[ilds] Corcyra v. Corfu

Wed Sep 14 07:46:23 PDT 2016

I didn't apologize, and I don't see why should I apologize and for what. All I wanted was to facilitate this long  discussion pointing to attention to non-Greek participants elementary  information contained in any Greek encyclopedia. I live in Edipsos near Istiaia (Ιστιαία) known in the past as  Xirochori (Ξηροχώρι) renamed for the very same reasons described in my post. The same happened to many other Greek toponyms: Vostizza-Aigion , Salona-Amfissa, Zituni-Lamia, Tsirigo-Kythira, Candia-Iraklion, etc. etc. Ask any Corfiot-Kerkyreos friend. As for fundamentalists, Egypt-Khemia, and my hypothetical terroristic  plans   ask CIA. The only question that remains to be discussed, if any, is why Durrell chose Corcyra for a  novel taking place in modern Corfu.

P.G.

________________________________
From: ILDS <ilds-bounces at lists.uvic.ca> on behalf of Richard Pine <pinedurrellcorfu at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2016 9:49:42 AM
To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca
Subject: Re: [ilds] Corcyra v. Corfu

Why are you apologising? No need.
I bet there are fundamentalists demanding, through their fundament, a change from Egypt to Khemia or some such. You have probably started something.
I think a lot of the 'western' names given to 'eastern' places are due to hearing difficulties - phonological if you will, in the sense that logic applied different results to phono.
I knew an English boy who would not say the Irish pro-name 'Proinnsias' - the irish for Francis -  (approx pronunciation 'Pron-she-as' - so he said 'Poncho', and his parents allowed him to do so. The child was perfectly capable of saying the name correctly. I suspect that many 'westernised' placenames originated because some explorer turned to his companion and said 'I can't understand a word these coons are saying, Fitzherbert - let's call it Swaziland' 'Oh golly good show Carruthers, I'll mark that down on the map'.
Ethiopia
RP

On Wed, Sep 14, 2016 at 3:04 AM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net<mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>> wrote:
Okay about the Corfiots not being “insulted.”  My apologies.  But I’ll stick to a purely linguistic interpretation of how place names (as a rule) become transliterated from language to language.  I do not see “cultural differences” as being a factor in this kind of linguistics.  “Cultural differences” suggests to me, anyway, some kind of cultural bias or, at worse, some kind of cultural imperialism, the kind which Edward W. Said is famous for interpreting as a major sin of the West—the British, the French, and the Americans, in particular.   I assume this is what you’re implying by referring to the “udder sound” of “Mos-cow.”  There are purely linguistic reasons for Beijing/Peking, Kolkotta/Calcutta, and Mumbai/Bombay—and these I strongly doubt have anything to do with some kind of original prejudice (in the sense of the original adaptation into the Latin alphabet), if you will.  “Decolonization” has a lot to do with these phonological changes, but that should not reflect on the original choice of the place names—they were not, in my opinion, exploitative.  But there are exceptions, of course, where one culture imposes (?) a name on a foreign one.  The name for the land of Egypt is derived from the Greek Aigyptos, the Greek name for the city of Memphis.  The ancient “Egyptians” themselves referred to their land as Khem or Khemet (“the black land”).  Egypt has stuck, however, and doesn’t seem to bother today’s “Egyptians.”  I don’t see a movement for the renaming of Egypt and its Egyptians as the Land of Khem and its Khemians.  Undoubtedly, there are more such examples.

Bruce

On Sep 13, 2016, at 11:31 AM, Richard Pine <pinedurrellcorfu at gmail.com<mailto:pinedurrellcorfu at gmail.com>> wrote:

I did not suggest that referring to kerkyra as Corfu was insulting. The Corfiots do it all the time.
But the 'linguistic' or 'phonetic' differences betray cultural differences which can sometimes be annoying.
Moskva becomes Mos-coe becomes (for Americans) Mos-cow (an udder sound) - is it really so diffficult?
We have all had to re-educate ourselves to say 'Beijing' instead of 'Peking', 'kolkotta' for 'Calcutta' and Mumbai for Bombay. This is de-colonialism and I suppose most people would welcome it.
Ethiopia
RP

On Tue, Sep 13, 2016 at 8:36 PM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net<mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>> wrote:
There are linguistic reasons for differences in the spelling and pronunciation of place names between languages, the main one being phonetic or phonological differences.  So German Wien becomes English Vienna simply because the English spelling conforms to the German pronunciation (where the /a/ comes from is another matter).  By and large, I do not interpret the differences as examples of colonialism, imperialism, ethnocentrism, or even xenophobia (a good Greek word which the Greeks invented and used).  As to Kerkyra v. Corfu, the former is Greek and the latter apparently Byzantine Greek (as Durrell points out in his etymology below).  How we English-speakers (and presumably others) have adopted Corfu instead of Kerkyra is a historical problem—and not, I think, a deliberate insult to the Corfiots.  The English and French languages have been pretty good at respecting indigenous terms—for example, Canada, Quebec, Michigan, Nebraska, and so on.

Bruce

On Sep 13, 2016, at 1:11 AM, Richard Pine <pinedurrellcorfu at gmail.com<mailto:pinedurrellcorfu at gmail.com>> wrote:

I don't think we should be surprised that Greeks refer to 'Corfu' as 'Kerkyra' - it's the name of the place! And Corfiots (not Corfiotes, please, that's a C17 term that's out of use) actually live in Kerkyra. it's damned annoying for the rest of us that the Austrians insist on living in Wien, when we all know they live in Vienna, and even worse that the Swiss want to be in Genf. Don't we all wish that locals would learn that it is WE who decide on their placenames? Where would everyone be if locals were allowed to choose their own identity!
RP

On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 8:24 PM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net<mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>> wrote:
Thanks, Richard.  Modern Greek Kerkyra preserves ancient Greek Κερκῡρα (Liddell and Scott).  So it may be that Durrell chose to honor this usage and this past, which seem to be lost on contemporary readers.  I mentioned before Open Road’s alteration of Durrell’s subtitle—“Corcyra” becomes “Corfu.”  Something similar happens in Ian MacNiven’s edition of Prospero’s Cell (New York:  Marlowe, 1996).  MacNiven does not change Durrell’s subtitle, but the publisher alters the title on the book’s cover:  Prospero’s Cell:  A Guide to the Landscape and Manners of the Island of Corfu.  Durrell’s use of Corcyra is akin to Robert Byron’s use of Oxiana in The Road to Oxiana (1937), which Durrell probably read, I’m guessing.  Oxiana refers to the country around the Oxus River in Central Asia, now called the Amu.  Oxus is exotic, obscure even, unless one recalls Arnold “Sohrab and Rustum.”  Byron’s famous book develops through a series of dated diary entries (Venice is the first—echoes of Bitter Lemons?).  Durrell may have followed this pattern and then varied it.

Bruce

On Sep 11, 2016, at 11:24 PM, james Esposito <giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com<mailto:giacomoesposito72 at gmail.com>> wrote:

The obvious question so far unanswered:  how do Greeks on Corfu refer to their island?
The answer: Kerkyra

On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 1:34 AM, Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at gmail.com<mailto:bredwine1968 at gmail.com>> wrote:
James, I previously addressed this email wrong.  Please post of list.  Thanks.

Bruce

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at gmail.com<mailto:bredwine1968 at gmail.com>>
Subject: Corcyra v. Corfu
Date: September 11, 2016 at 2:22:15 PM PDT
To: Sumantra Nag <sumantranag at gmail.com<mailto:sumantranag at gmail.com>>
Cc: Bruce Redwine <bredwine1968 at earthlink.net<mailto:bredwine1968 at earthlink.net>>

Re Prospero’s Cell, it might be worthwhile to look carefully at Durrell’s use of Corcyra as opposed to Corfu.  First a little pedantry.

1.  The OED 2nd does not have a separate entry for either Corcyra or Corfu.  The former is not mentioned; the latter—defined as “the Greek island of Corfu”—is noted under “Corfiote.”

2.  Wikipedia has the following:  Corfu (/kɔːrˈfuː, -fjuː/<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English>; Greek<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language>: Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra [ˈcercira]<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Greek>; Ancient Greek<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek>: Κέρκυρα or Κόρκυρα; Latin<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language>: Corcyra; Italian<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_language>: Corfu).  This etymology, which I assume is correct, suggests that Corcyra is a transliteration of the older term in ancient Greek, whereas Corfu derives from modern Italian or some dialect of the same.  (How cyra becomes fu is an interesting problem in historical linguistics.)

3.  Durrell himself provides the following etymologies of Corfu and Corcyra:  “2.10.37.  The literati of ‘the Partridge’ have spent a great deal of time upon the etymological derivation of the word ‘Corfu.’  The current explanation that the Byzantine use of the word was related in some way to kòpuɸαι (meaning twin-peaked) is not entirely acceptable to Zarian though Theodore’s more exacting scholarship appears to accept the idea.  Any modern Greek dictionary will list kópɸos which means ‘gulf’; while research into the word Corcyra will give you the following kέpkos: (a tail, a handle);  kὲpkoupos (a fish); and  kepis (a weaver’s comb, a leg bone, a fiddle bow).”  (p. 70; Greek orthography approximate)

How does Durrell use these two terms?  The first usage of Corcyra appears in his subtitle:  “the island of Corcyra.”  The first usage of Corfu appears in the first sentence of his text:  “Somewhere between Calabria and Corfu the blue really begins.”  (Note:  he does not say, “Somewhere between Calabria and Corcyra.”)  He uses Corfu more often than Corcyra, according to my digital version of PC.  This suggests to me that Corfu is the unmarked or normal term in Durrell’s vocabulary.  The terms may be interchangeable, although I doubt this.  I’m tempted to say that Durrell uses Corcyra for some special effect, but that would require a more detailed reading than I’m willing to give at the moment.

I use the Open Road digital version of Durrell’s works.  I do not trust this publisher.  Open Road has made changes to Durrell’s text, presumably to make it appeal to the contemporary reader.  A major change occurs in the subtitle:  “the island of Corfu,” not “Corcyra.”  I think this important—it violates Durrell’s intent.

Richard Pine asks the question, “Can you explain why you think ‘Corcyra’ is less common than 'Corfu' or 'Kerkyra'?  Why is it signal?”  Although I do not know Greek, I think the answer lies in the context and the frequency of Durrell’s usage.  The obvious question so far unanswered:  how do Greeks on Corfu refer to their island?  To repeat, the Wikipedia etymology suggests to me that Corcyra is the archaic term and as such evokes a special effect immediately announced in the subtitle of Prospero’s Cell, which is exactly why Open Road chose (egregiously) to change it.  That is, the modern reader might be put off by exotic allusions.  My explanation is that Durrell is using Corcyra to hearken back to a particular kind of travel literature.

Bruce

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