origin do however end in -off and -
> eff, as possibly do older (ie Victorian and earlier) English ones.  
> (British) English names of Slavic origin are however mostly recent, 
> and mostly Polish.

American transliterations go both ways, e.g. I have seen both 
Romanoff and Romanov to refer to the Russian royal family.  If JKR 
thinks the same way, she probably intends no ethnic distinction 
between -ov and -off.

Amy Z

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 Harry remembered how touchy Myrtle had always 
 been about being dead, but none of the other 
 ghosts he knew made such a fuss about it.
                  -HP and the Goblet of Fire
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