Nizhniy Novgorod

Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names | 2005 | 700+ words | Copyright

Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia Novgorod, Gorky A province and a city founded in 1221 as ‘New Town’ from novi and gorod, originally a word for ‘fortification’. Nizhniy ‘lower’ was added in the 14th century because it was considered inferior to Novgorod the Great; ‘lower’ here could also be taken to mean ‘south’ (of Novgorod the Great). To celebrate his 40 years as a writer and to bind him to the Communist Party, Joseph Stalin^† ordered the city to be renamed after Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) in 1932; this was his birthplace. Gorky's real name was Aleksey Maksimovich Peshkov; he took the name Gorky from gor′kiy ‘bitter’, a statement on the vicissitudes of his early life as an orphaned street urchin. The city's previous name was readopted in 1990.

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JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Nizhniy Novgorod." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Nizhniy Novgorod." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-NizhniyNovgorod.html

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Nizhniy Novgorod." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-NizhniyNovgorod.html

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