question regarding R, RCS, or OCS (?)

[Tatyana Buzina]

Hello,
actually, "sviataia sviatykh" can be used in everyday speech ("pokusilsia na sviataia sviatykh"). It's also a standard translation for "the holy of holies." I don't have a dictionary of religious terms at hand, but it would be interesting to look it up there. And the case is far from unique. As it has been pointed out, there are many archaic forms floating around, especially when it comes to religion. For instance, even people without any education or people who don't practice any religion would use freely such archaic vocatives as "Gospodi" and "Bozhe." Or "Otche nash" which many use, I am sure, without having a clue what "Otche nash" is and why one's supposed to know it by heart (znat' kak otche nash). On a slightly different note, there are plenty of idioms in other spheres as well where native speakers don't know even the meanings of each individual word but it doesn't preclude them from using the idioms ("lezt' na rozhon," for instance, or the infamous "ni zgi ne vidno"). And they would also have no reason to know these meanings. "Rozhon," apparently, is the pointed end of a spearhead (I am sure quite a few of today's students might have differences telling a spear from other outdated weaponry), and I won't even embarrass myself with "zga," as there have been different versions as to what it is.
Tatyana

>At 08:34 PM 3/5/2006, you wrote:
>>Hi Jules,     Isn't "svjataja" neuter nom. or acc. plural long form? Dean
>
>
>Dean,
>so it would seem.  But read my second longer message re this
>explanation.  That is like identifying the caliber bullet in the murder
>victim.  It may be a clue, but it doesn't "explain" what happened.
>No reason for the translator to use, or even know such a form.  Rest
>of the translation gives no reason to think the translator was familiar
>with the usages of R Orthodox religious language.
>Jules
>
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-- 
Tatyana V. Buzina,
Associate Professor, Chair,
Dpt. of European Languages,
Institute for Linguistics,
Russian State U for the Humanities

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