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The spelling of apparatchik
Leonard K. wrote:
It’s apparatchik, not apparatchNik. I know it’s not a typo since you’ve used it repeatedly.
LA replied:
Are you sure? But then, one would have to call Jack Kerouac a “Beatik.” One would have to call the former Anatoly Sharansky a “Refusik.”
LA continued:
I did a check on the Web, and you appear to be correct, though the spelling with the “n” is also rather common, I guess lots of people are making the same mistake as me.
However, to my ear, it just sounds better with the “n,” it has more “oomph.”
Can we perhaps have an alternative spelling with the “n” for American English, so it rhymes with beatnik? :-)
Leonard wrote back:
To a native Russian speaker like myself, “apparatchNik” makes no sense, and, besides, is almost impossible to pronounce.
“Apparatchik” is constructed by appending the Russian suffux “chik” to the root “apparat.”
“Beatnik” is made of the English root “beat” and the Russian suffix “nik”; similar with “refusenik.”
LA:
I see. I’ll have to adjust. Thank you.
However, from my point of view, one thing has been gained. Now “Joshua Muravchik” and “apparatchik” rhyme perfectly.
By the way, what is the difference of meaning between “chik” and “nik”?
Leonard replies:
This is both funny and sad. Muravchik, meaning “one from Moravia,” is one of about 30 rabbinical families whose members have been heads of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe for hundreds of years.
But the most “prominent” Muravchik today has degenerated from a rabbi to an apparatchik.
LA replies:
I love the way you completed my joke. I didn’t know any of that about him. I previously have referred to him as an apparatchnik, with an “n,” because of his Soviet-like speech patterns and personal mien and ideology, which, while he calls it “neoconservatism,” is a pure form of leftism. I wrote in November:
Another neocon regular, Joshua (“The Apparatchnik”) Muravchik of AEI, is trying to buck up the neocon troops in the autumn of their discontent. He issues a neoconservative credo, in the form of a memo to his fellow neocons, that shows he hasn’t learnt a thing from the events of the past few years:
“The essential tenets of neoconservatism—belief that world peace is indivisible, that ideas are powerful, that freedom and democracy are universally valid, and that evil exists and must be confronted—are as valid today as when we first began.”
… It is certainly the case that neoconservatism as defined by Muravchik has no overlap with anything traditionally or recognizably American. He doesn’t even pretend to situate neoconservatism within an American context.
Maureen C. writes:
“Apparatchik” has nothing to do with the words beatnik or refusenik. From beginning to end, apparatchik is a complete Russian word—ending in the Russian ‘ik’ suffix. It is not a hybrid English-Russian (Yiddish?) word but a pure Russian word that has been wholly borrowed, the way we borrow other Russian words, like tsar or samovar.
Leonard writes:
You wrote:
But you haven’t told me what is the difference of meaning between “chik” and “nik.”
In our feminized society, there isn’t much difference between a chick and a Nick.
Seriously, -chik and -nik are just two out of many Russian suffixes used to derive nouns that refer to people. I don’t see a pattern which suffix is used in which case; perhaps it depends on how well the compound will sound. In some cases, both -chik and -nik are used, but with different meanings, e.g:
soviet = advice;
sovietnik = advisor (official title);
sovietchik = one who gives an advice (often used with a negative or ironic connotation);
antisovietchik = one who opposed the Soviet regime. In the Communist propaganda jargon, antisovietchik is the negative counterpart of the English word “dissident.” However, there is no “antisovetnik.”
In “apparatchik,” “apparat” is the root, and -chik is the suffix. There is no such suffix as -chnik.
I think the West’s fascination with -nik started in 1957, when the Soviets launched the first “sputnik.” Then, English speakers started to use the suffix by appending it to English roots, like in “beatnik.”
“Refusenik” is a weird word; it would be more accurate to say “denynik” because it’s one who is denied permission to emigrate, rather than one who refuses to emigrate.
LA replies:
Thanks,
I agree “refusenik” is a silly word, since it doesn’t refer to something they were doing, but something that was being done to them.
And you’re right, it began with Sputnik, which led to beatnik.
Maureen C. sends this entry from Random House “Word of the Day” page on the suffix “-nik”:
Jeff McDonald writes:
I heard someone once explain that words ending in “-nik” like “beatnik” are a result of news of the Soviets launching the first satellite “Sputnik.” “-nik” became a colloquial suffix to words meaning something not the norm. But on the original cast recording of “Guys and Dolls,” Robert Alda sings “I’m just a nogoodnik” in the song “Sue Me.” This predates “Sputnik” by almost ten years.
The suffix -nik has one origin and another popularizer.
-nik is a suffix used to form nouns that refer, usually derisively, to a person who espouses a cause, represents an attitude, or is an ardent enthusiast of the thing indicated by the initial element. A typical example is the late-1950s neatnik ‘a person who is overly neat’.
The suffix -nik is derived from Yiddish, where it is used to form personal nouns; it is ultimately from Slavic languages that were in contact with Yiddish. There are various words using the -nik suffix that are much earlier than Sputnik. To choose three examples, all-rightnik, meaning ‘a smug, nouveau riche person’, is first recorded in 1918 and is found a number of times before Sputnik; no-goodnik ‘a worthless person; good-for-nothing’ dates from the 1930s (and is possibly based on or influenced by Russian negódnik in the same sense); and the nonce word real-estatenik is found in Jewish-English use in the 1920s.
The Russian satellite Sputnik, launched in 1957, has the same last element that is the source of the Yiddish -nik; the word literally means ‘traveling companion’, from elements meaning ‘together’ and ‘way; route’, and the agentive suffix -nik. The launch of Sputnik was a huge news event in the United States, and help spur America’s own space efforts and an educational emphasis on math and science. The popularity of the word Sputnik helped establish -nik in American English; the most notable early example was beatnik, coined by the late San Franciso newspaperman Herb Caen early in 1958 from Beat Generation and -nik. Some other, post-Sputnik uses include peacenik, artnik, nuclear-freezenik, (video) arcadenik, and filmnik.
LA writes:
How could I have forgotten “I’m just a no-goodnik”? I grew up listening to the original cast recordings of the great Broadway musicals. “Guys and Dolls” opened on Broadway in 1950, seven years before Sputnik. Still, as the article makes clear, the “nik” suffix did not acquire mainstream currency until after Sputnik. Herb Caen’s coinage was inspired.
Also, I forgot that “nik” was not the only Yiddishism in that song. Here’s the verse from the 1955 movie script, which, amazingly, keeps the Yiddishism from the original Broadway production. The gambler Nathan Detroit is replying to his fiancé, the singer Adelaide, who is very displeased with him:
All right already,
I’m just a no-goodnik,
All right already,
It’s true, So nu?
So sue me, sue me,
What can you do me?
I love you.
Leonard writes:
Who knew that my innocent “friendly correction” would provoke such a lively exchange! I enjoyed it and learned a lot myself. Thanks!
Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 24, 2007 12:34 AM | Send
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