Alexei Sklyarenko: "Here," said Mrs.Blagovo "is your chaishko s molochishkom [teeny tea with weeny milk]." (LATH, Part Two, 8) Molochishko is a quaint diminutive of moloko (milk). Mrs. Blagovo (who "spoke in simpering accents, reducing nouns and adjectives to over-affectionate forms which even the Russian language, a recognized giant of diminutives, would only condone on the wet lips of an infant or tender nurse") was from the Volgan town of Kineshma.

 

JM: The sentence, from Lath, about the "teeny tea with weent milk" reminded me of John Shade's verses about a school-picnic, when young Sybil "turned and offered me/A thimbleful of bright metallic tea." (lines 259-60)  This image suggests a really small silvery thermos flask cum cup shining in the sun, but there's no tender diminutive in the wording.* The scene reveals more brightness than warmth. 

Would "thimbleful" sound as mysterious to American ears as it does to me? I also imagine John's clumsy fingers and his pouting lips, ready for a drop of sweet medicine.. I must be way off the point...both in English and Russian.

 

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* When Mr and Mirs Blagovo, in LATH, addressed their daughter their voice "developed little notes of obsequious panic."