Truth vesus Truth / Pravda v. Istina

[Tatyana Buzina]

>This is probably the best way in such a situation  -  to give as >many examples as possible... because both words _are_ kind of >synonyms, but not always interchangeable. Everything depends on >the context, as always.

Cannot resist adding my two cents, i.e. the following context:

Sygrat' my p'esu byli rady,
I vse staralis' iskrenne
I vse chto videli vy, pravda
I vse chto slyshali vy, pravda
Pravda, da ne istina!

Chorus: 
Est' pravda gordaia,
Est' pravda skromnaia,
Takaia raznaia vsegda ona
Byvaet sladkaia,
Byvaet gor'kaia,
I tol'ko istina vsegda odna

Est' pravda svetlaia,
Est' pravda temnaia,
Est' na mgnoven'e
I na vremena
Byvaet dobraia,
Byvaet tverdaia
I tol'ko istina vsegda odna

Poroi vosstanet brat na brata,
Bezzhalostno neistovo
I vse chto pervyi kriknet pravda,
I chto vtoroi otvetit pravda
Pravda, da ne istina!

Chorus 
Est' pravda gordaia etc.

Srazhalis' my neodnokratno
S nepravdoi nenavistnoiu,
No chasto nam meshala pravda,
Zemnaia malen'kaia pravda
Pravda, da ne istina!

Chorus:
Est' pravda gordaia, etc.

It's a song from "Ne pokiday," a children's film from about fifteen years ago. Lyrics are by Leonid Derbenev. Alexander Blok he ain't, but this song is entirely devoted to the subject in question, and it's a fine example of a context when sometimes synonymous pravda and istina can be viewed as (almost sharply) contrasted notions. 

Regards,
Tatyana

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