merzopakost'

[J.W.]

Ottawa (Canada), Wednesday 12/5/04 10h30 EDT

It appears that the word is simply a combination of two virtually
synonymous terms (merzost' and pakost'), thereby intensifying the
effect.

While the four-volume Academy Dictionary does not list merzopakost' as a
noun, it does give merzopakostnyj as an adjective, and cites Chekhov's
use of it in "Bez mesta": "Tut proizoshlo nechto merzopakostnoe."  It is
quite possible that Kharms (as a twentieth-century writer several
decades after Chekhov) formulated the noun on the basis of its
adjectival use in Chekhov, although this is simply a conjecture on my
part.

J. Woodsworth (Slavic Research Group, University of Ottawa)

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