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GW2RU

Words invented by Russian writers

Kira Lisitskaya (Photo: Science Museum/Global Look Press, Christian Handl, Erwin Streit/imageBROKER.com/Global Look Press)
Russian writers not only introduced words from other languages ​​into literary speech, but also created their own, which are still used today.

‘Goloshtanniy’

Nikolai Petrov/Sputnik

Considered one of the main poets of the revolution, Vladimir Mayakovsky easily constructed new words based on old, already known ones and created even his own – for the “new world”. For example, he came up with ‘многопудье’ or ‘mnogopudye’ (that is, many poods),  ‘бесконечночасый’ (‘beskonechnochasy’) – that is, having no time frame. Mayakovsky called ballet ‘дрыгоножества’ (‘drygonozhestva’). Some words do not even require explanation, for example: ‘стодомный’ (‘stodomny’) – this refers to a multitude of residential buildings. Or ‘голоштанный’ (‘goloshtanniy’; ‘bare pants’), about the poverty of the people. Mayakovsky also came up with the most vivid metaphor associated with the Soviet passport – “молоткастый и серпастый” (“molotkastiy i serpastiy”) or “with hammer and sickle”. The USSR coat of arms with a hammer and sickle was, indeed, depicted on the cover of the main civil document.

The poet also came up with a phraseological unit that is still used in everyday speech: “ежу понятно” (“ezhu ponyatno”) or “it’s clear to a hedgehog”. This is how they call something obvious that does not require any additional explanation: “It’s clear even to a hedgehog – this Petya was a bourgeois!”

‘Stushevatsa’, ‘limonnichat’

Public domain

Author of ‘Crime and Punishment’ Fyodor Dostoevsky, meanwhile, gave the Russian language several dozen new words. In the story ‘The Double’, the word ‘стушеваться’ (‘stushevatsa’; ‘to fade away’) first appears. The writer uses it to mean “to leave unnoticed”, but, over time, this word began to be used in relation to a person who, for some reason, became embarrassed or timid.

Dostoevsky also coined the word ‘лимонничать’ (‘limonnichat’), that is, to be excessively polite, affected. The writer was inspired to create it by an already existing similar word ‘миндальничать’ (‘mindalnichat’), which means that a person is behaving obsessively affectionately and sentimentally towards someone else. In the story ‘The Village of Stepanchikovo and Its Inhabitants’, the main protagonist reasons: “Why should our brother know French, why? To ‘limonnichat’ with young ladies in a mazurka dance, to ‘apelsinnichat’ with other people’s wives? Debauchery – nothing more!”

‘Myagkotely’

Tretyakov gallery

Writer Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin also used words that he invented himself. For example, he started calling a weak-willed person, susceptible to any influence, ‘мягкотелый’ (‘myagkotely’; ‘soft-bodied’, ‘spineless’). It’s believed that the author of ‘The History of a Town’ also began to use the word ‘халатный’ (‘khalatniy’; ‘negligent’) to mean ‘careless’, ‘inattentive to details’.

‘Gradusnik’

Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg

Outstanding scientist, inventor, poet Mikhail Lomonosov was also one of the most famous inventors of words. Moreover, he was led to this by scientific necessity – to give names to physical phenomena and instruments. While translating Christian Wolff's physics textbook into Russian, he was forced to look for analogs or invent new terms. Among them are ‘градусник’ (‘gradusnik’; ‘thermometer’), ‘вещество’ (‘veshestvo’; ‘substance’), ‘диаметр’ (‘diameter’), ‘кислота’ (‘kislota’; ‘acid’) and others.

‘Samolet’, ‘bezdar’

Public domain

We owe the appearance of these words to poet Igor Severyanin, author of the famous poem ‘Pineapples in Champagne’. He used the word ‘бездарь’ (‘bezdar’; ‘talentless’) with the stress on the second syllable and in the feminine gender in relation to people who did not have talent and in the meaning of a faceless crowd. Severyanin was also the first to use the word ‘самолет’ (‘samolet’; ‘airplane’) to designate an aircraft. Previously, it was found only in the pages of fairy tales, for example, Ivan Tsarevich flying on a magic carpet.

‘Letchik’

Sputnik

A ‘летун’ (‘letun’; ‘pilot’) is how those who controlled an airplane were called before poet Velimir Khlebnikov. However, he came up with a new word that is still used today. By the way, he was one of the first, along with Alexander Blok, to use the expression “атомная бомба” (“atomic bomb”). Before them, the bomb was “atomicheskaya”.