Ten things you didn't know about Russia

[John Dunn]

The writer of Domostroj enjoins his readers to plant borshch all round the edge of the garden with a view to boiling it up, presumably to make soup:

а возле тына около всего огорода борщу сеет где кропива ростет и с весны его варит про себя много [a vozle tyna okolo vsego ogoroda borshchu seet gde kropiva rostet i s vesny ego varit pro sebja mnogo] (apologies for the modernised spelling).

Borshch, as a plant, is apparently 'cow parsnip' in English, and I assume that it was the tops, not the roots, that were boiled up.  Incidentally, I recall in the days of my youth drinking something called 'nettle beer'; it wouid seem therefore that the writer of Domostroj, not normally a person to let slip an opportunity for thrift, has on this occasion missed a trick.

And (чтобы два раза не кликать) George V and Nicholas II were indeed cousins, but this was because their mothers, Queen Alexandra and Dagmar/Marija Fedorovna respectively, were sisters.  In this instance the credit for astute matrimonial placement (not that it did the Tsar much good in the end) goes to Christian IX of Denmark.

John Dunn.

-----Original Message-----
From: Laura Kline <klinela at COMCAST.NET>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:04:20 -0400
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ten things you didn't know about Russia

Borscht was originally made not with beets, but with a root similar to
carrots or parsnips, called "borscht." Only later, during the 16C, "borscht"
root was replaced by beets in the soup. (from Olive Trees and Honey by Gil
Marks)

 

 

Laura Kline, Ph.D

Senior Lecturer in Russian

Department of German and Slavic Studies

Wayne State University

443 Manoogian Hall

906 W. Warren

Detroit, MI  48202

fax: 313-577-3266

af7585 at wayne.edu

 

-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Maria Dmytrieva
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2008 5:12 AM
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Ten things you didn't know about Russia

 

Borsht is actually not a Russian dish but a Ukrainian one.    

     


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------