help with translation

[Edward M Dumanis]

I do not see anything illogical in this translation.
It is clear that if the cost of the work of 2 summer laborers is
equivalent to the cost of 300 days, then the cost of the work of 1 summer
laborer is equivalent to the cost of 150 work days, i.e., roughly speking, 
5 month (for example, 1/2 of April, May, June, July, August and 1/2 of
September).

Sincerely,

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at acsu.buffalo.edu>


On Wed, 25 Apr 2001, Michael Denner wrote:

> Dear SEELANGers,
> 
> (Let me know off-list if the Cyrillic fails below.)
> 
> I'm having trouble with a translation from Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. In the
> 20-vol. Moscow edition, the line (from ch. 2 of part 7) goes that Levin's
> liveries cost the equivalent of Ä×ÕÈ ÌÅÔÎÉÈ ÒÁÂÏÔÎÉËÏ×, ÔÏ ÅÓÔØ ÏËÏÌÏ
> ÔÒÅÈÓÏÔ ÒÁÂÏÞÉÈ ÄÎÅÊ ÏÔ Ó×ÑÔÏÊ ÄÏ ÚÁÇÏ×ÅÎØ, É ËÁÖÄÙÊ ÄÅÎØ ÔÑÖËÏÊ ÒÁÂÏÔÙ Ó
> ÒÁÎÎÅÇÏ ÕÔÒÁ ÄÏ ÐÏÚÄÎÅÇÏ ×ÅÞÅÒÁ. The obvious translation runs: "the wages of
> two laborers for the summer, that is, about three hundred working days from
> Easter to Ash Wednesday, and each a day of hard work from early morning to
> late evening."
> 
> This seems to me to be illogical. Zagoven'e (I think) usually means Ash
> Wednesday (though it could apply to any day before a fast). (Why this form?
> The gen. sing. would be zagoven'ja, and the gen. pl. would be zagovenej,
> right?) Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, 7 weeks before Easter. It
> is, indeed, three hundred-odd days between Easter and Ash Wednesday (55 days
> the Lenten period, if years of Catholic education paid off). Here's the
> problem: Why does Tolstoy call the workers "letnii" if they work from April
> to February? Moreover, why an agricultural worker would be paid for work
> nearly year-round in Russia is also unclear.
> 
> Does one just call all ag-workers "summer workers"? If so, what would be a
> good translation?
> 
> Can anyone clear this up?
> Best,
> 
> Michael A. Denner
> 
> 
> 
> <|><|><|><|><|><|><|>
> Michael A. Denner
> Russian Studies Department
> Campus Unit 8361
> Stetson University
> DeLand, FL 32720
> 904.822.7265
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> <|><|><|><|><|><|><|>
> Michael A. Denner
> Russian Studies Department
> Campus Unit 8361
> Stetson University
> DeLand, FL 32720
> 904.822.7265
> 
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