Greetings in Slovak
Vladimir Linder
At 10:33 PM 1/14/97 +0100, you wrote:
> Ahoj is universal in Slovakia but the Italian c~iao has gained a lot of
>ground and a popular usage now is the colloquial c~iako,
C`AUKO
a diminutive. The
>Slovak langugage is so beautiful as words can be said with a great variety of
>endings - personal names for example. With my name of Helene I don't have a
>nick name in America but have lots over there - Helena, Helenka, Helie, Hela,
>Helenotc~ka.
>
> I have been so intrigued by the word "servus"
Servus I believe is HUNGARIAN
as a greeting which I first
>heard on the streets of Luc~enec some twenty years ago. It fascinated me that
>this Latin word lived on through all those centuries to still be used today.
>My favorite spa lady in Piestany (western Slovakia) uses the word all the
>time and I've heard it in eastern Slovakia innumberable times so it seems to
>be in rather general use.
>
> Good bye there colloquially is "do vi" a short cut for Dovidenia or c~iao,
>or "pa pa" which is cute little baby talk, or the American import "bye bye".
> Village people often say "Spanem bohem."
"S PANOM BOHOM" S panem Bohem is in CZECH
which means something like God go
>with you. (I learned Slovak like a baby by speaking it there and sometimes
>the way I think it's spelled and the actual spelling are surprisingly two
>different things."
>
> If you want to please your relatives when you are feasting at their homes
>say "yum yum" - it's universally understood and appreciated.
>
> One more popular culture note - now that things are getting quite spiffed
>up in Slovakia does anyone recall the toilet paper dispenser covers in
>primary colors with a decal of Donald Duck and the message "bude fit" - be
>fit! They were everywhere and always made me smile.
>
>helene
>hele...@aol.com
>
>
Vladimir Linder
3804 Yale Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5C 1P6
vli...@direct.ca
Publisher of: SLOVAK HERITAGE LIVE quarterly newsletter
Free copy upon request. Send us your snail mail address.
You may check out our home pages at:
http://www.iarelative.com/slovakbc.htm
Hele...@aol.com
Ahoj is universal in Slovakia but the Italian c~iao has gained a lot of
Slovak langugage is so beautiful as words can be said with a great variety of
endings - personal names for example. With my name of Helene I don't have a
nick name in America but have lots over there - Helena, Helenka, Helie, Hela,
Helenotc~ka.
I have been so intrigued by the word "servus" as a greeting which I first
heard on the streets of Luc~enec some twenty years ago. It fascinated me that
this Latin word lived on through all those centuries to still be used today.
My favorite spa lady in Piestany (western Slovakia) uses the word all the
time and I've heard it in eastern Slovakia innumberable times so it seems to
be in rather general use.
Good bye there colloquially is "do vi" a short cut for Dovidenia or c~iao,
or "pa pa" which is cute little baby talk, or the American import "bye bye".
Village people often say "Spanem bohem." which means something like God go
John E.Polko
REPLY:
Hi Helene,
I can recall all adults using the term servus in Ontario when I was a child,
and I also heard it used both in Slovakia as well as the Czech Rep. The
only difference is that my recollection of the word is that it was
pronounced "serus"'. I wonder if the "v" is actually silent(unusual) for
Latin, but perhaps a dialectic variation, but in my experience, a large one?
Regards,
John.
At 10:33 PM 1/14/97 +0100, you wrote:
<1997011509...@nemesis.idirect.com>: address: slovak...@fris.sk
<1997011509...@nemesis.idirect.com>: address: SLOVAK-...@CCNEWS.KE.SANET.SK
<1997011509...@nemesis.idirect.com>: recipient: local SLOVAK-WORLD-GW "|/opt/etc/mail2news -F -S -R -O -n sk.talk.slovak-world -x slovak-world"
John E.Polko
At 04:43 PM 1/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>At 10:23 AM 1/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>>REPLY:
>>Hi Helene,
>>I can recall all adults using the term servus in Ontario when I was a child,
>>and I also heard it used both in Slovakia as well as the Czech Rep. The
>>only difference is that my recollection of the word is that it was
>>pronounced "serus"'. I wonder if the "v" is actually silent(unusual) for
>>Latin, but perhaps a dialectic variation, but in my experience, a large one?
>>Regards,
>>John.
>My Gypsy friend and the leader and the PRIMAS of gypsy music from CIERNY
>BALOG, JULIUS "SUKO" BARTOS always says CERUS.
>Vladimir Linder
REPLY #2.
Hello Vladimir,
Thank you for this information. I should add that as I say in my letter
above, I heard the word pronounced as "serus" as a child, and that as a
child I was very much involved in two distinct but very Slovak communities.
One was the Roman Catholic environment in which I grew up, and the other was
in the Niagaga Region of Ontario, where I have relatives.
Here I must take a moment to thank Greg Kopchak of "iarelative/Slovakia" for
his fine posting of the memorial for Steve Zudel, who was my brother-in-law
once removed. I must say, that I was most surprised by this when I saw it,
as I don't recall seeing his family on S-W. I expect that I will be in
touch with them about the posting soon. However this is a digression.
Steve Zudel Sr. was a Lutheran, and by Slovak standards, his family comes
from quite a large distance from where my family originates, and yet I
remember that he and all the older Slovaks that I remember as a child in the
Niagara Region also pronounced the word as "serus". As I stated in my
original posting, these are the recellections of my childhood, but
nevertheless, my recollections seems to have served me reasonably well
judging by my experiences on S-W.
On another topic, I have noticed that you seem to know everybody in Slovakia
from priests to gypsies, and many other kinds of people as well. I don't
think that you can answer the question that I have regarding contemporary
culture in Slovakia. Two years ago, I heard some recordings of Slovak Jazz
music on CBC Radio, and I would be curious to see if you also know and can
tell me the names of places where this music is available.
Regards, and Happy New Year,
John E. Polko.
RonO...@aol.com
My cousin in Banska Stiavnica and her friends say "Servus" or "Ahoj" when
greeting each other.
Ron Orach
John E.Polko
Reply,
Hello Helene and Vlad,
Its interesting how easily language can be affected if one is not careful.
Slovaks have had to deal with Magyarization, Czechification, Rusianization,
and perhaps even more. All the more reason for Slovak solidarity in matters
dealing with culture, language, and even more seemingly less significant
influences. No doubt, everyone in Slovakia can pronounce mcdonalds.
Regards,
John.
At 09:17 AM 1/16/97 +0100, you wrote:
>At 05:28 AM 1/16/97 +0100, you wrote:
>>Oops, I goofed - God be with you as said in Slovak villages is "S'Bohom".
>>It's nice to use with elderly village people - they like to hear it a lot.
>>helene
>>
>>
>
>It can also be S PANOM BOHOM yes that is SLOVAK
>and
>
>S PANEM BOHEM is CZECH
Vladimir Linder
Vladimir Linder
At 10:23 AM 1/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>REPLY:
>Hi Helene,
>I can recall all adults using the term servus in Ontario when I was a child,
>and I also heard it used both in Slovakia as well as the Czech Rep. The
>only difference is that my recollection of the word is that it was
>pronounced "serus"'. I wonder if the "v" is actually silent(unusual) for
>Latin, but perhaps a dialectic variation, but in my experience, a large one?
>Regards,
>John.
My Gypsy friend and the leader and the PRIMAS of gypsy music from CIERNY
BALOG, JULIUS "SUKO" BARTOS always says CERUS.
>
Doug Holmes
At 16:43 15-01-1997 +0100, you wrote:
>
>My Gypsy friend and the leader and the PRIMAS of gypsy music from CIERNY
>BALOG, JULIUS "SUKO" BARTOS always says CERUS.
>
>
>>
Serus must be very regional because my Bratislava-born wife has never heard it.
Doug
================================================================
Doug da Rocha Holmes | Doug Holmes - Director
------------------------------- | Hungarian/American Friendship Society
Specialist in Azorean Genealogy | Website: www.dholmes.com/hafs.html
Website: www.dholmes.com | (Specializing in Hungarian & Slovak genealogy)
================================================================
Vladimir Linder
At 05:34 PM 1/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>At 16:43 15-01-1997 +0100, you wrote:
>>
>>My Gypsy friend and the leader and the PRIMAS of gypsy music from CIERNY
>>BALOG, JULIUS "SUKO" BARTOS always says CERUS.
>>
>>
>>>
>>Vladimir Linder
>
>Serus must be very regional because my Bratislava-born wife has never heard it.
>
CEEERUS and the guy is GYPSY and he does have accent and this is his
trademark and we always try to imitate him CEERUS SUKO
>Doug
> ================================================================
>Doug da Rocha Holmes | Doug Holmes - Director
>------------------------------- | Hungarian/American Friendship Society
>Specialist in Azorean Genealogy | Website: www.dholmes.com/hafs.html
>Website: www.dholmes.com | (Specializing in Hungarian & Slovak genealogy)
> ================================================================
>
>
Martin Lipocky
> At 16:43 15-01-1997 +0100, you wrote:
> >
> >My Gypsy friend and the leader and the PRIMAS of gypsy music from CIERNY
> >BALOG, JULIUS "SUKO" BARTOS always says CERUS.
> >
> >
> >>
> >Vladimir Linder
>
> Serus must be very regional because my Bratislava-born wife has never heard it.
>
> Doug
>
I used to hear SERVUS from old people. My father says it means in Latin "I'm a
slave to you."
Regards,
Martin
==============================================================================
MARTIN LIPOCKY Institute of Histology and Embryology
Email: lip...@crick.fmed.uniba.sk Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University
WWW: http://crick.fmed.uniba.sk/~lipocky/ Sasinkova 4, Bratislava, SLOVAKIA
Phone: ++42(7)5357237
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hele...@aol.com
Vladimir Linder
At 11:40 PM 1/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>At 04:43 PM 1/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>>At 10:23 AM 1/15/97 +0100, you wrote:
>>>REPLY:
>>>Hi Helene,
>>>I can recall all adults using the term servus in Ontario when I was a child,
>>>and I also heard it used both in Slovakia as well as the Czech Rep. The
>>>only difference is that my recollection of the word is that it was
>>>pronounced "serus"'. I wonder if the "v" is actually silent(unusual) for
>>>Latin, but perhaps a dialectic variation, but in my experience, a large one?
>>>Regards,
>>>John.
>
>>BALOG, JULIUS "SUKO" BARTOS always says CERUS.
>>Vladimir Linder
>
>Hello Vladimir,
>Thank you for this information. I should add that as I say in my letter
>above, I heard the word pronounced as "serus" as a child, and that as a
>child I was very much involved in two distinct but very Slovak communities.
>One was the Roman Catholic environment in which I grew up, and the other was
>in the Niagaga Region of Ontario, where I have relatives.
>Here I must take a moment to thank Greg Kopchak of "iarelative/Slovakia" for
>his fine posting of the memorial for Steve Zudel, who was my brother-in-law
>once removed. I must say, that I was most surprised by this when I saw it,
>as I don't recall seeing his family on S-W. I expect that I will be in
>touch with them about the posting soon. However this is a digression.
>Steve Zudel Sr. was a Lutheran, and by Slovak standards, his family comes
>from quite a large distance from where my family originates, and yet I
>remember that he and all the older Slovaks that I remember as a child in the
>Niagara Region also pronounced the word as "serus". As I stated in my
>original posting, these are the recellections of my childhood, but
>nevertheless, my recollections seems to have served me reasonably well
>judging by my experiences on S-W.
>On another topic, I have noticed that you seem to know everybody in Slovakia
>from priests to gypsies, and many other kinds of people as well.
Yes you are right, many, many, but not everybody.
I don't think that you can answer the question that I have regarding
contemporary
>culture in Slovakia. Two years ago, I heard some recordings of Slovak Jazz
>music on CBC Radio, and I would be curious to see if you also know and can
>tell me the names of places where this music is available.
>Regards, and Happy New Year,
>John E. Polko.
>
I know ther is a Jazz festival in Bratislava every year, try to contact
Peter Breiner at:
Peter Breiner <pbre...@interlog.com> he is a great musician, conductor,
living in Toronto and he attended the last Jazz festival in Fall of last
year. I am sure he will point you in the right direction.
OR Regarding JAZZ and contemporary art contact my friend at:
Miroslava Dulová
Bazovského 14
841 01 Bratislava
Slovakia
Phone-Fax:011-42-7-764 939
Email: dula igor <ss...@netlab.sk>
Richard & Johanna Mihalek
At 03:54 PM 1/19/97 +0100, you wrote:
>In article <1997011517...@crick.fmed.uniba.sk>,
> lip...@crick.fmed.uniba.sk wrote:
>
> >> Serus must be very regional because my Bratislava-born wife has never
> >> heard it.
>
> > "I'm a slave to you."
>
>-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Allow me to inject a little about this word:
In my Kratky Slovnik Slovenskeho Jazyka, Bratislava 1987, a fairly
comprehensive dictionary, it gives the following:
SERVUS - familiarny pozdrav/greeting (as to a friend or
acquaintance).
This word was commonly used in and around the Martin area while visiting
there. More common was the word "ahoj" used.
P.S. There is a second meaning also to do about attitude but I can't totally
translate its meaning.
Richard & Johanna Mihalek Northern Wisconsin <valh...@win.bright.net>