THE GOSTINOLDVOR AND MOSCOW.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Indeed, your reviewer is in error about the Gostinoi- Dvor. The enclosed advertisement will satisfy you that there is in Moscow both an ancient collection of shops, so called, and also a more modern row, called the New Gostinoi-Dvor. The " Gorod " you allude to, and which simply means "the town," corresponds exactly to the meaning attached by Londoners to "the city,"—the centre, that is, of trade or "business." A Gostinoi-Dvor, which, as I have said, exists under that name in all large Russian towns, means, literally, "the guests' or strangers' quarters, or court," and originally was actually a caravanserai,. surrounded by shops and warehouses, and used as such by tradesmen coming from other parts.—I am, &c., [In the advertisement which our correspondent has sent us, a tradesman advertises his goods at a certain number in the Gostinoi-Dvor of St. Petersburg, and in the Novogostinoi-Dvor (New Gostinoi-Dvor) in Moscow. Dr. Whishaw assumes that the Novogostinoi-Dvor here mentioned is in contradistinction to an old Gostinoi-Dvor in. Moscow. Our inference is that it is in contradistinction to the Gostinoi-Dvor par excellence,— namely, that of St. Petersburg. On receipt of Dr. Whishaw's first letter, our reviewer, who himself resided for more than a year in Russia, referred the point in dispute to two Russians, one holding an official position in London, the other a native and resident in Moscow, and they both agree with our reviewer that no Russian could give, as the author of "Russia Before and After the War" does, Gostinoi-Dvor as the generic Russian equivalent for "bazaar." Dr. Whishaw is, more- over, in error in supposing that Gostinoi-Dvor meant originally a caravanserai. The Gostinoi-Dvor was the special court or yard in which foreign tradesmen were allowed to exhibittheir goods. Even in St. Petersburg the Gostinoi-Dvor is only one of several bazaars. There is, for example, the Apraxin-Dvor and the Stchukin-Dvor. Another proof that Gostinoi-Dvor is not a word that would occur to a Russian as the vernacular equivalent for "bazaar," is that Gostinoi is not a Russian word : it is simply the Russianised form of the German word for "strangers." DEW (i.e. yard, or court) is the generic word, and various prefixes are affixed to distinguish different bazaars. Dr. Whishaw has himself supplied us with an excellent illustration. When an Englishman speaks of "the City," par et simple, he means the City of Loudon. Similarly, when a Russian speaks of the Gostinoi-Dvor, par et simple, he means that of St. Petersburg.—En. Spectator.]
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