"Na miru i smert' krasna"

[Robert Chandler]

Dear Lily and all,

I like Alfia Rakova's suggestion:
"Company in distress makes sorrow (trouble) less".
(though I did not know it)

I second everything that Bob Rothstein says, and would like to add that
Sophia Lubensky's dictionary is SUPERB.  Immaculately arranged, interesting
examples, crystal clear - it is the only one of my many dictionaries which I
truly enjoy using. 

Vssego dobrogo,

R.


> Sophia Lubensky, in her Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms, explains
> the proverb as follows: "misfortunes are easier to bear when a person
> has his friends around him, or when he is with people who share a
> similar fate (formerly referred specifically to death)."
> 
> In addition to the translations already suggested (by Alina and Alfia)
> there's also "Troubles shared are troubles halved" and two French
> versions: "Chagrin partagé, chagrin diminué" (Shared trouble/sorrow is
> diminished trouble/sorrow) and "Malheur partagé, n'est malheur qu'à
> demi" (Shared misfortune is only half a misfortune).
> 
> These remind me (by rather free association) of the very different
> sentiment expressed in one of the late historian Kamil Dziewanowski's
> favorite quotations, François de la Rouchefoucault's Maxim 19: "Nous
> avons tous assez de force pour supporter les maux d'autrui/" /(We all
> have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others).
> 
> Bob Rothstein
> 
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