Re: [SG] ESU Spentznaz

----- Original Message -----
From: John Atkinson <johnmatkinson@yahoo.com>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Monday, May 13, 2002 1:01 AM
Subject: Re: [SG] ESU Spentznaz

>
> --- Roger Burton West <roger@firedrake.org> wrote:
>
> > I've always been taught the spelling "Spetsnaz",
> > with the understanding
> > that it was short for SPETSialnaya NAZnacheniya,
>
> I've never been too overly worried about spelling
> since it's all in that Cyrillic gibberish anyway and
> any transliteration of any language is approximate
> (for proof, compare the tranliterations produced by
> someone who learned Greek in a classroom with those
> produced by a native speaker).
>
> However, I'll stand corrected as far as the customary
> usage.  :)
>
SNIP
>
> John

I'd have thought you of all people would have approved of Cyrillic, it
being
a Byzantine invention!

Incidentally, Spetznaz has now become completely associated with special
forces, but formerly covered other unusual types of force including
large
scale assault engineer formations in the Great Patriotic War.

Other terms for special force types are Raydoviki, raiders, and
Vysotniki,
rangers.

Rob Paul