Karkaroff, Dolohov, Durmstrang and Russia

[Sade Allender]

No: HPFGUIDX 95645

I, too, am Russian. 
In this I agree with Maria Alena:

Re:ANTONIN DOLOHOV

My theory is that JKR took the name Dolohov from Tolstoy's
"War and Peace". Tolstoy had come up with the name by
changing a letter in the family name of the character's prototype
– R. N. Dorohov. Now, Dorohov is indeed a VERY old name. I do
know that I was unable to find the name Dolohov in any list of 
Russian family names in the Russian part of the world web. The other, 
practically unknown, version is its origin from the German das 
Loch "hole, ice-hole"(according to the German to Russian to English 
dictionaries I've been using). 

Regarding the name Antonin, I can guarantee that it hasn't been
in use in Russia at least since the October revolution in 1917, most 
probably – before that, the reason simply being that there is a
very popular female name Antonina and the generally accepted male   
pair to it is the equally popular name Anton. Antonin resembles the 
female Antonina too much for a boy not be laughed at for it. If 
Antonin was in actual use (I haven't been able to come across any 
instance), than it was in monasteries, where initiates changed their 
name upon becoming monks. Because of these two points, Antonin 
wouldn't have been used after 1917.

Re: IGOR KARKAROV/OFF

Again, I haven't been able to find this name in any Russian
family list. 
My theory is about its origin: The Code of Hammurabi  "Hammurabi,
the prince, called of Bel am I
who satisfied the heart of Adad ,
the warrior, in Karkar , who restored the vessels for worship in E-ud-
gal-gal;  the king who granted life to the city of Adab; 
". I
think that JKR simply added the most popular and most know suffix
–ov to the word. 

The only other possible Russian explanation is this: in Russian the 
crow says "karrrrrrrr" or "kar-karrrrrrrrrrr".  

The other explanations of origins I've come across are a) from
the Finnish  «karkuri» - deserter, run-away, fugitive and 
b)"karkaus" - escape, flight. 


ON THE SUBJECT OF –OV /OFF. 

The correct Russian writing is (male)"–ov"/(female)-ova.
However, the masculine is pronounced as "–of".  The double f
in –off comes from Germany. 

This is where I disagree:

RUSSIAN WIZARDING WORLD OF THE CLASSIC TYPE

Quite frankly, I simply don't see any possibility for its 
development. 

Consider Russia's  history, social relations, traditions,
folklore. Given what they are, I'm of the opinion that
wand-waving, Latin spell-casting wizards could not have developed 
any community in Russia before the 17th century, specifically its 
end - the time of Peter the Great, who actively encouraged marriage 
with foreigners. Russia before the 17th century was quite anti-
foreign. The absolute majority of JKR type wizards would have been 
concentrated in the upper level nobility (obviously, no foreigner in 
his/her right mind would have married a serf so as not become a serf) 
and they would have fled the country at the beginning of the 20th 
century due to the revolution. 

Considering the wand-waving, Latin spell-casting magic is against 
the magical traditions and folklore of Russia, my guess would be that 
any Russian in Durmstrang or Beuxbatons would be not Russian, but of 
semi-Russian emmigrant descent. They would not include traditional 
Russian/Slavic "witch" and "wizard" types, in other
words the (f) vedma/(m) vedmak, (f) koldunya/ (m) koldun, (f) 
vedunya/ (m) vedun, (f) volhvitsa/(m)volhv, (f) znaharka/(m)
znahar'. 
(Can you see communist koldunyas in Durmstrang?)

Russian magic tradition would not be accepting of either the 
Pureblood or the Muggle concepts in any way, shape or form due to how 
magic is obtained and passed on; it is wandless, it considers the 
ability to change into several animal and inanimate forms  - normal, 
and sees nothing unusual in talking to snakes. The dark part of it is 
based on demonology. So Durmstrang (the word is SO not of Russian 
origin) is too alien to be anywhere in Russia.

Sorry for pasting the post, but I really can't spell without Word.