translation question

[Condee]

Jack, what about "sustenance"?

Prof. Nancy Condee, Director
Graduate Program for Cultural Studies
2206 Posvar Hall
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
412-624-7232


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Jack Kollmann
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 5:47 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] translation question

         Literally, "feeding," more descriptively, "provisioning," 
"upkeep," "maintenance," "subsistence," "subsidy," "support."  There is no 
single English word that covers the nuances of what "kormlenie" was as a 
system for the support of regional officials (namestniki, volosteli, 
voevody, etc.) in Muscovite times.  If "ruga" occurs (usually in reference 
to priests) in the same text, the translator is faced with the challenge of 
distinguishing the two practices -- similar, but not identical -- in
English.

         A translation is like a mistress:  if it's too pretty, it may not 
be faithful; if it's faithful, it may not be very pretty.  Take your pick, 
but surely the literal "feeding" for "kormlenie" is awkward.

Jack Kollmann
Stanford University


At 09:47 AM 3/22/2006, you wrote:
>Hello,
>
>what is the English term for the Russian "kormlenie"?
>
>("Kormlenie - oznachalo pervonachal'no sposob soderzhaniia dolzhnostnykh 
>lits. Sud'i, vmeste s ispolniteliami ikh reshenii, poluchali ot mestnogo 
>naseleniia vse neobkhodimoe dlia propitaniia kak ikh samikh, tak i slug 
>ikh i dazheloshadei. Eto byl tak nazyv. korm v nature.")
>
>Your help will be much appreciated!
>Please reply off-list at tbuzina at yandex.ru.
>
>Thank you,
>Tatyana
>
>--
>Tatyana V. Buzina,
>Associate Professor, Chair,
>Dpt. of European Languages,
>Institute for Linguistics,
>Russian State U for the Humanities
>
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