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Russian No-nouns Posted by on Jan 31, 2012 in language, Russian for beginners

 

This post’s idea comes from Richard who mentioned that he was confused by the noun нежить (lit: the undead) that he encountered reading Nabokov’s story “The Wood Sprite”. Indeed, the noun нежить (undead) sounds exactly like the verb нежить (to pamper), but the meanings of the two words couldn’t be more different. False cognates strike again!

As you’ve undoubtedly realized by now, the noun нежить is related to the verb жить (to live). In fact, one of the definitions of the word нежить is всё, что не живёт человеком, что живёт без души и без плоти, но в виде человека… (everything that is not a human being, that lives without soul and flesh, but in human likeness). Simply put нежить не живёт и не умирает (the undead neither live nor die).

This would be a good post for Halloween, don’t you think?

There are quite a few nouns in the Russian language that are formed according to the same principle as нежить:

Неуч (ignoramus) is someone who не учится (does not study). So a teacher might scold нерадивый ученик (lazy, negligent student): А ты, Петров, как был неучем, так им и останешься (And you, Petrov, have always been an ignoramus and will remain such forever).

Нелюдим (misanthrope) is someone who не с людьми (is not around other people, a loner). Я думала, что мой начальник меня терпеть не может, а он просто нелюдим. (I thought my boss hated my guts, but he’s just a misanthrope).

Недруг (enemy) is someone who is не друг (not a friend) as in the old saying без недруга веку не изжить (can’t live out one’s life without having an enemy).

Незнайка (a know-nothing) literally не знает (does not know) much. It is a character from a popular children’s book that also features a character named Знайка (the know-it-all). An adult know-nothing is невежда since he or she не ведает (does not know). Невежда is an old-fashioned word much like the word it came from, ведать (to know).

Somewhat confusingly, the alike-sounding невежа (a boor) is someone who is не вежливый (is not polite). As this quote from Приключения Незнайки и его друзей (Adventures of Know-Nothing and His Friends) shows: Если … какой-нибудь малыш даже скажет обидное слово малышке, то над ним все смеялись и говорили, что он невоспитанный невежа, который незнаком с самыми простыми правилами приличного поведения. (If… a boy were to say rude words to a girl, then all would laugh at him and say that he was an ill-mannered boor, unfamiliar with even the simplest rules of proper behavior.)

Недоделка is an unfinished item, something that is не доделано (is not completely done). Another good word is недоработка, something that is not up to standard yet. Я – человек быстро увлекающийся и легко отвлекающийся, так что у меня больше недоделок, чем поделок. (I am quick to get into something, yet easily distracted.  As a result, I have more unfinished projects/crafts than finished ones.)

Невольник is a rather высокопарный (highfaluting) word that means someone who lacks воля (free will, freedom). In other words, it’s a slave. The most famous line that uses this word is probably the opening of Lermontov’s poem: Погиб поэт! – невольник чести… (The poet’s dead! – a slave to honor…)

Неурядица is probably my most favorite word in this list. Sure, its meaning isn’t all that pleasant – trouble, woe, confusion. But it comes from the word ряд (here: order, harmony). The old Russian уряд (order, rule) is no longer used, but порядок (order) is as popular as ever. После длительной череды финансовых неурядиц Росавиация аннулировала сертификат «Авиановы» (After a long streak of financial trouble, Rosaviatsiya (Federal Air Transportation agency) withdrew Avianova’s (Russian low-cost air carrier) certificate.

This is not исчерпывающий список (an exhaustive list) of Russian не (no) words. Feel free to add more. And if you have a question, let me know and I’ll blog you the answer (or at least something entertaining and educational).

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Comments:

  1. David Roberts:

    Seeing the verb нежить (to pamper) – from which we get the adjective нежный (tender) reminds me of a northern English dialect word “nesh”, which is used to mean “soft” in the sense intolerant of discomfort, like a child who complains about it being cold when the other children are out playing in the snow. The mother would say “don’t be so nesh, go out and make snowballs”.

    Cognates or coincidence?

  2. Sarahjane:

    Спасибо, Елена, за очень интересный мне список. ))

  3. Richard:

    A very nice post Yelena, thanks! The flexibility of the Russian language always amazes me! Between you and Sarahjane I think I finally understand the noun нежить.

    This link which I’m posting has nothing to do with anything we’ve been discussing, but that never stopped me before! LOL This is a link to the past, these are colour pictures taken across Russia between 1905 and 1915. The colour is real, the photos have not been retouched, the photographer used a special technique utilizing RGB (red-green-blue) lens filters. These pictures are truly breathtaking and I hope everyone enjoys them: http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2009/10/21/color-photography-from-russian-in-the-early-1900s/544/

    If you look closely, you might just see a леший smiling in the forest background…

  4. Minority:

    I wouldn’t say that нелюдимый человек is a misanthrope, ’cause misanthrope hates mankind. Нелюдимый человек is an unsociable person, may be introvert, he prefers to stay alone.

    And what about verb “нежить”.. I didn’t understand what’re you talking about. But then I got it. We do not use this verb in this form, it’s an archaism. But we use word “нежиться” [to loll, to lounge; to luxuriate], for example – “По выходным я люблю понежиться в кровати.” [I like to have a lie-in on weekend]

  5. Richard:

    Hi Minority!

    The whole thing with нежить (the noun, not the verb) started because I read a story by Nabokov that I felt somehow involved the words нежить and леший. I got a little confused over the meaning of the two words…okay, more than a little confused! 😉

    I believe that getting confused is the best way to learn; I’ve been confused all my life and it’s actually worked out pretty good! LOL

    At any rate, all’s well that ends well – всё хорошо!

  6. Bill:

    To David: I poked around a bit and found this etymology for “nesh”: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=nesh

    So it appears to be a happy coincidence.

  7. David Roberts:

    Richard, those photo’s really are breathtaking. Many thanks for sharing them.

    Bill, disappointing there’s no connection between nesh and нежить, but I’m not mard about it.

    Русские друзья – how many words do you have for brush? I’ve founnd кисть, щётка, метла, веник. Do they all have different nuances. I think кисть is what you’d paint with, щётка is what you’d sweep a floor with, but what would you brush your hair with and what would you do with метла or веник?

  8. Minority:

    David, кисть is what you’d paint with.
    We’re brushing our hair with расческа (it’s a common name for all types of hairbrushes) or гребень (comb).

    Метла is a broom. Веник is shorter than метла and do not have wooden handle. it looks like that

    What about щётка, it’s the hardest word in this list, ’cause it may refer to lots of things: паркетная щетка, зубная щетка [toohbrush], щетка для обуви, для одежды, для посуды, для чего-нибудь еще[brush for cleaning your shoes/clothes, washing dishes, for something else] …

  9. Sarahjane:

    Richard, those photos are amazing. I can only echo David- they’re breath-taking!

    Minority, спасибо огромное за объяснение про brushes. Летает ли ведьма на метле? Я и не знала. Пора мне читать The Master and Margarita в подлиннике. ))

  10. David Roberts:

    Спасибо Наташа за объяснением про brushes. It comes back to me now – isn’t веник what is used in the bathhouse to stimulate the circulation? The one I really was after is similar shape and size to паркетная щетка, but with a long handle – about 1.5 metre.

  11. Victor:

    Уточнение: существительное нежить является собирательным, singularia tantum, а все остальные существительные на не- в этом посте — конкретные существительные.

    • yelena:

      @Victor Victor, this is a great point. Another собирательное существительное (collective noun) that is similar is нечисть (evil spirits) that comes from не чистый (the unclean). Any other собирательные существительные that start with не- that you can think of?