Dogs in Russian literature
Paul B. Gallagher
paulbg at PBG-TRANSLATIONS.COM
Mon May 11 05:35:29 UTC 2009
Prof Steven P Hill wrote:
> Dear colleagues:
>
> In Boris Unbegaun's linguistics book, "Russian Surnames"
> (Oxford Univ. Press, 1972), the author discusses names
> of fictional characters invented by Russian writer Saltykov-
> Shchedrin, including humorous hyphenated names of such
> characters.
>
> E.g., "Serpukhovskii-Dogoniai" ("Serpuxovskij-Dogonjaj"), and
> a similar example suffixed with "...-Doezzhai." According to
> Unbegaun, Saltykov borrowed the elements "Dogoniai" and
> "Doezzhai" from commands spoken to dogs.
>
> Does anyone out there know the English equivalents of these
> "canine commands"? Could they be analogous to the English
> "Fetch!" (i.e., go chase a thrown stick/ball and bring it back)?
> Or English "Sic 'im!" (i.e., go threaten and try to attack/bite
> an enemy)?
>
> Or some other English equivalent of these canine commands...?
Here's a quick start, thanks to Google:
<http://fof.compus.ca/critters/russiancommands.html>
This fellow apparently imports and works with borzois. I've substituted
real Russian for his peculiar "transliteration." Russians should review
my cleanup. I couldn't always tell what he meant...
No -- Нет
strong "NO" -- Нельзя!
Don't do that -- Не делай!
Come here -- Иди сюда! / Приди сюда!
Come, I said! -- Иди сюда! Я сказал(а)!!
(Very) Good! -- Молодец! / (Очень) Хорошо!
go outside -- Иди на улице! (улицу? -- pbg)
go home -- Иди домой!
Go in a car -- Иди в машине
stop / stay -- Стой! / Стоп
Good night -- Спокойной ночи
Pretty girl -- Красивая девочка
little girl -- Маленкая девочка
You don't listen -- Непослушный
Smart -- Умница
fast -- Быстро!
Quiet -- Тихо!
Want to go outside? -- Хочешь на улицу?
What do you want? -- Что ты хочешь?
Let's go -- Пойдем! / Пошли!
walk -- Грясти
To invite the pack to go for a walk -- Пойдем грясти!
Do you want to go for a walk? -- Тебе хочется грясти? (very weird
translit. -- pbg)
Let's go for a walk -- Давай гуляем!
Want to go for a walk? -- Хочешь гулять?
Let's run -- Давай бегом!
Go play -- Иди играй!
jump -- Прыгать
sit -- Садить / Сидись
eat -- Кушать / Тебе хочется кушать? and the pack heads for the kitchen
to be fed.
Want to eat? -- Хочешь есть? (My dogs want you to know their answer to
this is: Да!)
Drink water -- Пьет воду
Want to drink? -- Хочешь пить?
I love you -- Я люблю тебя (Form might not be correct, but dogs don't
mind grammatical mistakes at all.)
--
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com
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