Hidden Behind Homonymy: Infamy or Sanctity?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author states the aim of his work as "to study the relations between language, religion and crime on the basis of self-namings". This aim seems too broad and abstract for an article and needs to be more precisely defined. The author proceeds from the thesis of the existence of some unwritten 'Vorovskoy Zakon', but does not describe its content and only briefly dwells on its possible sources and methods of transmission from generation to generation ('learn by heart'). The methods of reconstructing this 'Zakon' are not explicated in the article.

The author expresses an interesting idea that the Russian criminal elite had a secret language based on the principle of homonymy with the "normal" criminal argot, i.e. a number of argot expressions had second, secret meanings known only to the initiated, "vory". The author suggests that these meanings were connected with the religious, sacred sphere. However, this idea is not sufficiently developed and convincingly proven in the article. In any case, several self-designations of representatives of the criminal elite are not enough to prove this hypothesis.

There are many unclear points in the article. It gives the impression of being part of a larger study in which the author is clear about everything, but often forgets to explain it to the reader. As a result, the article is quite difficult to understand.

48-49 - Literary fiction is applied because it still remains the safest way for the authors to reflect the observed phenomena with Aesop's language. – in those cases when the author turns to fiction, she does not use Aesopian language at all.

62-83 – However, for the purposes of this interdisciplinary research, it is essential to explain some methods and techniques in simple words.

The axes of choice (selection) and combination were used to analyse the process of communication between criminals/offenders when the transferred information is encoded and the fact of such transfer shouldn’t be detected because the interlocutors expect invigilation. In such cases, the code words (nouns) are replaced by some other words that do not draw attention of controlling systems what leads to changes in collocation i.e. introduction of corresponding verbs and other parts of speech to make the conversation sound naturally. For example, ‘narcotics’ are ‘taken’ sounds like ‘books’ are ‘read’ etc. The change of a noun on the axe of choice (selection) leads to changes in verb on the axe of combination with possible further word play. The matrix/backup for studied codes in speech (speech representation) was the standard language (language representation) to avoid calling spade a spade. Such approach allowed to study linguistic signs ‘in praesentia’, ‘in absentia’, and ‘in potentia’ (at word play) based on the principles of similarity and adjacency and to distinguish semiotic-cultural, language, and speech representations in such codes. The studied codes were temporary from the viewpoint of human life and were not passed through generations. In this research, the aforementioned methods and techniques are applied to a code passed through generations with an argot matrix/backup, i.e. argot words understandable for most recidivists are used to hide behind them homonyms understandable only for the criminals initiated to ‘Zakon’.  - What the author says here in "simple words" is nevertheless quite difficult to understand. It seems that the author uses one of the methods of analysis once proposed by Umberto Eco, but does not refer to it anywhere.

In the article, the author expresses not always proven ideas about the etymology of argot words naming criminals and their attributes (fart = luck), and also formulates unproven hypotheses about the relationship between the Russian criminal subculture and Eastern religions.

163-168 - On the other hand, Fasmer refers to German ‘fahren’ (Ibid.) that sounds like ‘farn’. As mentioned above, the ideas among criminals initiated to ‘Zakon’ are passed orally what implies the connection with ‘Фарн/Хварно’ (Khvarenah/X-warra), an old Iranian ‘hvarnah’, a divine force or essence that brings wealth and power and is connected with destiny and royal glory (Shenkar 2013). - Why does the oral transmission of the 'Zakon' necessarily imply a connection with the concept of farn? Even if something is possible, it is not necessary, and here I do not see even a possibility. In order to prove the possibility of such an association, it is necessary to prove that the Russian criminals could have known the concept of farn itself. The phonetic association of 'fart' with the Roman Fortuna seems much more logical.

174-176 – The pilgrimage to Rosa Baal in India that time, seeking for divine encounter, may be explained by the example of Thomas the Apostle and point to a holy Christian try to undermine the ideas of Sufis. – It is unclear whether Christian pilgrimages to the Muslim sectarian shrine of Roza Bal ever existed. What does this place have to do with the idea of ​​farn-hvarnah? And how could all this have been known to Russian criminals of the 18th-19th centuries? From hypothetical contacts with Caucasian Sufis?

177-178 – However, the paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of the studied Russian argot self-naming ‘maz’ with Khvarenah does not allow to draw such conclusion. – What paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations were possible between this root and Iranian Khvarenah?

182 – Hence, the observed connections between Sufis’ ideas and the old Iranian ‘hvarnah’ as well as the reported evil force should be discussed in detail. – The author has not provided any proven links between Sufi ideas, the Iranian word ‘hvarnah’ and the Russian criminal world. All this is only postulated.

191-202 – The etymology of the word varnak from Sanskrit varna seems fantastic. A.E. Anikin in his Russian Etymological Dictionary indicates that the word varnak has no reliable etymology.

206 – the self-naming ‘магиране’ (i.e. literary ‘magicians from Iran’) – A naive, linguistically impossible etymology based on a random consonance of words, which can hardly be proven.

208-209 – This may point to Zoroastrian influences and prove the thesis about the belief in ‘hvarnah’ as the supernatural force but does not explain how it all works. – An unproven etymology cannot prove anything. The etymology itself must be proven before further conclusions can be drawn from it.

Sometimes it is simply unclear for what purpose the author writes a particular phrase. For example:

241 – The idea of metempsychosis corresponds here well with the ideas of mysticism and reincarnation imprinted by Jack London in ‘Star Rover’. – It remains unclear what the reference to Jack London's work has to do with the content of the article.

245-247 – ...the author of this research did not earlier see any connection between Al-Khidr and Perun on the basis of pagan Slavic cults synthesised with early Christianity on the basis of the double-faith. – And what connection between Al-Khidr and Perun did the author see now? The article says nothing about it. For my part, I think that such a connection does not exist.

248-257 – Now it is possible to connect the destination of the ‘sacred criminal journey’ – to give water to people (a lake lost at gambling in ‘The Enchanted Prince’), and to connect it to the Apocalypse of Paul and, hence, Epistle to the Galatians, to which the first reported argot self-naming ‘gałach’ aspires, to make ‘the ends meet’ (see next section). The character of Turakhon is neither dead nor alive being immortal, leaving many lives until fulfils his mission to go back to stars (Solovyov 2016, p. 23, p. 27). It can be suggested that the journey after divine encounter aims not at immortality but breaking the cycle of reincarnation. The supernatural force is not mentioned by name but the use of personal pronouns reported for argot self-naming ‘maz’ and all connected mysticism and esotericism can be understood. – It is quite difficult to understand the meaning of this passage. It is probably a fragment of some larger text. It seems that the author postulates that the 'Zakon' of Russian criminals is based on some "secret doctrine" about a sacred mission consisting of a mystical journey to the tomb of Jesus Christ in India, which for some reason is called to give people water. There is no really convincing argumentation in favor of this idea in the article. In any case, this paragraph requires explanation, because the text in it partially loses coherence, while maintaining cohesion.

348-350, Supplementary Material 2 – The coincidence of the models of metaphorization in the Russian argot name of people in general and in the Arabic name of Sufis does not prove the connection of the Russian criminal environment with Sufism, the perception of its ideas. The author builds his concept on fragile analogies, which he, apparently, had a hard time finding in order to support the a priori postulated concept. If we are to look for connections between the concepts of шерсть 'wool, fur' and масть 'color', it is more logical to assume their metonymic connection: the color (масть) of a horse or a dog is the color of its fur (шерсть).

341-363, Supplementary Material 1 – It is known that the word maz/mas in the secret language of the 19th century ofeni meant "I". In this sense, the word was also used in subsequent criminal slang. At the same time, the word mazyka (with the motivating verb mazat') denoted icons and icon painters, and the expression khodit' po mazyke originally referred to the wanderings ofeni with the purpose of buying icons. The rapprochement of this word with the word maz and related words (by the way, the author does not consider the widespread lexeme mazurik) into a single complex "MA + whistling" seems unproven. The author only casually refers to the article (Berezovich and Kuchko 2017) on the etymology of the lexeme mazurik from the ethnonym Mazur. Nevertheless, this article seems exemplary in execution, even if one does not agree with the etymology of the word in question proposed in it. It deserves more attention in the article: it is not enough to simply brush aside a work of this level - you need to explain why you disagree with its arguments. In any case, it would have been possible to use the rich lexical material collected in the article by Berezovich and Kuchko.

The article contains inaccurate translations. For example:

„Да ладно врать, я зубом отвечаю” (I don’t lie, I give my word with my tooth) – Да ладно врать means 'Stop lying!' Я зубом отвечаю is an idiomatic oath formula that means the speaker is willing to give up his tooth if he is proven to be lying. The quoted phrase in its entirety (not very clear in itself) means: "Stop lying, I swear that I am telling the truth."

There are a number of errors or typos in the article:

137, 164… – Instead of M. Fasmer you should write Max Vasmer.

174 – Rosa Baal, this is an incorrect transliteration, it is usually written Roza Bal, Rouza Bal, or Rozabal.

178-182 – Moreover, in the times of Vanka Cain, ‘during the era of demonological theories of crime’, many criminals repeated the mantra of the devil to make them commit crimes (Sumter et al. 2018). – The quote from Sumter et al. may have been misunderstood (or poorly rendered) by the author. The original says: “The devil made me do it!” could have been the mantra of many offenders during the era of demonological theories of crime. It was during this era, the late 17th and early 18th centuries, in which the offender was “viewed as a sinner who was possessed by demons or damned by other worldly forces” (Hagan 2017, p. 106). It is clear that the word 'mantra' is used metaphorically in the source quote. The text of the article should have said something like, many offenders repeated as a mantra that it was the devil that made them commit the crimes.

186 and other pages – Not Brűckner, but Brückner.

" Supplementary materials" are essentially fragments of analysis that the author provides at the end of the article as an appendix. They should have been integrated into the main text, because without them, understanding the logic of the presentation in the article, which is already quite chaotic, is too difficult. I can agree that these fragments are too difficult for a reader unfamiliar with Slavic languages, but in that case they could have been summarized and referenced to the author's publications, in which these ideas are presented more fully.

Overall, I believe that the article should be completely rewritten. On the one hand, the author should have taken a more critical approach to his own concepts and not made far-reaching conclusions based on random sound similarities, false etymologies and unproven associations and parallels (for example, about possible contacts of the Russian criminal community with the Italian mafia or Sufism and the borrowing of their ideas). On the other hand, the author should have more clearly explicated his ideas about the 'Vorovskoy Zakon', its origin, content and methods of its reconstruction.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Not being a native English speaker, I cannot comment on its quality.

Author Response

The author is really grateful to the Reviewer for the time, patience, and effort that helped me improve the manuscript and reconsider some hasty conclusions. As it was suggested, some parts of the manuscript were re-written to present the applied methodology and integrate supplementary material in the main text: Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Results. Some additional changes were also introduced in Discussion including the addition of supplementary material. The changes in the text from earlier supplementary material are little and were signalized. I was strongly encouraged to “explicate his ideas about the 'Vorovskoy Zakon', its origin, content and methods of its reconstruction”. That is why the two self-citations, Zubkov 2018a and Zubkov 2018b, were substituted by Zubkov 2019a and Zubkov 2019b. The reasons are explained it in the revised text. However, not all reconstruction aspects can be discussed in a research paper.  'Vorovskoy Zakon'  should be ‘re-visited’ in a review paper. In this manuscript, the author focused on the involvement of literary sources into criminal ideological sphere.

However, there are some Reviewer’s comments that, in my opinion, were inconsistent. The reasons are explained point by point.  

Issue 1        

48-49 - Literary fiction is applied because it still remains the safest way for the authors to reflect the observed phenomena with Aesop's language. – in those cases when the author turns to fiction, she does not use Aesopian language at all.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. The text was removed.

Issue 2

62-83 – However, for the purposes of this interdisciplinary research, it is essential to explain some methods and techniques in simple words.

The axes of choice (selection) and combination were used to analyse the process of communication between criminals/offenders when the transferred information is encoded and the fact of such transfer shouldn’t be detected because the interlocutors expect invigilation. In such cases, the code words (nouns) are replaced by some other words that do not draw attention of controlling systems what leads to changes in collocation i.e. introduction of corresponding verbs and other parts of speech to make the conversation sound naturally. For example, ‘narcotics’ are ‘taken’ sounds like ‘books’ are ‘read’ etc. The change of a noun on the axe of choice (selection) leads to changes in verb on the axe of combination with possible further word play. The matrix/backup for studied codes in speech (speech representation) was the standard language (language representation) to avoid calling spade a spade. Such approach allowed to study linguistic signs ‘in praesentia’, ‘in absentia’, and ‘in potentia’ (at word play) based on the principles of similarity and adjacency and to distinguish semiotic-cultural, language, and speech representations in such codes. The studied codes were temporary from the viewpoint of human life and were not passed through generations. In this research, the aforementioned methods and techniques are applied to a code passed through generations with an argot matrix/backup, i.e. argot words understandable for most recidivists are used to hide behind them homonyms understandable only for the criminals initiated to ‘Zakon’.  - What the author says here in "simple words" is nevertheless quite difficult to understand. It seems that the author uses one of the methods of analysis once proposed by Umberto Eco, but does not refer to it anywhere.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. The previous text was removed. The methods of analysis proposed by Umberto Eco were added in Methods and Results.  

Issue 3

In the article, the author expresses not always proven ideas about the etymology of argot words naming criminals and their attributes (fart = luck), and also formulates unproven hypotheses about the relationship between the Russian criminal subculture and Eastern religions.

163-168 - On the other hand, Fasmer refers to German ‘fahren’ (Ibid.) that sounds like ‘farn’. As mentioned above, the ideas among criminals initiated to ‘Zakon’ are passed orally what implies the connection with ‘Фарн/Хварно’ (Khvarenah/X-warra), an old Iranian ‘hvarnah’, a divine force or essence that brings wealth and power and is connected with destiny and royal glory (Shenkar 2013). - Why does the oral transmission of the 'Zakon' necessarily imply a connection with the concept of farn? Even if something is possible, it is not necessary, and here I do not see even a possibility. In order to prove the possibility of such an association, it is necessary to prove that the Russian criminals could have known the concept of farn itself. The phonetic association of 'fart' with the Roman Fortuna seems much more logical.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. However, being to some extent consistent in case of the previous version, it (fart = luck) loses its topicality now, compare: Дягилев, Б. (2022). Удачи и фарта. В: Удачи и фарта. Песни для фартовых. Сборник. Русский Шансон. Публикация: 17 июня 2022. Удачи и фарта! | Песни для фартовых | Русский шансон

 It was added in the text of the revised manuscript in lines 389-418 

The word ‘fart’ was studied by M. Grachev and V. Mokienko but the researchers did not come to an univocal conclusion about its origin and meaning (Grachev and Mokienko 2008, pp. 252-53).  Ending the dictionary item, they mentioned the oldest version of a popular song criminal song ‘Okuroczek’ – ‘счастливого фарту (Grachev and Mokienko 2008, pp. 253). Hence, ‘фарт’ is not ‘счастье’.  Moreover, it can be considered not the same as ‘удача’ , for example ‘удачи и фарта’ to be compared in search results on the web. The stem ‘fart’/‘фарт’ has a very high productivity (and, hence, repeatability and averaging) in word formation processes both in Polish and Russian argots what can give grounds to date it back to the times of the Russian Empire: “farcicho, farcisko, fartała, fartałka, farticer, fartować, fartowiec, fartowniak, fartownik, fartownie, fartowny, fartowy” (Stępniak 2013: 88) and “фартить, фартицер, фартовец, фартовый, фартовщик, фартовик” (Grachev and Mokienko 2008, pp. 252).  In Polish argot, ‘szczęście’ is considered offensive:“Szczęście ma kurwa. Ja mam fart” (Lucky is a bitch, I have ‘fart’ ) (Stępniak 2013: 88). Therefore, the etymologization from ‘fortuna’ may only imply the existence of two homonyms that were probably ‘attracted’ into one argot word. Conducting a survey in prisons of the Russian Empire as a state official, Anton Chekhov mentioned two different verbs with the same meaning: “Он пошел менять судьбу’. Если его ловят и возвращают, то это называется так: не пофортунило, не пофортовало” (He went (escaped) to change destiny. When he is caught, it is called  he did not succeed) (Chekhov [1891-1893] 1987, p. 145). Tt can be suggested that there can be another etymology for the stem ‘форт’ indirectly delivered by Chekhov. Referring to M. Fasmer, the scientists pointed to its German etymology. Such etymology corresponds well with the idea of travel (die Fart) and the expression ‘ходить по мазыке/музыке’. On the other hand, Fasmer refers to German ‘fahren’ that sounds like ‘farn’. By formal and semantic features and associations with destiny, it can be supposed that there should be some connections with ‘Фарн/Хварно’ (Khvarenah/X-warra), an old Iranian ‘hvarnah’, a divine force or essence that brings wealth and power and is connected with destiny and royal glory (Shenkar 2013).  On the other hand, the existence of beliefs in some evil force that makes criminals commit crimes (Hagan 2017, p. 106) should not be excluded. 

Issue 4

163-168 - On the other hand, Fasmer refers to German ‘fahren’ (Ibid.) that sounds like ‘farn’. As mentioned above, the ideas among criminals initiated to ‘Zakon’ are passed orally what implies the connection with ‘Фарн/Хварно’ (Khvarenah/X-warra), an old Iranian ‘hvarnah’, a divine force or essence that brings wealth and power and is connected with destiny and royal glory (Shenkar 2013). - Why does the oral transmission of the 'Zakon' necessarily imply a connection with the concept of farn? Even if something is possible, it is not necessary, and here I do not see even a possibility. In order to prove the possibility of such an association, it is necessary to prove that the Russian criminals could have known the concept of farn itself. The phonetic association of 'fart' with the Roman Fortuna seems much more logical.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment, it was explained above. The explanation was added in the text of the revised manuscript in lines 389-418 

Issue 5

174-176 – The pilgrimage to Rosa Baal in India that time, seeking for divine encounter, may be explained by the example of Thomas the Apostle and point to a holy Christian try to undermine the ideas of Sufis. – It is unclear whether Christian pilgrimages to the Muslim sectarian shrine of Roza Bal ever existed. What does this place have to do with the idea of ​​farn-hvarnah? And how could all this have been known to Russian criminals of the 18th-19th centuries? From hypothetical contacts with Caucasian Sufis?

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. This part of text was revised, hasty and far-reaching conclusions were avoided. The explanation was added in the text of the revised manuscript in lines 431-434

Issue 6

177-178 – However, the paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations of the studied Russian argot self-naming ‘maz’ with Khvarenah does not allow to draw such conclusion. – What paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations were possible between this root and Iranian Khvarenah?

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. This part of text was revised, hasty and far-going conclusions were avoided.   

Issue 7

182 – Hence, the observed connections between Sufis’ ideas and the old Iranian ‘hvarnah’ as well as the reported evil force should be discussed in detail. – The author has not provided any proven links between Sufi ideas, the Iranian word ‘hvarnah’ and the Russian criminal world. All this is only postulated.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. This part of text was revised, hasty and far-going conclusions were avoided.  

Issue 8

191-202 – The etymology of the word varnak from Sanskrit varna seems fantastic. A.E. Anikin in his Russian Etymological Dictionary indicates that the word varnak has no reliable etymology.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. Hasty and far- going conclusions were avoided. The author agrees that there is no reliable etymology. Now ‘Varnak’ is mentioned in connection with destiny only. See the revised text in line 624  

Issue 9

206 – the self-naming ‘магиране’ (i.e. literary ‘magicians from Iran’) – A naive, linguistically impossible etymology based on a random consonance of words, which can hardly be proven.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. Some methodological additions about folk etymologies were introduced throughout the text.

Issue 10

208-209 – This may point to Zoroastrian influences and prove the thesis about the belief in ‘hvarnah’ as the supernatural force but does not explain how it all works. – An unproven etymology cannot prove anything. The etymology itself must be proven before further conclusions can be drawn from it.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. Some methodological additions about folk etymologies were introduced into the text, see lines 631-634: the supernatural force in the late 20^th century as such argot self-namings appear probably influenced by literary sources with folk etymologies, for example in ‘Mazdak’ by Moris Simashko published in 1968 or ethnic origins of criminals

Issue 11

Sometimes it is simply unclear for what purpose the author writes a particular phrase. For example:

241 – The idea of metempsychosis corresponds here well with the ideas of mysticism and reincarnation imprinted by Jack London in ‘Star Rover’. – It remains unclear what the reference to Jack London's work has to do with the content of the article.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment, it was explained in the revised text in lines 670-674: “It was reported that ‘Star Rover’ was the second in the ranking of the most read books in the RF prison facilities in 2015 (Zubkov 2019b, p 239). Probably, the postulate about ‘the memory of a soul in the endless time to be awoken after reincarnation by another brother-soul’ reported in the contact research may have appeared under the influence of these literary masterpieces”

Issue 12

245-247 – ...the author of this research did not earlier see any connection between Al-Khidr and Perun on the basis of pagan Slavic cults synthesised with early Christianity on the basis of the double-faith. – And what connection between Al-Khidr and Perun did the author see now? The article says nothing about it. For my part, I think that such a connection does not exist.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment, it was explained in the revised text in lines 681-685: Al-Khidr is connected with Elijah and, is supposed to be linked “with other religions like Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism, which have rendered him as a medium for bringing people and traditions closer” (Khan 2024, p. 297). The belief in Elijah was associated with weather phenomena (thunder, lightning, and rain), which are important for rural societies.

Issue 13

248-257 – Now it is possible to connect the destination of the ‘sacred criminal journey’ – to give water to people (a lake lost at gambling in ‘The Enchanted Prince’), and to connect it to the Apocalypse of Paul and, hence, Epistle to the Galatians, to which the first reported argot self-naming ‘gałach’ aspires, to make ‘the ends meet’ (see next section). The character of Turakhon is neither dead nor alive being immortal, leaving many lives until fulfils his mission to go back to stars (Solovyov 2016, p. 23, p. 27). It can be suggested that the journey after divine encounter aims not at immortality but breaking the cycle of reincarnation. The supernatural force is not mentioned by name but the use of personal pronouns reported for argot self-naming ‘maz’ and all connected mysticism and esotericism can be understood. – It is quite difficult to understand the meaning of this passage. It is probably a fragment of some larger text. It seems that the author postulates that the 'Zakon' of Russian criminals is based on some "secret doctrine" about a sacred mission consisting of a mystical journey to the tomb of Jesus Christ in India, which for some reason is called to give people water. There is no really convincing argumentation in favor of this idea in the article. In any case, this paragraph requires explanation, because the text in it partially loses coherence, while maintaining cohesion.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment, it was explained in the revised text in lines 695-696: If it is so, the patterns of a ‘magic tale’ should be expected in the ideological sphere of criminals mixed up on the basis of their linguasemiotic experience.

Issue 14

348-350, Supplementary Material 2 – The coincidence of the models of metaphorization in the Russian argot name of people in general and in the Arabic name of Sufis does not prove the connection of the Russian criminal environment with Sufism, the perception of its ideas. The author builds his concept on fragile analogies, which he, apparently, had a hard time finding in order to support the a priori postulated concept. If we are to look for connections between the concepts of шерсть 'wool, fur' and масть 'color', it is more logical to assume their metonymic connection: the color (масть) of a horse or a dog is the color of its fur (шерсть).

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. However, in Umberto Eco’s model such shift is metaphoric.

Issue 15

341-363, Supplementary Material 1 – It is known that the word maz/mas in the secret language of the 19th century ofeni meant "I". In this sense, the word was also used in subsequent criminal slang. At the same time, the word mazyka (with the motivating verb mazat') denoted icons and icon painters, and the expression khodit' po mazyke originally referred to the wanderings ofeni with the purpose of buying icons. The rapprochement of this word with the word maz and related words (by the way, the author does not consider the widespread lexeme mazurik) into a single complex "MA + whistling" seems unproven. The author only casually refers to the article (Berezovich and Kuchko 2017) on the etymology of the lexeme mazurik from the ethnonym Mazur. Nevertheless, this article seems exemplary in execution, even if one does not agree with the etymology of the word in question proposed in it. It deserves more attention in the article: it is not enough to simply brush aside a work of this level - you need to explain why you disagree with its arguments. In any case, it would have been possible to use the rich lexical material collected in the article by Berezovich and Kuchko

Discussion

Thank you for the comment. The author himself came to the same conclusions about the Polish origin of  argot word ‘mazuriki’ but in a way that wasn’t so well augmented as presented by Berezovich and Kuchko, see Zubkov 2019b, pp. 135-171. Their work was acknowledged in the revised version in lines 255-262: “The main etymological versions are presented and well argumented by Yelena L. Berezovich and Valeriya S. Kuchko (2017). The western version goes back to the toponym ‘Mazur’ and the eastern one – to Russian dialects, including corporative dialects. For the purposes of this research, the most interesting is the observed ‘semantic attraction’ that reflects itself in semantic fusion by form and meaning on the basis of folk etymology. However, it seems possible to focus on some peculiaries of such ‘semantic attraction’ for the argot words omitted by the researchers”. Their publication was also acknowledged in lines 348-352,  

Issue 16

 The article contains inaccurate translations. For example:

„Да ладно врать, я зубом отвечаю” (I don’t lie, I give my word with my tooth) – Да ладно врать means 'Stop lying!' Я зубом отвечаю is an idiomatic oath formula that means the speaker is willing to give up his tooth if he is proven to be lying. The quoted phrase in its entirety (not very clear in itself) means: "Stop lying, I swear that I am telling the truth."

Discussion

The author does not agree with the comment, the translation is very accurate, the ‘tooth’ is a very important element, compare: “С этим словом связана и воровская клятва: сукой буду, причем произнесение этих слов еще лет 25 тому назад (не знаю, как теперь) сопровождалось своеобразным жестом: ногтем большого пальца правой руки дающий клятву щелкал о передний зуб, а затем рука его совершала движение вокруг подбородка” (Chalidze, Valeriy N. 1977. Ugolovnaya Rossiya. New York: Khronika-Press Chalidze p. 95). In the revised version of the manuscript, the author referred to an earlier publication, in which the oath was discussed.

Issue 17

There are a number of errors or typos in the article:

137, 164… – Instead of M. Fasmer you should write Max Vasmer.

Thank you for the comment, the error was revised.

174 – Rosa Baal, this is an incorrect transliteration, it is usually written Roza Bal, Rouza Bal, or Rozabal.

Thank you for the comment, the error was revised.

Issue 18

178-182 – Moreover, in the times of Vanka Cain, ‘during the era of demonological theories of crime’, many criminals repeated the mantra of the devil to make them commit crimes (Sumter et al. 2018). – The quote from Sumter et al. may have been misunderstood (or poorly rendered) by the author. The original says: “The devil made me do it!” could have been the mantra of many offenders during the era of demonological theories of crime. It was during this era, the late 17th and early 18th centuries, in which the offender was “viewed as a sinner who was possessed by demons or damned by other worldly forces” (Hagan 2017, p. 106). It is clear that the word 'mantra' is used metaphorically in the source quote. The text of the article should have said something like, many offenders repeated as a mantra that it was the devil that made them commit the crimes.

Discussion

Thank you for the comment, now the text says: “On the other hand, the existence of beliefs in some evil force that makes criminals commit crimes (Hagan 2017, p. 106) should not be excluded”, lines . 

Issue 19

186 and other pages – Not Brűckner, but Brückner.

Thank you for the comment, the error was revised.

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is a very interesting attempt at an interdisciplinary study of issues related to language, religion and criminology (sociology of crime). However, this is a very problematic and unclear attempt, both in its objectives and methodology, as well as in the logic of its argument and analysis.

The author presents the methodology completely unconvincingly, writing vaguely about interdisciplinarity and combining methods and de facto not embedding the study in any of the sciences. It is not cultural semiotics; it is not religious studies; it is not legal science or sociology. In addition, it is not known who the addressee of the argument is because the etymological data is included in the additional materials with the suggestion that people who are not linguists will not understand them. So what about the readers of the journal "Religions," which is not a linguistic journal? Talking about interdisciplinarity here is empty because it does not consist of using the achievements of each of the disciplines but of sliding through the methodologies of each of the disciplines and bypassing its research rigors.

The literature is relatively well selected in relation to the historical and source part, but there is a lack of appropriate methodology, e.g. works in the field of sociology concerning the value system of the criminal world, and there have been many works on this topic, especially in relation to prisons in Poland and Russia. For example K. Miszewski (numerous articles in Polisch sociological journals), A. Podgórecki („Second life” and its implications). There is no reference to the most important sociolinguistic review works on the criminal world, e.g. Walter, Harry. 2018. Research on non-standard language elements in Slavonic languages. Językoznawstwo 1 (12): pp. 13–32, Mokienko, Valerij & Harry Walter. 2014. Soziolekte in der Slavia (Überblick). In: Gutschmidt et al. (eds.), Die slavischen Sprachen / The Slavic Languages. Ein internationales Handbuch zu ihrer Structure, ihrer Geschichte und ihrer Erforschung / An International Handbook of their Structure, their History and their Investigation. Vol. 2. Berlin: pp. 2145–2170.

The connection between religion, the criminal world and language as a carrier of values ​​is an interesting idea, but this connection is not demonstrated here, because the reader receives a set of weakly connected considerations that are certainly not interdisciplinary in nature.

Some detailed remarks:

verses 46-48: The macro level is represented by such literary sources as dictionaries because no connections between religion and professional traditional crime were ascertained in the Soviet State. - How can you expect the description of the relationship of religion with anything in the USSR, when religion was forbidden? It's rather apparent it could not be fixed in the dictionaries of that time.

verses 48-50: Unclear - Literary fiction is applied because it still remains the safest way for the authors to reflect the observed phenomena with Aesop's language. ???

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Not being a native speaker of English, I am unable to point out all the shortcomings, but in grammatically correct language there are deficiencies of precision and inappropriate stylistic and rhetorical devices (presumably carbon copies created in translation).

Here are some examples:

verse 26: known in public as ‘vory v zakonie’ or ‘thieves in law’ -> not "or" - thieves in law is a translation of vory v zakone [transliteration without I], so 'vory v zakone' (thieves in law).

verse 34: what was considered rather a joke (Geremek 2012, p. 235). -> which was rather considered a joke

verse 37 (and throughout the text): why do you use the term offenders? criminals would be better

verses 40-42: Very unclear and colloquial: The aim of this research is not to debate about the date of appearance of the ‘vory’ (the expression ‘vory v zakone’ itself appeared after the October Revolution, and there is nothing to discuss) but to study the relations between language, religion and crime on the basis of self-namings.

verses 43-44: colloquial: If somebody calls himself Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hinduist etc., such person should have some reasons for it to be explained.

verse 72-73: axe of choice, axe of combination? Did you mean AXIS of choice and AXIS of combination?

transliteration of Russian words should be done according to one of the commonly used systems (ISO, Chicago, LPG).

Author Response

The author is really grateful to the Reviewer for the time, patience, and effort that helped me improve the manuscript and reconsider some hasty conclusions. The Academic Editor and Reviewer 1 strongly encouraged the author to “explicate his ideas about the 'Vorovskoy Zakon', its origin, content and methods of its reconstruction” and involve supplementary materials into the text along with further self-citation. That is why the two self-citations, Zubkov 2018a and Zubkov 2018b, were substituted by Zubkov 2019a and Zubkov 2019b. some parts of the manuscript were re-written to present the applied methodology and integrate supplementary material in the main text: Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Results. Some additional changes were also introduced in Discussion including the addition of supplementary material. The changes in the text from earlier supplementary material are little and were signalized. In its present form, the manuscript may meet the demands for interdisciplinarity as suggested by the Reviewer.

The author agrees with all comments, all suggested changes were introduced along with references both suggested by the Reviewer and additional ones. However, it was impossible for the author to find and refer to a monograph „Second life” and its implications” by A. Podgórecki. The author hopes to find the and refer to it in further publications.    

 

 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The topic is very interesting and original, but the analysis has serious issues at every level.

(1) To begin with, the title is too short and does not reflect the actual content of the manuscript.

(2) The manuscript itself is also quite short—only 8 pages—and feels more like a brief note than a full research paper.

(3) In the conclusions, the authors state that: ‘There is no interdisciplinary research that fits within crime-religion-language relations with respect to the Russian organized crime. The applied methods and techniques are interdisciplinary what implies the division of the obtained results with respect to linguistics, religious studies, and to some extent criminology.’ There is clear confusion about the methodology used in the analysis. The authors mention an interdisciplinary approach, but there is no evidence of this in the actual analysis. Referring to ‘mixed techniques’ is not the same as using an interdisciplinary approach. As a result, it is unclear whether the methods and techniques used are truly interdisciplinary.

(4) The use of English is sometimes problematic, which leads to confusion and makes the arguments harder to understand.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The use of English is sometimes problematic, which leads to confusion and makes the arguments harder to understand.

Author Response

The author is really grateful to the Reviewer for the time, patience, and effort that helped me improve the manuscript and reconsider some hasty conclusions. The Academic Editor and Reviewer 1 strongly encouraged the author to “explicate his ideas about the 'Vorovskoy Zakon', its origin, content and methods of its reconstruction” and involve supplementary materials into the text along with further self-citation. That is why the two self-citations, Zubkov 2018a and Zubkov 2018b, were substituted by Zubkov 2019a and Zubkov 2019b. some parts of the manuscript were re-written to present the applied methodology and integrate supplementary material in the main text: Abstract, Introduction, Methods and Results. Some additional changes were also introduced in Discussion including the addition of supplementary material. The changes in the text from earlier supplementary material are little and were signalized. In its present form, the manuscript may meet the demands for interdisciplinarity as suggested by the Reviewer.

The author agrees with all comments, all suggested changes were introduced.  

 

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Many important corrections were made to the text, which significantly raised its substantive level. However, in my opinion, it is a sociolinguistic or historical-sciolinguistic study, but not in a field of religious studies.

Author Response

The author is very grateful to the Reviewer for time and effort along with valuable comments and suggestions that really helped to improve the manuscript.  

However, the author cannot fully agree with the last comment about ‘a field of religious studies’. On the one hand, the manuscript falls out from traditional religious studies. On the other hand, it fits well into the scope of this special issue. The aim was to explore religious themes in literature, and particularly divine encounter to be defined in different ways. For the purposes of a larger study on criminal organization and its ideology (‘Zakon’), such encounter (fart as a supernatural force, a demon, Al-Khidr, Elijah, communication with the dead) is a milestone and helps to explain how literary sources along with conveyed ideas can be adopted and ideologized causing anomalies from the model (the reported idea about the memory of the soul in the endless time being awoken after reincarnation that does not correspond with Kabbalah). Moreover, a contrastive analysis of argot self-namings allowed to suggest possible deviations from Christianity and Islam (the Russian Mafia’s icon etc.).

However, the author should agree that the manuscript lacks techniques traditional in criminological or religious studies. Many suggestions presented in the manuscript attract attention, demand further development and appropriate suggestions, for example: the ban on religion in the USSR causes its search in available sources including literary fiction. The development of such suggestion will imply addition of other literary masterpieces studied earlier, for example ‘The Manuscript Found in Saragossa’ by Jan Potocki or ‘The Good Soldier Švejk’ by Jaroslav Hašek along with others that were presented in the referred monographs (Zubkov 2019a and b) very superficially.

Moreover, ‘Vorovskoy Zakon’ as a religious-legal codex/code was announced to be beyond discussion (lines 177-179 in the revised manuscript) because such kind of discussion needs to be conceptualized other way and is suitable for a review paper even after addition of much unpublished material gather by the author. That is why some consistent references were omitted, for example ‘Transformacja ustrojowa w Polsce a przemiany subkultury więziennej’ by K. Miszewski  - these publications will be taken advantage of in a future review paper (tentatively ‘God-blessed’ criminal activity as a discrete antisystem’).

There also exists an endemic problem to be solved – trying to take advantage of publications ‘Mental functioning and religiosity of prisoners’ by M. Miałkowska- Kozaryna and K. Miszewski and “Four Gods” in a Maximum-Security Prison: Images of God, Religiousness, and Worldviews Among Inmates’ by Jang, Sung J., Byron R. Johnson, Joshua Hays, Michael Hallett, and Grant Duwe, the author faced the lack in appropriate and consistent works regarding ‘vory v zakonie’ with this respect. For example, a popular Russian youtuber I. Varlamov (more than 5 million subscribers) made a report about a maximum-security prison facility in an old monastery on the Ognenny Ostrov (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0QpBhWze28). He mentions only once that ‘vory v zakonie’ are afraid of being imprisoned there (minutes 0.42-045). The interviewed experts engaged in research on this penitentiary facility point out to the three trends observed among prisoners – some pray, and others ask various organizations including Eastern Orthodox Church for money to buy ‘holy books’ and spend it on food and cigarettes (minutes 25-26). The third trend is interesting because some inmates are afraid of demon/demons who come at night and other strange things (minutes 11.25 -13.51). Therefore, it can be only suggested that, in Varlamov’s opinion, ‘vory v zakonie’ can be visited by a demon(s) in this old monastery. I. Varlamov has the official status of a ‘foreign agent’ in the Russian Federation and did not contact the prisoners, that is why he says it without ‘beating around the bush’. The interviewed experts avoided the expression ‘vory’, and drawing attention to their work with this respect may complicate it. The author has to figure out how to involve such sources into future research along with criteria of their averaging and comparison with the publications mentioned above. For this purposes, it is necessary to leave some ‘carbon copies’ such as semiotic-cultural, language, and speech representations, discrete antisystem etc. because these terms have no exact counterparts in English. 

The only changes introduced to the revised manuscript are as following:

 It was deleted: ‘song’ line 383  and ‘offenders’ line 791

Some references were separated because they ran into each other.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf