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https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-kompromat-mean https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-komp... >Kompromat refers to mat

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-kompromat-mean https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-komp... >Kompromat refers to materials collected specifically for the purpose of blackmailing the target. It’s a Russian portmanteau of komprometiruyushchiy, “compromising,” and material, “material,” and if those Russian words look familiar, it’s because they are; they were borrowed into Russian from English. The sheer stupidity of two nations borrowing a word from the other to sound smarter and more worldly ought to blow your mind. But it happens so often that anyone who is polylingual just has to deal with it. The worst example is Latinx. Americans who wanted to cosmopolitan in the 90s decided that Latin wasn't good enough since everyone knew what Latin meant. So they started saying Latino instead. With the 10s craze of gender neutrality Latino was now problematic so it was changed to Latinx only in the way someone who has never passed high school Spanish could. Now instead of the English word Latin we have the abomination Latinx being forced on Spanish speakers by English speakers in the name of progress.

int_19h 4y ago
Merriam-Webster is certainly not a reliable source when it comes to etymology of non-English words. I'm Russian myself, and I find it extremely dubious that either of the constituent parts of the word was borrowed into Russian from English. Russian Wiktionary gives 1720 for the first known use of "материал" (material), and illustrates "компрометирующий" (compromising) with a Dostoyevsky quote from 1846. Both predate the time when English was the primary source of borrowings, so they're far more likely to have been borrowed from French or German. This M-W article is wrong about other things, too - e.g. "пропаганда" (propaganda) is from German.

int_19h 4y ago

Merriam-Webster is certainly not a reliable source when it comes to etymology of non-English words. I'm Russian myself, and I find it extremely dubious that either of the constituent parts of the word was borrowed into Russian from English. Russian Wiktionary gives 1720 for the first known use of "материал" (material), and illustrates "компрометирующий" (compromising) with a Dostoyevsky quote from 1846. Both predate the time when English was the primary source of borrowings, so they're far more likely to have been borrowed from French or German. This M-W article is wrong about other things, too - e.g. "пропаганда" (propaganda) is from German.