Did Onegin row for Cambridge?

[John Dunn]

Well, now for something not quite completely different...

I was reading, as one does, a Russian-language account of the Oxford-Cambridge boat race
(http://www.newsru.com/sport/02apr2006/lon.html),
in which the author refers to the competing crews by their nick-names: Oxford, the 'dark-blues' are the темно-синие [temno-sinie], and Cambridge, the 'light-blues' are the светло-синие [svetlo-sinie].  I am not sure that I have ever encountered the adjective светло-синий [svetlo-sinij] before, and while I can just about imagine what such a colour might be like, I am not sure whether it is an apt description of the very light shade blue favoured by Cambridge sporting teams.  As you have no doubt worked out by now, the question on which I would (seriously) welcome observations by members of the list is this: did the writer use this obscure term in deliberate imitation of the English, or was it perhaps an attempt to avoid any possibly unwanted assocations that might arise from a description of the Cambridge rowing eight as голубые [golubye]?

John Dunn.


John Dunn
SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow
Hetheringon Building
Bute Gardens
Glasgow G12 8RS
U.K.

Tel.: +44 (0)141 330 5591
Fax: +44 (0)141 330 2297
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk

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