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Weird words
Waterloo and Vauxhall Vauxhall
I like the Russian word for railway station, vokzal. This is apparently because a Russian parliamentary delegation visited the UK to see this fabulous new invention, the railway.
Their hosts from the House of Commons took them over the river to the nearest station, Vauxhall in South London. When the Russians asked what it was called, meaning the type of building, they got the reply 'Vauxhall'. So vokzal to this day means railway station in Russian.
Editorial note: This is a popular explanation of how the word might have entered the Russian vocabulary but there is no proof that this situation actually took place.
It is much more likely that the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens passed on their name. Vauxhall became a synonym for pleasure gardens, one of which was situated in Pavlovsk in Russia. It became the destination of the first Russian railway line. So the word vokzal, originally used for 'pleasure garden', got transferred to the meaning 'railway station'.
Sent by: Mark
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Read other people's comments
In Russia, the most celebrated musicians considered it an honor to perform at a railway station. The Russian word vokzal resembles the abbreviated vokalny zal which means "vocal hall", that is the scene of concerts. The main Russian railway stations in Moscow and St. Petersburg hosted the famous bass Fyodor Chaliapin and such well-known singers as Anastasia Vyaltseva and Varya Panina. The leading Russian companies were invited to perform works by Russian and foreign composers. The Waltz King Johann Strauss gave frequent guest concerts at the Russian railway stations.
Sent by: Dyson Ann
I believe the Russian for hairdresser is parikmacher, which, if you know German, means literally Perückenmacher, wig maker.
Sent by: Ute
Vokzal can be transliterated as German Volkssaal which means 'hall for (common) people'. You see, Russian is closely connected with German.
Sent by: Maria
I totally agree with Perückenmacher, though connecting Vokzal and Volkssaal is too much for my understanding of Russian. But there are a lot of German words in Russian anyhow. For example: Russian Buchgalter (German Buchhalter, accountant), Russian Burgomistr (German Bürgermeister, mayor) or Russian Kartofel' (German Kartoffel, potato). Funny, that Russian has a second word for potato: Kartoschka.
Sent by: Rob
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