medved' and kul't lichnosti

[Michael M Brewer]

Seelangers,

I have a couple of unrelated questions that I can't seem to find answers
to.  If you have any information, you may respond on or off  the list, as
you see fit.

The first question has to do with the word "medved'."  I heard somewhere
(it seems from a reliable source) that the early Slavs or Russians had a
different word for "bear" but began using the more metaphorical "one who
knows where the honey is," due to the superstition that pronouncing the
name of the beast might somehow conjure it up.  Is this true?  If so,
where is it documented?  Are there other such superstitions in early (or
contemporary) Slavic/Russian culture (fear to write/speak the name of a
deity or malevolent force)?

The second question has to do with the term "kul't lichnosti."  Does
anyone know when it was first used and by whom?  Did it come out of
Khrushchev's 1956 "Secret Speech"?

Thanks in advance,

mb

Michael Brewer                  e-mail  mmbst35+ at pitt.edu
Department of Slavic Languages  fax     1-412-624-9714
1417 Cathedral of Learning      voice   1-412-661-4722
Pittsburgh, PA 15260