Plural for zruty?
zefciu
which is maybe a reason for shame for a Slav. Maybe someone knows,
which nation has zruties in their tales (Slovakians presumably, as Tatra
are border mountains between my country and Slovakia).
What I want to ask is, what is the correct plural for this monster
(which could be introduced in the next version for the sake of being
pedantic). Myself I think, it should be "zrute" - that would be at
least according to polish grammar. Slovakian should be the same, but I
can't be sure.
zefciu
Kristoffer Björkman
In article <eb44ge$j3r$1...@inews.gazeta.pl>,
zef...@Speacock.Pau.Apoznan.Mpl says...
Well I guess for Nethackian English "zruties" is already correct. But it
would be interesting to know if these things actually exist out there in
the Tatras, or if they're just a product of the devteams imagination...
/Kristoffer
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Ray Chason
> Well I guess for Nethackian English "zruties" is already correct. But it
> would be interesting to know if these things actually exist out there in
> the Tatras, or if they're just a product of the devteams imagination...
Someone at
http://p087.ezboard.com/fistorijabalkanafrm28.showMessage?topicID=43.topic
has posted what appears to be the entire text of some book called
_Vampires off the Slavs_ and we find this therein:
The Slovaks have their Zruty, or Ozruti, who are wild and gigantic
beings, living in the wildernesses of the Tatra Mountains.
Perhaps this is the source of both the monster and the help-file quote?
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--------------===============<[ Ray Chason ]>===============--------------
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Paul E Collins
> The Slovaks have their Zruty, or Ozruti, who are [...]
Apparently the plural is the same as the singular, then.
Eq.
Kristoffer Björkman
find_my_re...@CL4.org says...
> Ray Chason wrote:
> > The Slovaks have their Zruty, or Ozruti, who are [...]
> Apparently the plural is the same as the singular, then.
Or Zruty is correct plural, but not correct singular...
What would the reverse-engineered singular for "Zruty" as plural be in
Polish/Slovakian?
/Kristoffer
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zefciu
> In article <M_KdnYHuVtBwo0vZ...@bt.com>,
> find_my_re...@CL4.org says...
>> Ray Chason wrote:
>>> The Slovaks have their Zruty, or Ozruti, who are [...]
>> Apparently the plural is the same as the singular, then.
>
> Or Zruty is correct plural, but not correct singular...
>
> What would the reverse-engineered singular for "Zruty" as plural be in
> Polish/Slovakian?
>
> /Kristoffer
>
Oh, that's a good idea. I have found another page, with "zruty" used
among other plural forms. In this case singular would be probably
"zrut" or "zruta" (the second being feminine). I thougth before that
zruty is a quasi-adjective form like another slavic monster leszy.
But still I'm not sure of anything.
Greets
zefciu
Antoine
One leszy, several lezzies?
A.
zefciu
> One leszy, several lezzies?
>
> A.
1 leszy, 2 lesze, 5 leszych.
erisdiscordia
> (singular, plural is ozruty) is known to me. I know it as a general
> term describing something gigantic (and ugly), not as a specific
> monster. I'm no expert in myths and folklore though.
Czech is my second language, so I'll have a go at trying to say
something useful. :-) Czech is very close to Slovak. It is extremely
rare, if it exists at all, for non-loanwords ending in "y" to be
singular in Czech. Note, however, that you usually can't guess the
gender, and thus the singular, from a -y plural. Regardless, I'm not
surprised to hear of ozruta being ozruta and not ozrut (the other
possibility), since the Czech zruda (with a long u, indicated by a tiny
o over the u) is so similar, and can be translated as "monster." I
think it can be transliterated as "off-born," "away-from-born"
"out-of-born," etc. In other words, something like misborn -- a being
born "monstrous." Interestingly, the Czech word isn't the name for a
particular folk monster or even the typical appelation for monsters in
general; more for a "monstrous" creature.
Running Summary:
So I'd second the -a ending for the singular, have no comment on ozruta
vs. zruta though I'm of course happy to trust the actual Slovak here,
and am not surprised by not hearing of a connection to a particular
monster.
A quick googling for the two words confirms the existence of an
"ozruta" that functions in sentences like the Czech zruda, and doesn't
confirm the existence of a "zruta" or, heaven forbid, a "zruty,"
although it does confirm the existence of a "zrut" (with some accented
letters) that functions in sentences like Czech's zrout (again with
some accented letters), making it "a devourer."
No "zrut" or "ozruta" specifically related to the Tatras came up in a
quick googling.
Final Summary:
- "a zruty" is probably indeed wrong.
- "a zrut" is right if we want to imply some appetite-related monster.
- "an ozruta" is right if we want to imply some monstrousness-related
monster.
- no evidence for a tradition of either one comes up from googling; the
parent post implies that, if one of these exists, it's not part of the
cultural heritage for an average Slovak.
e.