MOSCOW - US commentators are stumbling and mumbling over his name. It even tripped up presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton during a recent Democratic debate.
But the name of the apparent winner of Russia's presidential election yesterday, Dmitry Medvedev, is pronounced just the way it looks - med-VEHD'-ev.
It stems from "medved," the word for bear, a totem animal of Eastern Slavic tribes later known as Russians.
The name recalls the Western stereotype of Russia as a country of brutal and drunken bear-men - not quite the figure cut by the bookish lawyer.
"I eat honey sometimes, I just have to - because of my last name," Medvedev said Tuesday during a visit to the city of Ufa, where he was offered tea with honey.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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