The Humanities

[Nora Favorov]

In my translation work I have recently been running into problems
translating the Russian term:  гуманитарные (науки/факультеты) [gumanitarnye
(nauki/fakul'tety)].  Does our English cognate have a slightly different
meaning?  According to Merriam-Webster:  c humanities plural : the branches
of learning regarded as having primarily a cultural character and usually
including languages, literature, history, mathematics, and philosophy.

In Russian usage, do the gumanitarnye disciplines coincide with the ones
listed above? My 4-volume slovar' russkogo gives the following definition
for gumanitarnii: Otnosiashchiisia k obshchestvennym naukam, izuchaiushchim
cheloveka i ego kul'turu.  Sounds more like "social sciences" than something
that could include math.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks
Nora

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