O sudbini grčkog ženskog imena Irina u srpskom jeziku
On the Destiny of the Greek Female Name Irina in Serbian Language

Summary/Abstract: The Greek female name Irina (Είρήνη) was mentioned for the first time in the Serbian language of the 15th century, when the Greek princess Irina Kantakuzin married Djurdje Brankovic, the Serbian despot. Since she was a foreigner on the Serbian court, she was blamed for the destruction of the Serbian state and she got the nickname “The Damned Jerina”. This paper is about the anthroponym Irina seen from three aspects: (1) From the aspect of phonetic adaptation of the anthroponym : the Greek name Irina became the Serbian name Jerina; (2) From the aspect of derivation of the appellative jerina (the ruins of an old town) from the anthroponym Jerina, and (3) From the aspect of the change in the meaning of the name Irina (meaning peace in Greek) into the name which bears a negative connotation in Serbia and the name that becomes a protective name: that is, the new-born female children, in the families which have no male children, are named Jerina in order to stop the birth of further female children.

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