When I went to look up the etymology of 'glasnost' itself, I realized my fundamental error: one of spelling. Because of a tricksy little thing called consonant palatization I was picturing glasnost as глазность, which would in all likelihood be pronounced very similarly if not the same as the real spelling, which is гласность.
So there goes my whole eyeball theory, since now the root is глас (glas)- meaning 'voice'.
Google Translate defines гласность as 1. publicity, 2. publication and 3. daylight. And the Lord's son, Wiki Christ, says unto us:
Etymology:
From гласный (“public, open”) + -ость (“-ness”).
Fail/Win
(was wrong)/(but look how much I learned!)
No comments:
Post a Comment