Sportsmen

[John Dunn]

Mrs Garnett reflects the usage of her time (or perhaps a little before her time), but the example demonstrates how the meaning of both sportsman and спортсмен [sportsmen] has changed since the appearance of the latter in around 1859.  The question is: did the shift in meaning happen independently in the two languages or was there a re-borrowing, perhaps in the early years of the last century, when there was a strong British influence on the development of organised sport (as understood by Hugh Mclean's students) in Russia? 

John Dunn.

-----Original Message-----
From: Hugh McLean <hmclean at BERKELEY.EDU>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2010 09:52:27 -0700
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Etymology of the words ???????, ??????,  ?????????

Re "sportsmen." I remember teaching Turgenev's Zapiski Oxotnika, 
translated by Mrs. Garnett as "A Sportsman's Sketches."  Students 
thought it would be about an athlete and were disappointed.

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John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
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Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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