Fortochka

[William Kerr]

Dear Seelangers ...

What an amazingly fascinating thread to what seemed at first a
very straightforward question! My initial thinking about "transom" (widely
used in Canada several decades ago, especially in many public buildings) now
seems as weak as many other suggestions.

 In Book 1 Chap. 14 of  "Master and Margarita", Bulgakov uses
"fortochka" ....

Варенуха, карауля дверь, подпрыгивал возле нее, подолгу застревая в воздухе
и качаясь в нем. Скрюченными пальцами он махал в сторону Римского, шипел и
чмокал, подмигивая девице в окне.
      Та заспешила, всунула рыжую голову в *форточку*, вытянула сколько
могла руку, ногтями начала царапать нижний шпингалет и потрясать раму. Рука
ее стала удлиняться, как резиновая, и покрылась трупной зеленью. Наконец
зеленые пальцы мертвой обхватили головку шпингалета, повернули ее, и рама
стала открываться. Римский слабо вскрикнул, прислонился к стене и портфель
выставил вперед, как щит. Он понимал, что пришла его гибель.


It is interesting to note various translations of this text:

Michael Glenny (Harvill, 1967):  "The  girl increased her efforts,  pushed
her auburn head  through  the *little upper pane*, stretched out  her arm
as  far as she could and began to pluck at the lower catch with her
fingernails and shake the frame."

Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Penguin, 1997):  "She began to
hurry, stuck her red-haired head through the *vent*, reached her arm down as
far as she could, her nails clawing at the lower latch and
shaking the frame."

In the extensive end notes to the P&V translation, no mention is made of
fortochka/vent.

To my mind, especially in the context of the action in this part of Chapter
14, neither of these does service to the Russian "fortochka", especially
without footnote. The Glenny translation does at least give the reader the
sense of  "small higher window".

And of course there are other translations/versions available.

In addition, several sites which may be of interest to some:

 http://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/fortochka/

http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/russia/g/Fortochka.htm

http://www.toccataclassics.com/artistdetail.php?ID=7

http://dcollections.oberlin.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/realia&CISOPTR=492&CISOBOX=1&REC=8

Somehow I feel your transliteration/footnote alternative may serve your
readers very well.

Best regards

William Kerr
ELC - Koc Universitesi
Istanbul Turkey








On 2 February 2011 12:44, Natasha S. Randall <nsrandall at earthlink.net>wrote:

> Dear Seelangers,
>
> Has anyone ever had any good ideas for translating the Russian word
> _fortochka_ ?
>
> Small window, upper window, small inner window hatch... um, I'm stumped. I
> feel a translation for it on the tip of my tongue but I can't seem to spit
> it out...
>
> Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Natasha Randall
> Translator
>
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