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Re: Coryan
My friend and his parents pronounce it with a hard C, much like 'coriander' (as Sabertooth noted), so it probably is a borrowed word, as you said. His family is uncertain about the original Coryan's background, but I'll drop my friend a line and see what I can glean.My cursory search suggests Goryan means 'woodsman' in Bulgarian, and was formerly a popular peasant's name. Whether it or an Indian analogue were used by the Romani is uncertain.Thanks for your response; I was having a hard time with the basics of Romani names.
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So it sounds almost exactly like Korean?With a hard C (K) the name Kor-yan with the Y sounding like the Y in yellow is phonetically possible in Romani, but it still has no obvious root words.If it does come from Goryan it's possible it was deliberately changed to avoid the association with the word "gor" (which means the outer edge or boarder-line of something) combined with Yan which often used as a nickname for "Yanoro". Really I'm just guessing though! I hope you find what you're looking for :)
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