Meaning of "Literator"

[ewb2 at CORNELL.EDU]

According to N.M.Shanskii, Etimologicheskii slovar' russkogo iazyka,
vypusk 9 (ed. A.F.Zhuravlev i N,M,Shanskii), Moscow: MGU 1999,
"literator" used to have the additional meaning "scholar of literature"
and then this meaning became archaic and the word "literaturoved"
(first attested in 1938 in Ushakov's
dictionary) displaced it. See the entries for the two words on p. 121
and 122. Perhaps that's what Brik meant?
Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
Morrill Hall 220, Cornell University
Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)
fax 607-255-2044 (write FOR W. BROWNE)
e-mail ewb2 at cornell.edu



On Sun, 9 Mar 2003, Natasha Kurchanova wrote:

> Dear Seelangs' Members:
>
> I am a Ph.D. candidate at CUNY working on my dissertation on Osip Brik -- a
> critic, writer, editor, and Maiakovsky's friend.  In connection with my
> work on one chapter, I need your help in figuring out history of the word
> "literator," which he used to describe his activity in the late 1920s.  In
> Dal's dictionary (1914 edition), a separate entry for the word is absent,
> instead there is one for "litera," an archaism for "bukva".  "Literator" is
> a subentry of "litera" and given three meanings: "slovesnik, pisatel',
> sochinitel'," two of which are also archaisms. In the dictionary of the
> Soviet Academy of Sciences (1957 edition), "literator" is given a separate
> entry and defined as "a person who is engaged in literary work, writer, or
> a publicist."  As example of its usage, the Academy of Sciences dictionary
> provides quotes from Lenin and Gorky, who both call themselves
> "literators".  My question is:  was the word rarely used before the
> revolution and then became popular after 1917, when its connotation of
> current, politically oriented writing became more acceptable?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Natasha Kurchanova
> 324 West 83d Street
> New York, New York 10024
>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                  http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------