Fenya or Fenka is a Russian cant language used among criminals. Originally it was a cryptolanguage of ofenyas or ofenes, old Russian peddlers and had a number of names. There are no convincing explanations about the origins of the words "ofenya" and "fenya". "Fenya" is also a Russian female name, with no relation to the language. In modern Russian language it is also referred to as blatnoy language (Russian:"blatnoy yazyk"), where "blatnoy" is a slang expression for "criminal". A peddler, Brit. ... Slang is the non-standard or non-dialectal use of words in a language of a particular social group, and sometimes the creation of new words or importation of words from another language. ...

The grammar is Russian, the vocabulary has changed over time.

The original fenya consisted of broken Russian words, words borrowed from Greek and other foreign languages. Vladimir Dahl in his monumental Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian language gives the following examples of ofenya's parlance: Dahls portrait by Perov Vladimir Ivanovich Dal (also: Dahl, Владимир Иванович Даль) (November 10, 1801 – September 22, 1872) was the greatest Russian lexicographer. ...

• "Ропа кимать, полумеркот, рыхло закурещат ворыханы."

  Normative Russian: "Пора спать, полночь; скоро запоют петухи."

  Translation: "Time to go to bed, <it's> midnight; roosters will sing soon."

• "Да позагорбил басве слемзить: астона басвинска ухалила дряботницей.

  Normative Russian: "Да позабыл тебе сказать: жена твоя померла весною."

  Translation: "Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you: your wife died this spring"

The vocabulary changed over time, with notable infusion of words of Yiddish origin. During the times of the Soviet Union fenya penetrated into common spoken Russian and can no longer be considered cryptic (Note: this is not intended to mean that Fenka is a popularly known or understood sub-language. It is still commonly associated with those who have connections to the Russian criminal culture or who have spent a significant amount of time incarcerated. Few 'common' Russians possess a complete or even complex understanding of it and fewer still - for various reasons - will admit to it.) A number of explanations for this phenomenon are suggested. For one, a significant part of population, not necessarily criminals, went through labor camps, and massive indiscriminate amnesties after the death of Stalin resulted in a penetration of the subculture of convicts into the everyday life in the form of a shock wave, which made resocialization difficult. Also, the criminal life was romanticized in popular culture: for example, in the form of "blatnaya song", see Bard (Soviet Union): Criminal song. Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ... A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in penal labour. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 1879[1] – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and leader of the Soviet Union. ... Bulat Okudzhava, a pioneer of the Bard genre For other meanings of the word, see Bard (disambiguation). ...

Fenya influences the Russian culture in different ways. In particular, a whole subgenre of Russian humor exists, in which a known tale, such as Romeo and Juliet or a popular Russian fairy tale is cast into fenya. The Russian culture is rooted in the early East Slavic culture. ... Russian humour gains much of its wit from the great flexibility and richness of the Russian language, allowing for plays on words and unexpected associations. ... The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, commonly referred to as Romeo and Juliet, is a play by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young lovers who would do anything to be together. ... A fairy tale is a story, either told to children or as if told to children, concerning the adventures of mythical characters such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, giants, and others. ...

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the appearance of "New Russians" introduced a new changes into fenya, notably assigning new meanings and accents to common words. The rise of Gorbachev Although reform stalled between 1964–1982, the generational shift gave new momentum for reform. ... New Russian (новый русский - novyi russkiy in Russian) is a half-sarcastic term for newly rich businessmen in post-Soviet Russia, who got wealthy very quickly using semi-criminal methods during Russias chaotic transition to a market economy. ...