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On Sat, 7 Sep 1996, Linda Slacum wrote:
> Does anyone know the origins of babushka? Russian Grandma? Old woman with
> a scarf? A scarf? I'm at home and none of my resources help. TIA
According to my Russian-English Dictionary, "babushka" does mean
"grandmother; grandmamma; grandma; granny" It is a diminuative derived
from "babka" meaning "old woman/crone/grandmother" which in turn is a
diminutive of "baba" meaning "(peasant) woman/woman/milksop,
molly-coddle, old woman/wife, old woman". In Russian diminutives are
applied to words relating to children or as endearments to names.
Petroushka is the diminutive of Piotr meaning Peter.
You can see that babushka is not a high status word which reflects the
position of old women or women of a lower class, even in the days of the
pretensions of a classless society in Russia.
Lynne Phillips, Teacher-Librarian, Cook Ave Elementary School
Rossland, British Columbia, Canada lphillip@ciao.trail.bc.ca
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