Translation queries: Ipatyevskaya letopis, 1184

[Elena Ostrovskaya]

Dear Paul,

1) It is plural - bows, all the words that agree with 'luki' (plural) are
also plural but the verb 'byl'. That must be a typo. In the original in Old
Slavonic it is plural.

3) The noun is missing and is not clear. I tried to find it in the original,
but  it is not in the main version (spisok). The only context for it I was
able to find is a strange article in Rodina magazine (is this the one you
are translating?). It is hard to say which noun they mean, so you can only
translate it the way it is, without any noun at all. This way it looks as
strange in Russian as it would in English.

I don't really think you need it, but just in case this is the link to
Ipatievskaya letopis at the site of Vinogradov Institute of Russian
Language.  It is to the page with this text. Your text is at the bottom of
the page and goes to next page. But it is shorter and slightly different. I
guess it is not Ipatievskaya, after all.
http://www.lrc-lib.ru/rus_letopisi/Ipatius/gif_mm.php?file=633-634.gif

My two cents,
Elena Ostrovskaya.

2010/7/1 Paul B. Gallagher <paulbg at pbg-translations.com>

> Dear colleagues,
>
> I'm using up my third and final posting for the day with this, so please
> understand why I can't reply publicly until tomorrow. Thanks in advance for
> your assistance.
>
> My source text reads:
>
> Вот как в Ипатьевской летописи описаны события одной из битв объединенного
> войска русских князей, состоявшейся в 1184 г.: <<... Двинулся окаянный и
> безбожный и трижды проклятый Кончак с бесчисленными полками половецкими на
> Русь, надеясь захватить и пожечь огнем города русские, ибо нашел некого мужа
> басурманина, который стрелял живым огнем. Хан Кончак имел мужа, умеющего
> стрелять огнем и зажигать грады, у коего был самострельные луки так велики,
> что едва восемь человек могли натягивать, и укреплены были на возу великом.
> Сам он мог бросать каменья в середину града в подъем человеку и для метания
> огня имел особый малейший, но вельми хитро сделанный>>.
>
> My queries are as follows:
>
> 1) "У коего был самострельные луки..." -- singular or plural bow(s)? By
> majority rule, should be plural... I have no reason to think this is one of
> the anomalous nouns that is apparently plural but logically singular, but
> I'm open to guidance.
>
> 2) "в подъем человеку" -- "to the height of a man"? Certainly the point is
> not to raise a man, but to knock him down!
>
> 3) "для метания огня имел особый малейший, но вельми хитро сделанный" --
> where's the masc.sg. noun that goes with the adjectives? Should I assume
> "лук"?
>
> If it helps, my author is concerned with the use of so-called "Greek fire"
> ("греческий огонь"), a weapon developed by the Byzantines in which a mixture
> of petroleum and other secret ingredients was heated in a pot and shot
> through a tube against an enemy target (originally, warships). The term
> "живой огонь" was also used for this. Part of my confusion here lies in the
> use of a bow, which should not be able to propel a liquid.
>
> Thanks very much.
>
> --
> 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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