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Showing posts from February, 2012

My Ancient and Old-Fashioned Name

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I thought a good place to start my blog was with myself, specifically with my name as "Areta" is an antiquated Ukrainian name, especially in Ukraine. The name "Areta" comes from the ancient Greek word “areté” (Greek: ἀρετή), which means virtue. Likely one of the first Aretas to live in what is today Ukraine was a Greek woman who lived in the Greek settlement of Olbia near the Black Sea in the second century AD. In Olbia there is an ancient grave of a Greek couple Evrisivios and Areta – two famous residents of Olbia.   The name probably became a traditional Ukrainian name through the church calendar, from the Martyr Arethas of Omir who is commemorated on November 6.  The name is found in this list of ancient Ukrainian names: АРЕТА — 6 листопада — ( гр .) ЧЕСНОТА; Аретка, Аруня, Рута.     Although "Areta" has survived to this day, in Ukraine it is very rare. Most Ukrainians have never heard it before and are surprised when I tell the

Shadows of a Forgotten World

This is a blog about anachronisms; anything archaic, obsolete, outdated, antiquated, vintage, forgotten, overlooked; ruins, traces, remnants of the past; anything fading, crumbling, vanishing, disappearing; anything unearthed, signs uncovered under layers of paint—found in the urban landscape, in the infrastructure, architecture; in the countryside; in languages and music. This blog is dedicated to my love for history and Ukraine. The focus is on L'viv and Ukraine, but it covers much more. It’s a place for me to collect and share all my findings, and a way to help preserve and document these traces of the past before they are forgotten or disappear forever. The name of my blog was inspired by the name of one of my favorite movies, Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors , which is based on the classic Ukrainian book by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky about the ancient traditions of the Hutsuls, Ukrainian highlanders who live in the Carpathians.