SEELANGS Digest - 18 Aug 2008 to 19 Aug 2008 (#2008-299)

[STEPHEN PEARL]

Brian Mason's raising of the topic of "Oligarchs" provides me with a welcome peg on which to hang and vent a long-standing - and long suppressed -  gripe.
   
   It also confirms the fact that the use of the word "oligarchs" in the Russian media  to describe the major beneficiaries of "prikhvatizatsiya" ["grabitization"] has become far too deeply entrenched for the rot to be stopped. 
   
   The question is how and why did this fairly learned  Greek word come to be chosen for the purpose rather than another which much more aptly describes the phenomenon in question, namely "plutocrat". After all, the connotation of "oligarch" is that of "a few" keeping "power" in their own - collective- hands. As far as I know, there was never a suggestion even by their detractors that the Russian "oligarchs" were in some kind of group conspiracy to capture and keep political power.  "Plutocrat", on the other hand, precisely connotes and highlights the connection between wealth and power.
   
  . Forgive me if I sound grouchy about this, but I guess that a classical education has left me with some extra-sensitive nerve endings.
   
  When was "oligarch" first used for this purpose in the Russian media and by whom? Does anyone know?  As to why? An answer to that would be far too much to expect. 
   
  I don't exclude the possibility that the word "oligarch" has a history of use for similar purposes in Russian that predates the current generation of Russian plutocrats? 
   
          Any balm to those abraded nerve endings would be most welcome.  Stephen Pearl
   
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