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Лист (часть вторая)
One of the greatest Russian writers, Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, once said that Russian language is «великий и могучий», “great and mighty”. I believe that one of the reasons it is true is that some words in Russian encompass a few completely different meanings.
Previously I talked about the word «лист», meaning “leaf”, but «лист» can also mean a piece of paper or two pages in a book.
| Запишите всю нужную информацию на листе бумаги. | "Write down all the necessary information on a piece of paper." |
| — Ты уже прочёл Преступление и наказание? — Нет, мне ещё двадцать листов осталось. |
“Did you read Crime and Punishment yet?” “No, I still have forty pages left.” |
| У тебя нет листа бумаги? Я забыла свою тетрадь. | Do you have a piece of paper? I forgot my notebook. |
| — Что ты сделала с тем листом бумаги, который я тебе дал минуту назад? — Я сделала самолётик и пустила его в Сашу. |
“What did you do to that piece of paper I gave you a minute ago?” “I made a paper airplane and threw it at Sasha.” |
The diminutive for лист is «листик» or «листок». Both of them can be used interchangeably.
| Дай мне, пожалуйста, этот листок бумаги, я перепишу как туда добраться. | "Give me, please, that little piece of paper; I will copy the directions how to get there." |
| — Ты не видел здесь листик сиреневый был? У меня на нём расписание записано было. — Вон он, там, на столе. |
“Did you see a little purple piece of paper here? I had my class schedule written on it.” “There it is, on the table.” |
The plural form of the word «лист» in its current meaning is «листы».
| Sg | Pl | |
| Nom | лист | листы |
| Acc | ||
| Gen | листа | листов |
| Pre | листе | листах |
| Dat | листу | листам |
| Ins | листом | листами |
The verb «листать», "to turn" or to "flip through" pages is also formed from the root «лист» as well as the word «листовка», which means “flyer”.
| Я быстро пролистала эту книгу и она показалась мне давольно интересной. | "I quickly flipped though the pages of this book and it seemed rather interesting." |
| На улице активисты борьбы за права человека раздавали листовки. | “Human rights activists were giving out flyers in the street.” |
In English the word list sounds like «лист» but means «список», in Russian. Having lived in the United States for a few years now I sometimes add some altered English words to my Russian speech without even noticing. For example, I caught myself a few times using «лист» when I mean to say «список» partially because the pronunciation is so similar. While I work on improving my English, I also try to avoid little mistakes like that; thus, maintaining a very good level of Russian.
4 comments
Don responds: I suspect all these uses either descended from, or are modelled on, the Latin phrase in folio meaning “in a leaf, in a sheet” (folium = a leaf.
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