Tsar'-devitsa again

[Paul B. Gallagher]

Resending because I didn't notice Boris Dralyuk was diverting replies to 
his personal mailbox.

Boris Dralyuk wrote:

> I think Alexandra is quite right about the implication of challenge,
> but I don't see why you ought to jettison "honour".  Why not simply
> orient the phrase toward the future: "What a great honour it would
> be?"  That seems to handle the challenge.  Also, I read the "Chto" in
> Tarkovsky's lovely poem a bit differently; the construction there
> seems to mean "What does X matter to me, when...?"  In the fairytale,
> the "Что...?" is closer to "Какая...?" -- in other words, it's "Что
> (за)...?"
>
> What one can do with a few words!

"Challenge" is a word especially difficult to translate into Russian -- 
not really вызов, not really задача....

At any rate, Boris's understanding of the word must be very different 
from mine if he thinks "What a great honor it would be" conveys the 
slightest element of "challenge."

And since I have the floor for a moment, Russian morality (then or now, 
I'm not sure) must be very different from mine if it considers sex with 
a sleeping woman "honorable." What am I missing here? We would call it 
"rape" and send the guy to jail.

-- 
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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