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Post by memtennis on Nov 14, 2008 1:39:02 GMT 3
I am from the US and admit that I don't have a lot of knowledge on Russian customs so I was wondering if some of you could tell me about the "nicknames" like Misha, Sasha, Dasha, etc. How do you know which name to give someone? I know this is probably silly but I can't keep track of who is who!
Also, I was wondering if Annie is really Russian? Your English is so perfect!
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Post by annie on Nov 14, 2008 5:53:44 GMT 3
hi, hmm..you can find a lot of stuff about russia in a thread called "Learning Russian and Stuff About Russia" on page 2 of the personal discussion board...I think youll find answers to your questions there...
As for admin Annie, yes, she's really Russian.
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Post by memtennis on Nov 17, 2008 20:00:37 GMT 3
Thanks... I will check out that thread.
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marti
Junior Member
Posts: 103
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Post by marti on Nov 17, 2008 23:08:41 GMT 3
It's not really nicknames, it's diminutives
from wikipedia -
Russian has a wide variety of diminutive forms for names, to the point that for non-Russian speakers it can be difficult to connect a nickname to the original. Diminutive forms for nouns are usually distinguished with -ik, -ok (-yok) (masculine gender), -chk-, -shk-, -on’k- or -en’k- suffixes. For example, "voda" (âîäà;, "water") becomes "vodichka" (âîäè÷êà, "little water"), "kot" (êîò, "male cat") becomes "kotik" (êîòèê), "koshka" (êîøêà, "female cat") becomes "koshechka" (êîøå÷êà), "solntse" (ñîëíöå, "sun", neuter) becomes "solnyshko" (ñîëíûøêî). Often there are many diminutive forms: "mama" (ìàìà, "mom") becomes "mamochka" (ìàìî÷êà), "mamen’ka" (ìàìåíüêà), etc.
A number of diminutives have a separate and sometimes metaphoric meaning; the word "vodka" ("âîäêà") literally means "little water", and "limonka" ("ëèìîíêà", "little lemon") can signify a pear or a hand grenade.
Adjectives and adverbs can also have diminutive forms with suffix -en’k-: "siniy" (ñèíèé, "blue") becomes "sinen’kiy" (ñèíåíüêèé), "bystro" (áûñòðî, "quickly") becomes "bystren’ko" (áûñòðåíüêî). Some diminutives of proper names, among many others:
Andrei - Andryusha, Andryushka, Andryushechka
Mikhail - Misha, Mishka, Mishen’ka, Mishechka
Dmitrii - Dima, Mitya, Dimka, Dimushka, Dimochka, Mityushka, Mityenka
Aleksei - Alyosha, Lyosha, Alyoshka, Lyoshka
Aleksandr - Sasha, Sashka, Sashen’ka
Nikolai - Kolya, Kol’ka
Pyotr - Petya, Pet’ka
Vladimir - Volodya, Vova, Vovka
Sergei - Seryozha, Seryozhka
Yevgeniya - Zhenya, Zhen’ka
Anastasia - Nastia, Nastenka
Anna - Anya, An’ka, Anichka, Anushka
Yekaterina - Katya, Katyusha, Katenka, Kat’ka, Katichka
Natalya - Natasha, Natashka, Natashechka
Aleksandra - Sasha, Sashka, Sahenk’ka, Sashechka
Irina - Ira, Irka, Irochka
Viktoria - Vika
Tatyana - Tanya, Tan’ka, Tanechka
Yevgeniya - Zhenya, Zhen’ka, Zhenechka
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Post by memtennis on Nov 17, 2008 23:34:06 GMT 3
Very interesting. Thanks!!
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