Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0015365, Sun, 15 Jul 2007 18:45:41 -0400

Subject
QUERY: Pushkin and Russian slang for "gonorrhea"
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[EDNOTE. This query seems unrelated to Nabokov and could lead to further non-Nabokovian etymological and venereal meanderings, so please send your responses directly to Alexey. Thanks! -- SES]

Dear erudites,

Can anyone tell me what is the vulgar Russian term for "gonorrhea" (NB: the word I need is not "tripper"!)? It was used by Pushkin in his letter of Oct. 27, 1819, to Mansurov: "U Yur'eva kh..... slava bogu, zdarov - u menia otkryvaetsia malen'koy; i to khorosho..." So the word in quetion begins with "kh", consists apparently of six letters and is a masculine noun. Unfortunately, all Russian/Soviet editions of Pushkin's correspondence are too puritanic to provide more information. My interest is purely scientific (actually, I'm looking for the Russian equivalent of the good old English "clap").

Thank you in advance,
Alexey
<skylark05@mail.ru>

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