[FPSPACE] Lunik, Venik, and Marsnik

[Mark Wade]

The most intriguing thing I found out in my brief Googling on the
topic was that Marsnik, perhaps never used in the 1960's, now found
roots in English thanks to Wikipedia and has now is starting to
transfer over to Russian.

I agree it is still possible that Lunik transferred over to Russian,
since Kamanin doesn't use it until 1963. The post-2000 transfer of
Marsnik from English over to Russian would tend to support that...

In general, the NIE's use more 'pop culture' designations for Russian
stuff in the late 1950's and early 1960's (perhaps reflecting the lack
of information or covering up the amount of actual knowledge of the US
intelligence establishment). By the late 1960's, and then into the
early 1970's, they start to use more actual Russian designations and
seem to have a better understanding of Russian personalities,
organizations, etc behind the program...


On 4/11/06, DSFPortree at aol.com <DSFPortree at aol.com> wrote:
> Marknik:
>
> I think that Lunik is a Western invention (the CIA would have been reading
> the newspapers too) and that it's a happy accident that this pseudo-Russian
> designation resembles the actual relevant Russian word "lunnik." Maybe the
> widespread use of the bastardized Western term made the Russians think of
> the "lunnik" term as a kind of shorthand?
>
> This kind of etymological speculation (and generally that's all it can be,
> given the fluid, organic nature of linguistic development) can be
> intriguing.
>
> As for "Marsnik" - I've seen that term used in Western stuff - science
> fiction tales, I think. But when I've seen it it has referred to cosmonauts
> exploring or living on Mars, not spacecraft! (I think I have that right.)
>
> David
>
> David S. F. Portree
> author & educator
> dsfportree at aol.com
> Flagstaff Arizona USA
>
> DSFP homepage
> http://members.aol.com/dsfportree/dsfp.htm
>
> "You know, one day just maybe I'm gonna meet someone who gets the whole
> 'don't wander off' thing. Nine hundred years of phone-box travel, it's the
> only thing left would surprise me."


--
Mark Wade
Encyclopedia Astronautica
http://www.astronautix.com/
astronautix at gmail.com