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The article below is reprinted from the most recent SlavFile. The full issue is available here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n By Nora Seligman Favorov<\/em><\/p>\n In the introduction to Yuri Aleksandrovich Fedosiuk\u2019s book \u00ab\u0427\u0442\u043e \u043d\u0435\u043f\u043e\u043d\u044f\u0442\u043d\u043e \u0443 \u043a\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0441\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0432 \u0438\u043b\u0438 \u042d\u043d\u0446\u0438\u043a\u043b\u043e\u043f\u0435\u0434\u0438\u044f \u0440\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0431\u044b\u0442\u0430 XIX \u0432\u0435\u043a\u0430<\/strong>\u00bb (What is Unclear in the Classics or An Encyclopedia of 19th-Century Russian Daily Life; Moscow: Flinta, 2017), the author\u2019s son explains the book\u2019s origins by quoting a 1959 letter-to-the-editor his father wrote to the journal \u00ab\u0412\u043e\u043f\u0440\u043e\u0441\u044b \u043b\u0438\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443\u0440\u044b\u00bb (Questions of Literature):<\/p>\n For an ever-expanding subset of contemporary readers, hundreds of expressions encountered in the writings of the Russian classics and reflecting social relationships and the everyday features of prerevolutionary Russia are becoming stumbling blocks, being either utterly baffling or misunderstood. [\u2026] As someone acquainted with only the metric system, it is unclear to me whether a nobleman possessing two hundred \u0434\u0435\u0441\u044f\u0442\u0438\u043d\u0430<\/em> of land is rich or poor, whether a merchant who has consumed a \u043f\u043e\u043b \u0448\u0442\u043e\u0444<\/em> of vodka is very drunk, and whether an official who gives a tip of a \u0441\u0438\u043d\u0435\u043d\u044c\u043a\u0430\u044f,<\/em> a \u043a\u0440\u0430\u0441\u0435\u043d\u043a\u0430\u044f<\/em>, or a \u0441\u0435\u043c\u0438\u0442\u043a\u0430<\/em> is being generous. Which character in a story holds a higher position when one is addressed as \u0432\u0430\u0448\u0435 \u0431\u043b\u0430\u0433\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0434\u0438\u0435<\/em>, another as \u0432\u0430\u0448\u0435 \u0441\u0438\u044f\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e,<\/em> and a third as \u0432\u0430\u0448\u0435 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0445\u043e\u0434\u0438\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/em>? (All translations of Fedosiuk are my own.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Reading this gave me a warm, fuzzy \u201cI\u2019m not alone!\u201d sort of feeling.<\/p>\n Fedosiuk ends his letter by urging philologists and historians to undertake the task of creating reference works that elucidate the terminology of prerevolutionary daily life in order to help a wide range of readers (first and foremost literature teachers, students, and schoolchildren) to \u201cmore deeply penetrate the works of the classics, reinvigorating many lines that have faded since the concepts they deal with have, in our era, been relegated to archives.\u201d<\/p>\n Literary translators are not listed among those needing to \u201cmore deeply penetrate\u201d the Russian classics, but we might be the ones with the most desperate practical need. Of course, Fedosiuk wrote his letter before the internet, where explanations of most if not all of the puzzling terms he names can be easily found. And since 1959, Fedosiuk himself has produced the valuable resource cited above (available in physical form through Amazon, kniga.com or for download through LitRes.com).<\/p>\n I first heard of this book from Erik McDonald, professor of Russian literature, literary translator, and blogger<\/a>. At the time, we were both translating works by the prolific, popular, and currently almost-unheard-of nineteenth-century writer Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya (~1822\u20131889), who published under the pseudonym V. Krestovsky. He was working on her 1879 novella \u00ab\u0421\u0432\u0438\u0434\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0435\u00bb (The Meeting<\/a><\/em>, 2022), and I was working on \u00ab\u0411\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0435\u0446\u00bb (The Brother<\/em>; the original was published in 1858 and the translation will soon be pitched to a publisher). Both these works had rather puzzling references to \u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435\u0442\u044b<\/strong>. Erik had already discovered Fedosiuk\u2019s book and found the explanation we needed in the chapter on \u0426\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u0431\u0443\u043c\u0430\u0433\u0438<\/em> (loosely, financial instruments): \u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435\u0442<\/em> was the term commonly used for the piece of paper representing ownership of a sum of money that had been deposited with a financial institution. This fit the context in both our novellas nicely.<\/p>\n But the story behind the \u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435\u0442<\/em> appearing in my novella involved another puzzle Erik and Fedosiuk helped me solve. In The Brother<\/em>, before any \u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435\u0442<\/em> is mentioned, we learn that one of the sisters had inherited 5,000 rubles from a godmother and that sum had been \u201c\u043f\u043e\u043b\u043e\u0436\u0435\u043d\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0432 N-\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043c \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0435\u201d\u2014deposited in a \u201c\u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437<\/em>\u201d in the town of N (the seat of the province in which the story takes place). Toward the novella\u2019s conclusion the sister \u201c\u0432\u0437\u044f\u043b\u0430 \u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435\u0442 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437\u0430 \u0438 \u043f\u043e\u043d\u0435\u0441\u043b\u0430 \u0435\u0433\u043e \u0431\u0440\u0430\u0442\u0443\u201d (retrieved the \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 \u0431\u0438\u043b\u0435\u0442<\/em> and brought it to her brother). \u041f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437<\/em>? I knew by then that the term \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437<\/em> had long since gone out of use as a term for agencies\/offices of the Russian government, with one exception: the \u041f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 \u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f<\/strong>.<\/p>\n This term brings me to another usually invaluable resource for R>E translators dealing with the prerevolutionary period: Dictionary of Russian Historical Terms from the Eleventh Century to 1917<\/strong><\/em>, compiled by Sergei G. Pushkarev and edited by George Vernadsky and Ralph T. Fisher, Jr. (Yale University Press, 1970). Several years ago I had trouble finding this book for any reasonable price, but I see that it is now easily and affordably available on, for example, AbeBooks. (As a side note, I was thrilled when I did finally receive a copy I ordered from Amazon and found a lovely cursive inscription inside the front cover: \u201cSusan C. Brownsberger, 1976.\u201d Brownsberger [1935\u20132021] is my idol; her brilliant translation of Iskander\u2019s Sandro of Chegem<\/em> is what first inspired me to pursue literary translation.)<\/p>\n Pushkarev offers the following entry for \u041f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 \u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f<\/em>:<\/p>\n Distinct from the Muscovite \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437\u044b, these departments were established in each \u0413\u0423\u0411\u0415\u0420\u041d\u0418\u042f<\/em> capital by the statutes on \u0433\u0443\u0431\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0438\u044f administration of 1775. They dealt with health, welfare, and primary education. After the introduction of the \u0417\u0415\u041c\u0421\u0422\u0412\u041e<\/em> in 1864, these functions were transferred to the \u0437\u0435\u043c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e institutions, and the \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437\u044b \u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f<\/em> remained only in those \u0433\u0443\u0431\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0438\u044f that did not have the \u0437\u0435\u043c\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e organization.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Pushkarev has helped me solve many terminological riddles, but this entry wasn\u2019t helpful at all. This \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 didn\u2019t sound like the sort of institution in which money would be deposited. At least one historian, John P. LeDonne, translates the name of this institution as Board of Public Welfare. \u201cBoard\u201d is more appropriate than, say, \u201cOffice,\u201d since it apparently \u201cconsisted of six assessors from the intermediate courts representing the nobility, the townsmen, and the peasants of the treasury, but it met under the chairmanship of the governor only during the winter months\u201d (John P. LeDonne, Absolutism and Ruling Class: The Formation of the Russian Political Order, 1700-1825<\/em>, Oxford University Press, 1991, p. 254).<\/p>\n Again, Erik guided me to a passage about this \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 in Fedosiuk\u2019s chapter on \u201c\u0413\u0443\u0431\u0435\u0440\u043d\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0435 \u0432\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0438<\/em>\u201d (provincial government).<\/p>\n The \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 \u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f<\/em>, which was responsible for local vocational schools and all manner of medical and charitable institutions, came directly under the authority of governors. This \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437<\/em> had the right to engage in financial operations for the purpose of augmenting its meager budget. Knowing this sheds light on Dobchinsky\u2019s response to Khlestakov\u2019s request for a loan of \u201cabout a thousand rubles\u201d: \u201cMy money, I regret to inform you, is deposited with the \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 \u043e\u0431\u0449\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0433\u043e \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0437\u0440\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, this \u043f\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u0437 does come up in Gogol\u2019s Inspector General<\/em>, as Fedosiuk points out. The two translations of the play I was able to find on Google Books render this institution as \u201cthe State Savings Bank\u201d (Thomas Seltzer) or \u201cthe state bank\u201d (Fruma Gottschalk). This is understandable. It would distract and confuse readers of Gogol\u2019s brilliant play if Dobchinsky had for some unknown reason deposited his money with the Board of Public Welfare. The only version of The Inspector General<\/em> I have on my shelves, published in the National Textbook Company\u2019s \u201cAnnotated Reader for Students of Russian\u201d series in 1993, glosses all the vocabulary except<\/em> for this tricky term, leaving it to the imagination of struggling students of Russian.<\/p>\n Some readers of SlavFile<\/em> may recall a presentation I made at the 2020 ATA Annual Conference about translating historical terminology, in which I discussed the challenges I faced translating the 1863 novel City Folk and Country Folk<\/em>. This novel was by Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya\u2019s younger sister, Sofia. The Khvoshchinskaya sisters grew up in a close-knit, well-educated, and poor noble family. When Sofia and Nadezhda were children, the family was financially ruined after their father was falsely accused of misappropriating government funds. They lost their estate and he was disqualified from government service. During the eleven years that passed until he was exonerated, both daughters, but especially Nadezhda, helped their father as he struggled to support the family through copy work\u2014reproducing calligraphic versions of government documents and topographic maps. The daughters\u2019 detailed knowledge of the bureaucratic workings of Russia\u2019s provincial governments in the mid-nineteenth century is reflected in their work, and this makes them both exceptionally hard to translate. Their fiction is filled with passing mentions of phenomena that would have been immediately familiar to their educated contemporaries but require hours of research by translators diligent enough to burrow down the necessary investigatory rabbit holes.<\/p>\n I am grateful to Erik McDonald for introducing me to Fedosiuk\u2019s book and to Yuri Alexandrovich for writing it. One drawback for people wishing to use it as a reference is that it is not designed for quick searches. The eBook is not searchable, so when you want to look something up you have to go the TOC at the end and read through the chapters potentially related to your term. Pushkarev\u2019s Dictionary<\/em> is organized as such (with the Russian words in Latin rather than Cyrillic letters and alphabetized A-Z rather than \u0410-\u042f). Its primary drawback is that it was published in 1970 and has never been updated or expanded.<\/p>\n There are surely many other resources and tricks for translators of prerevolutionary Russian texts. Beside the obvious approach of perusing Russian-language material that comes up in response to internet searches, I often plug the puzzling term into Yandex and\/or Google in transliterated form to see if Anglophone historians have written about the given phenomenon. That is how I found the LeDonne text cited above. I\u2019d love to hear what tricks and texts my colleagues use to research Russian historical terminology: contact me, or write an article of your own. Tales of terminological searches are yawn-inducing for ordinary mortals, but if you\u2019ve made it to the end of this article, you\u2019re no ordinary mortal.<\/p>\n Nora Seligman Favorov is a Russian-to-English translator specializing in Russian literature and history. Her translation of Sofia Khvoshchinskaya\u2019s 1863 novel <\/em>City Folk and Country Folk (Columbia, 2017) was recognized by the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and Eastern European Languages as \u201cBest Literary Translation into English\u201d for 2018. Her translation of <\/em>Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator by Oleg Khlevniuk (Yale, 2015) was selected as Pushkin House UK\u2019s \u201cbest Russian book in translation\u201d for 2016. She serves as translation editor for <\/em>Russian Life magazine and took over as chief editor of <\/em>SlavFile in 2021 after Lydia Razran Stone\u2019s retirement. She can be reached at norafavorov@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Like what you read? There’s more where that came from. Check out the Summer-Fall 2022 issue here<\/a> or the full SlavFile archive here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The article below is reprinted from the most recent SlavFile. The full issue is available here. Tracking Down Russian Historical Terminology: A Tale of Two Terms and Two Resources By Nora Seligman Favorov In the introduction to Yuri Aleksandrovich Fedosiuk\u2019s book \u00ab\u0427\u0442\u043e \u043d\u0435\u043f\u043e\u043d\u044f\u0442\u043d\u043e \u0443 \u043a\u043b\u0430\u0441\u0441\u0438\u043a\u043e\u0432 \u0438\u043b\u0438 \u042d\u043d\u0446\u0438\u043a\u043b\u043e\u043f\u0435\u0434\u0438\u044f \u0440\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u0431\u044b\u0442\u0430 XIX \u0432\u0435\u043a\u0430\u00bb (What is Unclear in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[99,3,11],"tags":[80,23,9,22,24],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8HJOu-xB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2084,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions\/2084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/SLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Tracking Down Russian Historical Terminology: A Tale of Two Terms and Two Resources<\/h2>\n
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