Plutocrat

[Olga Meerson]

Plutokrat has a kind of symbolic transparency that false etymologies often betray, and poets, exploit--because of the word "plut", ranging in meaning from a picaro or swindler, to something rougher. In the meaning of a semi-endearing but potentially ominous cunning, it appears alreay in Krylov--i.e., in 18th C spoken Russian. Perhaps much earlier. Oligarkh, on the other hand, is neither that loaded nor  transparent in that peculiar way of punning "etymologies". False and folk etymologies are EXTREMELY important for what catches in the language and what does not. Apart from being learned, a Slavist (or any other philologist) also must have a poetic ear. 
o.m.

----- Original Message -----
From: Kirsty McCluskey <kirsty.mccluskey at GMAIL.COM>
Date: Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:30 am
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] SEELANGS Digest - 18 Aug 2008 to 19 Aug 2008 (#2008-299)

> I wish I could provide an answer, but all I can do is confirm that 
> in all my
> far too extensive reading of Trotsky (the consummate coiner of 
> phrases) I
> never saw him use the word oligarch.  Neither do I recall its use 
> by any of
> his predecessors or contemporaries in the denunciation of the 
> overly rich.
> Plutocrat sounds far more familiar, and, as you point out, it is in 
> fact the
> right term.  Perhaps this use of "oligarch" is relatively new?
> 
> Kirsty McCluskey
> 
> On Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 11:18 AM, STEPHEN PEARL 
> <sbpearl1 at verizon.net>wrote:
> > 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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