the word’s worth: The word that means just about anything

By Michele A. Berdy

Published: December 19, 2012 (Issue # 1740)

Writer A.S. Byatt once said translators are her best readers. They find every little mistake or typo that even the most meticulous copy editors miss. This isn’t because we translators are trying to find mistakes. It’s just because we work so closely with the text that we notice problems that editors and even authors can glance over.

We also tend to notice changes in the language before lexicographers get to them. Suddenly a word that always meant X is used in such a way that X can’t possibly make sense.

Take the word çíàêîâûé, which once meant emblematic but now means — oh, just about anything. To figure out what’s up with this adjective, I thought I ought to start with the noun it’s from, çíàê.

Çíàê doesn’t cause too many problems. It is any kind of symbol or sign, like äîðîæíûé çíàê (road sign), or çíàê êà÷åñòâà (sign of quality), or íîìåðíîé çíàê (license plate). Çíàê can be a more figurative sign, like çíàê äðóæáû (token of friendship). Or it can be a signal, as in the phrase äàé ìíå çíàê (give me a sign). It can be a stand-in for money, like äåíåæíûé çíàê (bank note or coin). In grammar, it’s a kind of punctuation mark, like âîïðîñèòåëüíûé çíàê (question mark). In your Microsoft Word statistic options, it’s a character, as in êîëè÷åñòâî çíàêîâ ñ ïðîáåëàìè (number of characters with spaces). In astrology, it’s the thing you are born under, çíàê Çîäèàêà (Zodiac sign).

Logically, the adjective çíàêîâûé would mean symbolic, emblematic, or indicative. And that’s what the dictionaries tell you it means, illustrated with a sentence like, Ïåðåìåíû â îáùåñòâåííîì ìíåíèè èìåþò çíàêîâûé õàðàêòåð: îíè ïîêàçûâàþò ðîñò êîíñåðâàòèâíûõ íàñòðîåíèé (Shifts in public opinion are emblematic of the rise in conservative views).

But in the late 1980s — specifically 1987, according to Google’s N-gram — the word went off the charts in frequency of usage. And it seems to have taken on a new meaning, or maybe several new meanings. In some contexts, the meaning of çíàêîâûé seems to have flipped. Instead of describing something or someone that is typical of an era, it describes something or someone that defines an era. So çíàêîâàÿ ôèãóðà is a seminal figure, someone who has blazed a trail that others are now following. Îí íå ñòîëüêî ëèòåðàòóðíàÿ ëè÷íîñòü, ñêîëüêî çíàêîâàÿ ôèãóðà, êîòîðàÿ ÿâíî ïðåòåíäóåò íà ìåñòî íîâàòîðîâ (He’s not so much a literary figure as a trendsetter who clearly sees himself among the innovators).

Sometimes çíàêîâûé seems to mean “life-changing”: Ðîæäåíèå ðåá¸íêà — çíàêîâûé ìîìåíò â æèçíè ñåìüè (The birth of a child is a life-changing event in a family). Áðîäñêèé — çíàêîâàÿ ôèãóðà â ìîåé æèçíè (Brodsky played a decisive role in my life). Or it apparently means a landmark event or object: Çàóðÿäíûé ñóäåáíûé ñïîð ïðåâðàòèëñÿ â çíàêîâûé ïðîöåññ (An ordinary lawsuit has turned into landmark court case).

It also seems to be used to describe a significant date or celebration, as if people were thinking of the word çíà÷èìûé (significant) and mixed up their consonants: Çíàêîâûé þáèëåé — íàøåìó çàâîäó 10 ëåò (A significant anniversary: Our factory is 10 years old).

Lately I’ve found completely wacko usages — like a competition for çíàêîâûé ñíåãîâèê. What on earth is çíàêîâûé ñíåãîâèê? An emblematic snowman? An influential snowman? A superlative snowman? A landmark snowman? The snowmaniest snowman? If anyone can figure that one out, please let me know.

Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of “The Russian Word’s Worth” (Glas), a collection of her columns.