in the city of N

[J P Maher]

Not French, but Latin.  Though "nomen nescio" is often cited, it makes less sense than "nomen nominandum -name to be named". Doesn't  mean 'I don't know'. 
The gerund(ive) means "to be announced". Cf "agenda - things to be done"...See addendum addend multiplicand dividend subtrahend stipend, Italian "mutande - things to be changed (underwear)", mutandine (ladie's undies).etc. 


________________________________
 From: Alina Israeli <aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Sent: Monday, November 4, 2013 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] in the city of N
 


N or even NN for a city or person meant that 'we will not disclose the name, it's anonymous, it's any name'. I think it comes from French, at least French authors have been doing it plenty in 19th century.

S and other abbreviations are more transparent: S — Saratov, O — Orel 

Перед
раскрытым окном красивого дома, в одной
из крайних улиц губернского города О... (Дворянское гнездо)
And since we all know that Turgenev is from Orlovskaya guberniya we can decipher it. 

In "Дама с собачкой" it's gorod S. which is Saratov, I believe.




On Nov 4, 2013, at 9:19 AM, Michele A Berdy wrote:

Dear SEELANGers
>An internet friend with an engaging blog called LanguageHat posed a question a few days ago that I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know the answer to and in fact never thought to ask. He asked why Russian authors writing about provincial cities called them “N” (or S, etc.). Beyond “it’s a convention” and “it gives an air of verisimilitude” – I have no idea. Where did this convention come from? Has anyone written about this?
> 
>The second question that followed: can anyone think of pre-revolutionary Russian fiction about provincial cities (other than St. Petersburg and Moscow) where the city is identified?
>Many thanks!
>Michele Berdy
> 
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Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
WLC, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu




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