Grossman: VSE TECHET: poznala & uznala

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Elena Ostrovskaya wrote:

> Well, there is the depth in "познать" that "узнать" lacks. It could
> be a slow gradual process or a moment of insight, but the final
> knowledge is something very big or very important. So in this respect
> 'recognize' might seem too superficial. On the other hand,
> stylistically "познать" does sound higher than "узнать" and bears a
> possible reference to "своя своих не познаша", which in this context
> could be understood quite the other way round. And finally (but in
> reality it will be the main reason, I think), it is the same
> "самопознание" that appears in the next paragraph, just presented as
> a verb with a verb with a complement, which is a standard collocation
> "познай себя", or 'understand yourself'. I am not quite sure if all
> these point directly to the third variant.

The familiar phrase (for me, anyway) is not "understand yourself," but 
"know thyself." It has a Greekish/Biblical ring to it, though I'm 
ashamed to admit I've forgotten which philosopher said it.

-- 
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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