Translation "sxvatit' za poly"

[Ralph Cleminson]

> Dear SEELANGers,
>
> As a student at the University of Amsterdam, I have been joining the list
> passively during the last year. Currently, I am translating a Pushkin poem,
> and facing a semantical problem. My question is: what is the context
> related translation of "sxvatit' za poly" in the line: "Gerbovye zaboty
> sxvatili za poly menya."?


1. As a general principle, it would be helpful if this sort of
question included the context of the troublesome phrase: although
there are many of you out there who can identify the poem from a
single line, there are also many of us who don't know our Pushkin as
well as that, but may be intrigued enough by the question to want to
have a look at it.

2.  Regarding the line in isolation, the "poly" are the tails of a
frock-coat, all that one can manage to grab of a fugitive on the
point of escape, and the worries are presumably "gerbovye" because
they are written on gerbovaja bumaga, which used to be used for legal
or official documents.  Is the poet involved in some sort of
litigation or dealings with the authorities?


R.M.Cleminson,
Professor of Slavonic Studies,
University of Portsmouth,
Park Building,
King Henry I Street,
Portsmouth PO1 2DZ
fax: +44 1705 846040