Russian Word of the Day

Russians love their proverbs and pithy sayings. It is amazing how many of them we have and use excessively to express so many different emotions. It seems that we have one for every life situation. We love them almost as much as we do our swear words (Honestly, I once heard a guy speak using just swear words! Quite an experience, I might add…)

«Собака на сене» is one of the very neat expressions we use. It is translated as “dog on hay”. The full saying goes: «собака на сене: и сама не ест, и другим не даёт», “dog on hay: she neither eats it herself, nor lets the others”. It is used when someone does not do something simply out of spite or uses something that others want just so they will not get it.

Here is how my kitty demonstrates it:

There is a really great play written by Lope De Vega that is called «Собака на сене». There a beautiful duchess falls in love with her secretary. She cannot be with him because of the difference in their social status, but at the same time her jealousy is driving her crazy. She is torn between what her honor dictates her and what her heart yearns for. That makes her act like the dog in the proverb: she does not commit to either being with her love or agree to let him go. It is a beautiful love story with a very happy ending.

This play was staged and made into a movie in 1977 by a talented director, Yan Frid. This adaptation is very popular and much loved in Russia. I would recommend for everyone to see it!

At Christmas my niece played a tune by Owl City called “Fireflies.” I'm not into synthpop, but it touched me for some reason, and as my heart was bathing in the song's disconnected melancholy, I suddenly realized that I didn't know the word for firefly in any language but English. I didn't even know whether fireflies existed in Russia. It turns out that they do, and the formal word is светляк.

A quick trip to Russian Wikipedia gives us this:

Although the formal word is светляк, when Russians casually discuss the insects, they use the diminutive form светлячок:

I think fireflies were put in the world for just one purpose: to teach us wonder. “Wonder” is one of those words that doesn't translate well into Russian. It is the feeling of surprise and admiration that stuns the soul when encountering unexpected beauty, that leaves our hearts momentarily still and simple and ready to know joy.

¹ The word десятки actually means “sets of ten,” not “dozens.” Since the purpose of the word in this context is to indicate approximate quantities, “dozens” is the best equivalent.

Комар is translated as mosquito; комары is the plural form of the word. Here are some example sentences:

The Moscow countryside is a fine place for freeing oneself from the constant stress and never-ending chaos of daily city life. It’s a place where people seek refuge on weekends and holidays to clear the mind and find some peace. Many Russians living in cities have country homes called dachas. But trying to reach a Zen-like state of relaxation can sometimes be quite difficult. I’m talking about the one loathsome neighbor that doesn’t mind his own business and wants to make your life just as miserable as his, the pointless calls from the residential council chairman asking for more money, occasional airplanes that happen to choose the one particular route that passes right above your dacha; but all that is nothing compared to the evil that a “комар” brings.

If your home is near the woods or a swampy lake of some sort, consider your evenings and nights ruined by these tiny vampires. Of course there are ways to keep the bloodsuckers away, but they are not too pleasant either. For instance you can stay in the house behind a closed window and enjoy the lovely evenings that way, but then what’s the point of even going out to the country? Then there is the mosquito repellent, but that chemical fusion can at times be so toxic that even humans will keep away. You could end up with an allergic reaction that is far worse than an itching “комар” bite.

Unfortunately, the only true, efficient way to stay unbothered is to have a certain natural quality that will keep them away. Don’t know what this quality is or how to acquire it. When my brother and I are out at night he rarely gets bitten, while I am basically eaten alive by the parasites—unless I'm wearing long sleeves. There also have been stories of people desperate enough to dig out deep ponds in their backyards and throw in fair-sized fish that can supposedly feed on the bloodsuckers.

Come to think of it, there actually is one plus for the weather being cold three quarters of the year.

The Russian word for mouse is мышь. It is a third declension feminine noun that declines like this:

Sample sentences:

¹ Apparently this superstition was held in English speaking countries as well:

A flayne Mouse rosted, or made in powder, & drunk at one tyme, doeth perfectly helpe such as can not holde or keepe their water: especially, if it be used three dayes in this order. This is verie true and often proued.

From Lupton's “Thousand notable things,” quoted in A Dictionary of Superstitions.

On July 4th I neglected to put together anything for the blog, so to assuage my feelings of patriotic inadequacy, today we will discuss the word орёл eagle. The ё is a fleeting vowel, so the word declines like this:

The bald eagle is one of the symbols of the USA, and in Russian one of the names for it is белоголовый орлан, literally “the white-headed sea-eagle”:

Actually, in standard translations both the phrase «белоголовый орлан» and «aмериканский орёл» should be rendered “Bald Eagle,” but on this occasion I've rendered them in a more word-for-word fashion to point out how the phrases are constructed.

Of course the US is not the only country to use eagles in its symbology. Imperial Russia used the double-headed eagle «двуглавый орёл» on its coat of arms. The coat of arms of the current Russian Federation also uses the double-headed eagle.

Imperial Russian coat of arms (Courtesy of Wikipedia)	Russian Federation coat of arms (Courtesy of Wikipedia)