Meaning of "Literator"

[Melissa Frazier]

Dear Natasha,

I can tell you that the word is widely used in the literary journals of the
1830's, so, no, I don't think the word is a Soviet-ism.

Melissa Frazier


At 06:30 PM 3/9/2003 -0500, you 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
>
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