Grossman - Mama - teryat' v vese

[greniers at GEORGETOWN.EDU]

With all respect to the Russian saying "'khudozhnik' ot slova 'khudo'", xudožnik is actually not derived from xudo.  It is formed from an archaic adjective xudog- 'skillful', well-attested in Old Church Slavonic and Old East Slavic, which was borrowed from Gothic *handags 'skilled' (cognate with English hand, handy).  By contrast, xudoj is an inherited (Proto-Slavic) lexeme *ksoud-, cognate with words in Sanskrit and Greek that convey negative evaluations.  The association between 'thinness' and 'starving artists' is a charming folk etymology.

Daniel E. Collins

Thank you for the enlightening etymologies!  "Xudozhnik ot slova xudo" is not said about starving artists, however, but of "bad artists." As far as I remember, it was used by various teachers to speak of misbehaving pupils as well as by Soviet newspapers to speak of "politically incorrect" artists.  I may be wrong in my memories, and would welcome others' opinions.

Svetlana Grenier

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