Kapitanskaya dochka: "umyot"

[Inna Caron]

I am guessing it is a Bashkir or a Kyrgiz word, so it has no particular
connotation in Russian other than giving the narrative a more ethnic
flavor, in accordance with the spirit of Orientalism. You know, of
course, that both Pushkin and Lermontov (not to mention
Bestuzhev-Marlinsky) liberally used Ossetian and Circassian words when
writing about Caucasus. I think the same idea applies here.

Inna 

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler
Sent: Tuesday, September 19, 2006 4:55 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] Kapitanskaya dochka: "umyot"

Dear all,

I am retranslating Kapitanskaya dochka.

It is difficult to know what to do with the word умет (umyot) in the
following sentence: Постоялый двор, или, по-тамошнему, умет, находился в
стороне, в степи, далече от всякого селения, и очень походил на
разбойническую пристань.  At present I am simply transliterating it,
which
is not a satisfactory solution:  The inn - or umyot, as they called it
in
those parts - was in the middle of the steppe, a long way from anywhere,
and
seemed uncommonly like a robbers' den.

Does anyone have any ideas?  Does the word have any particular
associations
that I should be trying to reproduce in a translation?

Best Wishes,

Robert

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