Meaning of "Literator"

[Lauren Leighton]

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Natasha Kurchanova
Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 5:30 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Meaning of "Literator"


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,"

Natasha Kurchanova


***********
In his Vysokoe iskusstvo Kornei Chukovsky mentions that Lenin once said
something to the effect that "nashi literatory" are overly prone to use
foreign words. Chukovsky's point is that the word entered into usage so
common that even a literate (pun intended) person did not consciously
recognize its non-native derivation. Chukovsky illustrates the point with
another example: when a child asks its mother what his meant by the word
"zodchii," mama replies that it is the same as our (Russian) word
"arkhitektor." I don't know whether this is helpful, but it sounds like the
sort of lingistic quirks that Mayakovsky and company played around with.



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