More antique Russian

[Paul B. Gallagher]

William Ryan wrote:

> 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).

Actually, several other people did help me, but they all wrote 
privately, so I assume they prefer not to be publicly acclaimed for 
their valuable contributions.

Still, your remarks confirmed what the others said, and filled in a gap 
with скаскою (сказкою as you say). Thank you.

-- 
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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