information or not

Ithaca NY

Description

Stalin coined the Russian word дезинформация (dezinformatsiya) as the title for a KGB black propaganda department (1949). He wanted it to sound French so he could claim it had a Western origin. The alleged Fench origin word (désinformation) is not as old as the Russian one. The English word, which is technically a calque of the Russian one, didn't appear in dictionaries until the late 80s, but was in use as early as 1955.