Thread: заумничать

I'm having difficulty determining the meaning for заумничать. Neither Google nor Wiktionary know the word. Google, however, does know умничать which it says means "to try to be clever" or "to show off one's intelligence." Another source equated заумничать with начать умничать which Google says means "to start to philosophize." The prefix за- has a range of meanings, but one is "begin" and so it might be reasonable to say that заумничать means "to start trying to be clever." It seems that there must be a more concise meaning. What would be the best definition for заумничать? Thanks!

Hey bobert. I'm afraid I'd need an example with that word, the only example I can think of myself would be something like:

Ты чего заумничал? - as a reply to someone who's suddenly switched from plain and simple talk to a professor-like kind of speech or to someone going out of his way to try and talk clever

Он не хочет заумничать в этом уроке.
Intended Meaning:
He does not wish to get scientific in this lesson.
(The lesson involves amoebas, but not in a scientific sense.)

Originally Posted by bobert

Он не хочет заумничать в этом уроке.
Intended Meaning:
He does not wish to get scientific in this lesson.
(The lesson involves amoebas, but not in a scientific sense.)

Where did you pick that one up? I have to admit I hardly have any idea what that's supposed to mean. Some context would be nice. I can only guess that it means:

He doesn't want to start talking like a nerd in this class.

Originally Posted by bobert

Он не хочет заумничать в этом уроке.
Intended Meaning:
He does not wish to get scientific in this lesson.
(The lesson involves amoebas, but not in a scientific sense.)

For first glance this phrase looks a bit strange for me, like transfer some extraterrestrial syntax into the russian. It is very rare derivative verb from "зAумь", "заУмный": something between clever and nonsense, abstruse.

Originally Posted by bobert

Google says means "to start to philosophize." The prefix за- has a range of meanings, but one is "begin"

First of all, yes, "заумничать" can be perfect form of verb "умничать" with "start-to-do" variant of perfectness (another example: "любить/полюбить" ("to love/start to love")).
This is what is written in dictionaries.
Note that this verb always expresses negative or humorous evaluation of action. He who "умничает" usually tries to look smarter than he is or, maybe, speaker doesn't respect him.
But there is problem: perfect form doesn't fit to your example.

But on the other side there is adjective "заумный" and noun "заумь". Direct translation can be "over-smart(ness)". General idea is the same as in "умничать", but "за-" enforces it, makes a little bit stronger.
By the rules of word-creation these can be converted in imperfect "заумничать" as the process, just a little bit stronger than "умничать".
It's not very common form, by it's nature it's just mistake, but I met it before. Like in "он заумничал целый час" - imperfect, just a little bit stronger form of "умничать".

Okay, so as an alternative to:

Он не хочет заумничать в этом уроке.
Intended Meaning:
He does not wish to get scientific in this lesson.

Maybe it would be better to just change the wording a bit to avoid the peculiarities of заумничать. Would this work:
Хотя амёбы тема, это не наука урок.
Intended Meaning:
Although amoebas are the topic, this is not a science lesson.

bobert your word by word translation does not work here. And grammar and order of words are totally wrong.

Although amoebas are the topic, this is not a science lesson.
Хотя урок и посвящен амёбам, это не научный семинар.

There is idiom: "посвящать урок (чему-либо)".
Семинар — academic form of lesson, assotiated with discuttion, opposite to lection, where discussion absent.

Хотя амёбы тема

Хотя тема сегодняшнего урока - амёбы, ...

This time the word order is important!

Originally Posted by RobertFox

Although amoebas are the topic, this is not a science lesson.
Хотя урок и посвящен амёбам, это не научный семинар.

or
Хотя тема урока — амёбы, это не урок биологии.