There is a saying that goes back to the Bible:
"Render unto
Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's
"(Matthew: 22:
21). In Russian, we simply say: кесарю - кесарево,* а Богу -
богово. On Antiterra, where they have Log instead of Bog
(Russian for "God"), this would become: кесарю - кесарево, а Логу -
логово. Now, logovo** is Russian for "den,"
"lair." While den = end, lair = liar. Log, Lair, Liar*** all
begin with an L. A casual observation that some may
find interesting.
*This
rare word is also present in the medical term кесарево сечение, "Caesarean
section".
**The
same three consonants can be found in golova (Russian for
"head").
***Russian
for "liar" is лгун, or лжец. The latter noun comes from ложь ("lie"),
or rather its obsolete form, лжа. One remembers the often repeated words of
a character in Chekhov's story My Life: Тля ест траву, ржа -
железо, а лжа - душу ("Lice eat grass, rust eats iron, and lying the
soul!"). Speaking of iron, here is some alchemy for you: железо + лото = желе +
золото (железо means "iron," лото "lotto," желе "jelly,"
золото "gold").
Btw.,
Ivan Rukavishnikov was a prolific symbolist writer and poet (1877-1929), who
died of alcoholism. In his article The White Corridor (1925)
Khodasevich calls him пошлый (vulgar). It seems that he was no
relation of uncle Ruka's family.
Alexey
Sklyarenko