[Facts] Re: Natassja -- and note to Mike C
by Pavlos (guest)
11/23/2001, 6:31 AM
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 :)