"to play the devil's advocate": a Russian equivalent?

[John Dunn]

It is difficult, though not quite impossible to find a Russian equivalent phrase listed in any work of reference, but I did come across aдвокат дьявола listed (alongside the Latin) in:
И.А. Уолш [Walshe],* В.П. Берков, Русско-английский словарь крылатых слов, М., Русский язык, 1984, p. 26.  

The absence of the phrase (in either Russian or Latin) from Mikhel'son's Ходячие и меткие слова seems to confirm that the phrase is a twentieth-century borrowing.  I am somewhat intrigued by the (English) definitions given in Walshe and Berkov's book: 'a) a wicked person, the devil himself in a human form; b) an extremely severe critic; a person who never has a good word to say about anyone.'  To me both of those are rather unexpected: I would have thought that a devil's advocate, both literally and figuratively, is someone who tests the validity of a proposition by ensuring that all the counter-arguments are heard and considered.  Can it be, therefore, that on the rare occasions on which the phrase is used in Russian its meaning is different from that found in West European languages?      

John Dunn.

*Do not be misled by the surname: she is Irina Alekseevna.    

________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Alina Israeli [aisrael at AMERICAN.EDU]
Sent: 17 April 2014 21:17
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] "to play the devil's advocate": a Russian equivalent?

I totally agree with Jules. And as it transpired from Gasan's message, it is rather new, as expressions go. What is old is saying about someone who is contrarian that дух противоречия в него вселился.

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