More antique Russian

[William Ryan]

Paul - since no one else has commented (summer vacation?), I can make 
few points:

скаскою (skazkoiu) here means 'in a report'; the Berg-Kollegiia was one 
of the 12 quasi-ministries set up by Peter the Great and continued until 
the early 19th c. - it dealt with mines and minerals; the missing first 
digit in the dates is quite normal in this period; peredvoit' is to 
distill a second time (see Dal'), thus peredvoika = secondary 
distillation; dostatok = a quantity, a supply.

The syntax is indeed convoluted, and the grammatical agreement peculiar, 
but fairly typical of 18th c. officialese. I would guess the meaning to be:

    On the 19th of that October the aforementioned Priadunov in a
    presentation to the Berg-Kollegia displayed a quantity [of naphtha,
    i.e. petroleum] brought by him, Priadunov, and in 1746 and 1747 on
    the first of May [he brought] 40 puds of Russian naphtha [obtained]
    in the Pustozersk district on the river Ukhta to the laboratory of
    the Berg Kollegiia in Moscow, all of which was double distilled by
    the same Priadunov. And after the second distillation there appeared
    two thirds of pure naphtha, 26 puds, 26 and a half pounds in weight.

Perhaps someone can refine this further (pardon the pun).

Will



On 05/07/2010 16:51, Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
> Can anyone make sense of this? I'm at my wits' end with the weird 
> syntax. I'm supposed to be translating a history of the Russian oil 
> industry, not a compilation of Proto-Slavic quotations... <sigh>
>
> MMTIA
>
> Далее приведены сведения о том, что Федор Прядунов приступил и к 
> самостоятельной работе в этой лаборатории: «Того же октября 19 дня 
> означенный Прядунов скаскою в Берг-коллегию показал привезено де им 
> Прядуновым достаток а 746 и 747 годах маия по первое число в 
> Пустоозерском уезде при речке Ухте российской нефти в Москву 
> Берг-коллегии в лабораторию сорок пудов, которая де им Прядуновым вся 
> и передвоена. А по передвойке явилось чистой нефти две трети весом 26 
> пудов 26 фунтов с половиною...»
>
> This refers to events occurring in the 1740s, so I assume "746 и 747 
> годах маия по первое число" are a thousand years off. The 
> "Берг-коллегия" would be a government agency established to oversee 
> the mining industry (German "Berg" = Russian "Горный"). I suppose 
> "передвойка" is some kind of fractionation or distillation process.
>