Eighteenth Century Russia

[Edward M Dumanis]

On Wed, 10 Nov 2004, james zug wrote:

> I have a few questions from a layman (me) about Russian vocabularly. I
> am writing a book about an eighteenth-century American traveling in
> Siberia.
>
> 1. Siberia. What exactly does the word mean?

It is just the name of a specific territory.
According to Max Vasmer, the etimology comes from the name of the people
(Seber, Sever) who lived there many centuries ago. It was first mentioned
as "fortress of Sebers" by a persian historian of the XIII century.
Vasmer also refers to Ramstedt who was deriving Sibir from Mongolian for
"undergrowth, brushwood, wetland."

> 2. Sibirnji: I have that translated (is it spelled correctly?) as
> "cruelty" in Russian?

I cannot recognize the word, propabably, because of incorrect
transliteration.

> 3. Do you know off-hand whether the word for Russian fur trader is
> promyshlenniki or promyshleniki? I see it both ways.

With 2 n's.
It is not a fur trader, but rather a manufacturer, industrialist.
Fur trader, as any other trader, would be "kupets."

"Promyshlenniki" in Siberia who were dealing with fur would be buying row
furs, and treating it for usage in clothing, thus they manufactured
new products, not just traded.

> 4. Do you know about kabitkas? They were the carriages pulled along the
> postal routes across Russia. I can't seem to find out if they were open
> carriages or closed carriages.

Actually, "kibitka", or "kibitki," in plural.
They were closed.
See Vladimir Dal's Dictionary.

Sincerely,

Edward Dumanis <dumanis at buffalo.edu>

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