As if this was not enough of a slight to Ukrainians, Petrovcij's introduction offers a biting critique of the place of love in Ukrainian culture: “Of the many gifts which the Lord God so generously gave man - love, work, food, rest and others - each nation has its favorite in first place. For the Rusyn, 'love' is in first place: both spiritual – for the homeland, as well as physical – for his wife…”
“And for the Ukrainian?” Petrovcij then asks.
He then cites literary passages from the works of Ivan Kotljarevskij, Ivan Karas' and other Ukrainian writers, and concludes that “...these suffice, since there are millions of such examples which show that the Ukrainian would only eat, sleep, rest and – worst case scenario – work. But love?”
It gets worse: “When we read in English dictionaries of the world of sex about the best theoreticians and practitioners of this holy act, we are not surprised that in first place is the French, followed by the Japanese, Chinese, Jews, Abkhazians, Yakutians...but the Ukrainians are never once mentioned. But they mention Rusyns!”
Controversy ensues
Bytangüs’ki Spüvankŷ created something of a spectacle in both the local Rusyn and Ukrainian press. The Ukrainian weekly Dzerkalo Tyžnja blasted not only the book, but also Rusyns'ka Bysjida as well as Petrovcij himself. Dzerkalo saw the fact that Rusyns'ka Bysjida was publishing erotic poetry on its front page as symptom of a larger problem:
No small role is played by the weak authority of [Rusyn] leaders, incapable of adapting to the interests of young people. In attempts to attract young people's interest to the Rusyn language, many activists have gone to extravagant measures. And so, several issues of Rusyns'ka Bysjida featured erotic poetry from the book Bytangüs’ki Spüvankŷ. Rusyns'kŷj Eros, by the well-known Transcarpathian writer, Ivan Petrovcij, who is coincidentally also the paper’s editor.
The Ukrainian paper went further, saying "...already the poems (a couplet or two) have been gladly reprinted twice in the most influential of regional independent newspapers Rio. Bearing in mind the respectability of Dzerkalo Tyžnja, the poetry can only appear here in part." And so it did, with any and all offensive words censored out.
"Young people do read it with pleasure, but they are not lining up to join the Rusyn organizations," Dzerkalo Tyžnja concluded.
Given that the public face of Rusyn culture is most frequently composed of villages, wooden churches and children in delicately embroidered costumes performing folk dances set to folk music, the fact that Bytangüs’ki Spüvankŷ and Rusyns'ka Bysjida are exploring themes of sexuality and using dirty words is nothing short of shocking, not only to the Ukrainians, but also to the average Rusyn reader.
Dirty words – New additions to the Rusyn lexicon
It is true that the introduction and several of the poems were reprinted in Rusyns'ka Bysjida, thereby making it the book’s primary advertiser; symbiotically, the erotica became a major attraction to the newspaper. However, Petrovcij sees no shame in what he is doing. As far as he is concerned, there is no question that Rusyn profanities are worthwhile to document, "since the Lord God gave man every word, just as he gave them gave him every drop of his living blood," as he writes in the introduction.
Rusyn profanities, however, differ little from those of the other Slavic languages. Asked if he could come up with any distinctly Rusyn ones, one Lemko originally from Poland said "this is not only strange, but also difficult. I have asked my mother and my wife's brother and they could not come up with anything." When Lemkos swear, they use Polish.
A girl from Ruski Kerestur, in the Vojvodina, gave virtually the same answer: "I'm not even sure whether Rusyns have or had "original" swear words - I think that most of them were sort of nicely said descriptions."
In the Vojvodina, Rusyns use Serbian when they want to swear. This is a common practice throughout the former Yugoslavia, where Serbian was prized for the colorfulness and intensity of its profanities. As one Slovene journalist wrote:
Even though Yugoslavia was a land often characterized by inter-ethnic tension, swear words were one thing the national groups freely borrowed from one another. Serbs serving with Albanians in the federal army loved to swear at their girlfriends in Albanian. When Vojvodinian Slovaks, Rusyns and Hungarians swear, they only swear in Serbian, saving their own languages for more noble expression.
Accordingly, Erotica Ruthenica – Erotika Rutenika uses mostly Serbian profanities when it (rarely) feels the need to.
Nevertheless, Bytangüs’ki Spüvankŷ – and the excerpts from it published in Rusyns'ka Bysjida – is full of profanities. These dirty words are essentially the same as those used in other Slavic languages, and some of them are even found in Hungarian and Romanian.
The most frequent dirty word that appears in the poetry is the verb jebaty, “to fuck.” To describe different aspects of fucking, words like pojebaty, dojebaty, ujebaty, zjebaty, perejebaty and variations like jobnuty and jebatysja are used. The word also appears in idioms like jebi-ho, which translates as "fuck it." Derivative nouns include jeblja, jebanja, jebana (all of which mean “a fuck”) and jebak (“fucker”).
Another frequent word is pyzda, a coarse term for the female organ, along with pyča and its diminutive pyčka. While still on the topic of women’s bodies, the words cicï and cyc'ka – which both mean “tits” – should also be mentioned.
Lexicon of Rusyn Profanities
Вайца* (n. pl.) Balls (lit. eggs) (See also: Яйца).
Впадати/Впасти (v.) To get soft, to lose an erection (lit. “to fall”).
Встати (v.) To get hard, become erect (lit. “to stand up”).
To read more, click here.
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The two basic nouns for the male organ are
khuj (cock) and
puca (dick), and euphemisms include
kolbasa (kielbasa).
Khuj pops up in such idiomatic expressions as
na khuj, which refers to something that is worthless, and
khuj mu dam, which translates as “to hell with it.” The other interesting part of the male anatomy shows up as the word
jajca, but sometimes as
jajka or even
jaječkŷ – all of which refer to testicles.
One word that shows up in virtually every other poem is kurva, “whore.” Derivatives from kurva include kurvačyca (a little whore) and kurvaryty (to whore around).
Reading this, an English speaker will no doubt understand why older Ukrainians and Rusyns are so scandalized by this poetry – but at the same time younger readers will immediately see why young Rusyns in Ukraine are eating it up.
Re-imagining Rusyn language and literature
Ivan Petrovcij and his literary journal Rusyns'ka Bysjida are certainly paving new ground in Rusyn language and literature, but more importantly, they are bound to have influence on the self-image of the Rusyns themselves.
Rusyn culture since the revolutions of 1989 in much of Eastern Europe has looked backward, trying to preserve folk, religious and village traditions, while not looking far enough ahead to ensure that the culture is sustainable in the future. What use is a culture stuck in the nineteenth century in the face of globalization, which is hastening a process of international homogenization? If Rusyns want to ensure that their young remain Rusyns and do not assimilate into a larger – sexier – group, clearly work such as Petrovcij’s is not only necessary but crucial.
Petrovcij’s publication of Rusyn erotica and Rusyn profanities puts a new spin on the image of the Rusyn as a demure, folksy, religious figure and should help attract the interest of more young people than a collection of poetry about sheep, wooden churches and mountain pastures ever would. Even while Dzerkalo Tyžnja accused Petrovcij of pandering to younger audiences, it did point out that young people were in fact reading the poetry. Laughing at it, perhaps, but reading it nonetheless.
Although Petrovcij’s introduction does not point this out, it does bear mention that aside from Pushkin and the other Russian poets included in the book, many other important Slavic poets, such as Slovenia's France Prešeren and Serbia's Vuk Karađić, have left similar writings.
Perhaps it is not wrong to compare Ivan Petrovcij to such great literary figures, but according to Bytangüs'ki Spüvankŷ, Rusyns'kŷj Eros, Petrovcij sees his role somewhat differently:
| У русинськüм нашüм дiлi | In our Rusyn task |
| Я роль яйць маву. | I have the role of ball. |
| Хоть у пизду ни блiзаву, | Though I never come close to a cunt, |
| Та в роботï помагаву. | I help the work along. |
bp@rusynmedia.orgJuly 21, 2003
Sources
Rusyns'ka Bysjida. Various issues. Užhorod, 1997-2001.
Ivan Petrovcij. Bytangüs'ki Spüvankŷ, Rusyns'kŷj Eros. Užhorod, 2001.
Erotica Ruthenica - Erotika Rutenika: Zbornjik erotskih pripovedkoh, pisn’oh, aneqdotoh, beren’oh, zahadoh, juhoslavjanskih rusnacoh. Sekcija za skarb Družtva za ruski jazik i literatura, Novi Sad, 1995.
Links
Ivan Petrovcij’s Website
Konstjantyn Losyk, "Narod je - Nacional'nosti Nemaje, abo Dejaki Dani pro Pidkarpats'kykh Rusyniv," in Dzerkalo Tyžnja
Bernard Nežmah, "Fuck this Article: The Yugoslav lexicon of swear words" in Central Europe Review
The Alternative Dictionaries
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