Russkij mat

[Emil Draitser]

I have done some research on the subject for my book on Russian folk
humor. First, mat in Russia is as old as Russia itself. I can refer to
Boris Uspenskii article "Istoricheskie korni russkoi expressivnoi
fraseologii". True, it was not always meant to be obscene, initially it
had
some pagan ritual roots. Secondly, not only Gogol and Pushkin admired it
in simple folks ("krepkoe russkoe slovo"), but mat was widely used
even in
polite society, by Russian aristocrats in informal gatherings (see
Gorky's memoirs about Leo Tolstoy). Today, the obscene language became a
matter of pride of at least part of intelligencia as an example of
survivability of
Russian language and Russian spirit. Substandard fraseology have been used
even in
public speeches by such refined people, as Shostakovich (on ocassion of
ill-fated putch of 1991) and Elena Bonner. As to the tendency of many
Russians to blame foreigners
(Tartars, Mongols, etc.) for contamination of their "pure" language, it is
a known phenomenon in many cultures (e.g., "French kiss," "English leave"
which in England is called "French leave", etc, etc,) (By the way, in her
book on medieval sexual mores among Slavs, Eve Levin cites the fact that in
medieval Russia what is called "French kiss" in America, the Russians
named "Tartar kiss"). In 1994, an
anthology "Russkii mat" was published under editorial directions of
Russian academicians. In it, one finds an elaborate scholarly apparatus
for studying mat and won't find any
attempt to give away to any foreigners "the pearls of Russian slovesnot'"

Emil Draitser,
Hunter College of CUNY


On Tue, 6 Feb 1996, Ernest Scatton wrote:

> Sort of tangential to the question, but....
>
> My wife's grandmother, who left Russia as a young woman about 1920 and
> who was educated in the gimnazija, insisted to the point of violence that
> the Russian language contained no obscenities. She never said where she
> thought they did come from, but she sure refused to recognize them as
> native Russian.
>
> *****************************************************************************
> Ernest Scatton                                       Germanic & Slavic Hum254
> 518-442-4224 (w)                                               UAlbany (SUNY)
> 518-482-4934 (h)                                                    Albany NY
> 518-442-4188 (fax)                                                      12222
>