help with Ukrainian saying

[George Hawrysch]

Steve Marder wrote:
>> "v ogorode buzina, a v Kieve dyad'ka"
>
> Is there not a further incongruity here? After all, v
> ogorode kapusta, a buzina v sadu!

When such sayings came into being, ogorod was not always
the tilled plot with orderly rows of plants we think of
now. It was usually a large chunk of land where all kinds
of things could be found, including buzina -- which at
least in Ukraine would not have been planted there
deliberately. It was regarded negatively -- "V buzyni
Nechystyj sydyt'!" -- and its fruit was thought to be
poisonous. So in Ukraine, buzyna would be promptly cut
out if it started growing in a sad.

In Ukrainian there is also "buzok" (Russian = "siren'"),
which would be welcome in a sad. Buzok is often confused
with buzyna, even by native speakers.

George Hawrysch

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