snoxa

[John Dingley]

To the best of my knowledge, all major Russian-Russian
dictionaries gloss "snoxa" in the same way that Ozhegov does:

"Zhena syna po otnosheniju k ego otcu."

However, I have heard Russians use this term for relatives other
than that given above.  For instance,  I posed this question to
a friend of mine, who was born and bred and has lived all her
life in St. Petersburg where, until recently, she taught Russian
to foreigners.  Here is her reply:

>mne kazhetsja, chto my upotrebljaem sejchas eto slovo shire.
>Eto voobshche zhena syna (i po otnosheniju k ego materi tozhe).
>I dazhe zhena brata (dlja ego sestry ili brata), t.e.
>sinonimichno "nevestke".  Vozmozhno, chto eto nevernoe
>upotreblenie slova, no ego tak upotrebljajut!

Any comment?

John Dingley

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