Expert: Tomas - 8/11/2005

Question
Dear Tomas

I am interested in the cult of St. James the Apostle (sometimes called also St. James the Greater) throughout Europe. Maybe you have heard about the pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela. It's his tomb there (Santiago < Sant Iago = Saint James; James sounds ackward for "Jacob" the most European nations have, but this is the English tradition, distinguising Jacob tha Patriarch and James the Apostle, coming from Italian who also distinguis Giacobo and Giacomo).

Now, I'd like to ask you:

a) How do you say "Saint James" in Slovak? Is it Svety Jakob or Jakov or Jakub (or something else)? (I have me these forms in Internet in relation to Slovakia) Do you put an ' on the y in svety?

b) Do you know of any places that saint James is being especially venerated there in Slovakia [except for the world known Levoca chram, also known to me] (or neighbourhood). This last remark is due to my taking into consideration the history of your nation. Here in Poland due to historical reasons sometimes it happens that the places of cult, churches or traditional places of pilgrimage or even the old cemeteries for the local communities, are now outside the present borders of Poland (or vice versa, people from the present day Belarus or Lithuania or Ukraine etc. make their pilgrimages to sanctuaries or cemeteries in Poland). So I can imagine that some traditional places of pilgrimage or cult for Slovaks may also be situated in the present day Hungary or Czechia or Ukraine (Zakarpatia) or even Austria or Poland.

c) do you know any churches dedicated to St. James in Slovakia (be them catholic or protestant or osthodox)?

d) alternatively could you translate into Slovak the following words I will use for google search (Do not translate the word OR):

"Saint James's church OR parish"
"cult of St. James"
"pilgrimage" "pilgrim"/"pilgrims"
"Saint or St."
"chaple OR cathedral OR basilica OR sanctuary OR monastery"

Thank you very much

Maciek
from Lublin in Poland

PS. Maciek, diminutive for Maciej, is Mathias (the 13th Apostle, not Mathew the Evangelist). How do you say it in Slovak?  

Answer
Dear Maciek,

I am sorry for a late reply, I was on the holidays for 2 weeks. I will quickly answer the easy questions:

> a) How do you say "Saint James" in Slovak?

It's "Svaty Jakub" - see correct spelling here:
http://www.bojnicecastle.sk/OLTAR/oltar-sk.htm (first picture).
There are two dots over "a" and ' on the y in svaty.
(I tried to write it correctly here, but this system does not understand Slovak letters - if you write me directly at tomas.bella@gmail.com, I can send you the exact spelling)


> d) alternatively could you translate into Slovak the following words I will use for google search

> "Saint James's church OR parish"
church = "kostol"
parish= "farnost" (correct spelling here: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&q=farnos%C5%A5)
but if you want to say "church OF saint james", it would be "Kostol Svätého Jakuba":
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Kostol%20Sv%C3%...

So the whole query would be this:
"Svaty Jakub" kostol OR farnosť
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&q=%22Svaty%20Jakub%2...

> "cult of St. James"
"kult svätého jakuba", here:
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&safe=off&c2coff=1&q=%22kult+sv%C3...

> "pilgrimage" "pilgrim"/"pilgrims"
pilgrimage="put"
(as in title here: http://www.levoca.sk/Put.htm)

pilgrim="puttnik"
(as in title: http://www.cassovia.sk/korzar/archiv/clanok.php3?sub=12.9.2003/47130O)

pilgrims=putnici
correct spelling: in title http://www.ymdb.com/zbehovia-a-putnici/f0171940_ukuk.html

> "Saint or St."
Svaty/Sv.
spelling: http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/sk-svaty.html

> "chaple OR cathedral OR basilica OR sanctuary OR monastery"
"kaplnka OR katedrala OR bazilika OR svatyna OR klastor"
with correct spelling here: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&q=kaplnka%20OR%20kat...

> PS. Maciek, diminutive for Maciej, is Mathias (the 13th Apostle, not Mathew the Evangelist). How do you say it in Slovak?
Mathias="Matej" in Slovak (we had very famous king with that name: http://referaty.atlas.sk/vseobecne_humanitne/dejepis/16597/)
Mathew=Matus

As for the rest of your questions, I am sorry but I do not know the answers, I will need to ask some of my friends, who are priests, and I will try to send you an answer as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience, have a nice day.

Tomas