Zenith / Zenit

Chelsea has just defeated Spartak Moscow 4-1.  A friend of mine in London sent me some images from the field with the red-white Spartakians scattered among the victorious blue-clad “Pensioners.”  This made me think that had Zenit been in place of Spartak, they would have surely won, right?  After all, they are my hometown’s legendary football team, and with a name like Zenit, they’d have no choice but to conquer.

The word zenith originates from Medieval Latin, and was first recorded in 1387 through a Latin transliteration of Arabic samt “road, path,” abbreviation of samt ar-ras, literally “the way over the head.”  Arabic letter m was misread as ni and became the Latin cenit, which in turn became cénit in Spanish, zénith in French, zenit in Italian, Zenit in German, zenith in English, and Зенит (Zenit) in Russian – the point of sky directly overhead, or, figuratively, the time in which something is most powerful or successful.

Which leads us to the one and only FC Zenit of St. Petersburg, which has been at the zenith of success ever since winning the Russian Premier League in 2007 and lifting the club’s first ever UEFA Cup and the UEFA Super Cup in 2008!

St. Petersburg hosted Russia’s first football match in 1897, when the predecessor of Zenit, local Russian football team Petrograd, played against the English team Ostrov.  Several professional football teams were then formed in St. Petersburg, which changed names and owners reflecting the turbulent politics of that time.  Murzinka, Bolshevik and Stalinets were some of the names predating Zenit.  The current name Zenit FC was registered in 1936 under Joseph Stalin, who hated St. Petersburg with Asiatic passion.

Survivor of the Socialist Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922, the Great Patriotic Wars of 1914-1918 and 1941-1945, the Czarist and Communist regimes, Zenit is a true proud St. Petersburg icon.  The team is worshiped in the city.  Renowned composer Dmitry Shostakovich and famous actor Kirill Lavrov were among Zenit’s many distinguished fans.