I was reading an essay on Mark Aldanov in Georgii Adamovich's collection of criticism Odinochestvo i svoboda (Solitude and freedom, 1955), and in a discussion of Aldanov's novel Начало конца (1939, translated in 1943 as The Fifth Seal) he mentions a character, a "professional revolutionary," called Вислиценус [Vislitsenus]. This very odd name certainly wasn't Russian; could it be Lithuanian? Polish? I googled the transliteration and got one hit, but it provided a precious clue: "VISLITsENUS (Wislicenus)." So now I had the proper Latin-alphabet spelling, and quickly found this page, which told me everything I wanted to know about the name, which is German but of Polish origin, from the name of the town Wiślica: "Er leitet sich ab von dem Städtchen Wiślica in Polen (etwa 80 km nordöstlich von Krakau), aus dem Johannes Wislicenus I stammte." I love the internet.
For those who are interested, there's a thorough discussion of Adamovich's complicated relations with Nabokov (who nastily referred to him as "Sodomovich") here; there's another piece by Adamovich about Aldanov, a personal reminiscence, here, for those who read Russian.
Posted by languagehat at September 13, 2005 11:29 AMWislicenus -- isn't it a Latin form? At least it looks like this. The Latin name for Wi?lica is Vislicia (according to A.Jougan's dictionary).
Posted by: miram at September 13, 2005 10:08 PMYeah, it's a latinized form; the "this page" link gives other forms: Wislicen, Wisslicen, Wißlicen.
Posted by: language hat at September 13, 2005 10:18 PMI've already identified three remarkable Wislicenuses -- an astronomer, a painter, and a chemist, plus an SS officer called Dieter Wisliceni.
"Sodomovich" sounds way too crude for VVN, but in one of his Russian novels, you can find a certain Zhorzhik Uransky, "uranism" being an old and obscure term for male homosexuality.
Posted by: Alexei at September 14, 2005 01:45 AMVV could be cruder in private life than he was in print. Adamovich also turns up as Mortuus in Dar.
Posted by: language hat at September 14, 2005 07:19 AMMortus -- if you think of her as mostly Adamovich rather than Gippius (as I do) -- is quite a putdown. A soft-spoken woman critic writing under a deadly male pen name of moral virtues and the value of "human documents" as opposed to pure art -- it must have been an acerbic caricature of the limp-wristed, and generally limp Adamovich (of his literary persona, that is).
By the way, Nabokov's poems that Shrayer quotes are bad, bordering on tasteless.
Posted by: Alexei at September 14, 2005 08:56 AM