Peculiarities of the Russian Language

Every name derives from SOMETHING, but I confess I don't know any clearly relevant word that either of those names appears to reflect. I will say that the CHARACTER of Zosima goes magnificently against the virtually psychotic duelling customs of nineteenth-century Russia.
 
What do you mean by "psychotic dueling customs"? Were the dueling customs in Russia worse than elsewhere?
 
Glenburne said:
What do you mean by "psychotic dueling customs"? Were the dueling customs in Russia worse than elsewhere?
Click to expand...

As a young man, the priest Zosima faced a man in a duel in which he allowed the other man to shoot first, the bullet grazing Zosima's face or ear, then threw his pistol away and apologized for starting the argument in the first place. It seems duels were the primary way of settling arguments between men in 19th century Russia...

I probably should start a Dostoyevsy forum if I'm going to keep asking questions along these lines :)
 
Again, a question from Brothers for you Copperfox...

The three brothers Dmitry, Ivan, and Alexei are all frequently addressed in what I am assuming is the diminutive form: Mitya, Vanya, and Alyosha. Grammatically, changing a name to the diminutive form, does one take the end root of the name and add "ya" to it? I'm sure it's not that simple, it doesn't work with Alexei. In Spanish it's almost universal to be able to add "-ito" or "-ita" to just about any noun to change it to the diminutive form. Are there any set rules in Russian for diminutive names or other nouns?
 
"YA" or "SHA" endings cover most of the familiar forms of masculine names, but there are exceptions. For instance, one version of the masculine name Vasiliy is Vaska; I'm told that Vaska is the form you would use if you were scolding Vasiliy! And I believe that the familiar form of Fyodor is Fyedka or Fyodka.
 
Dang, it's been awhile since I've done this....I believe that the familiar of Ilya is Ilyuchka, and I've never seen a Russian familiar form of Tevye. I think Tevye is a Yiddish name, not a Russian one.
 
spasibo -- Thanks for clarifying my misconceptions. I had thought Ilya was familiar rather than the regular name. And Tevya being Yiddish makes sense (from Fiddler on the Roof) although I was thinking of the girl's name Tevya.
 
Actually, no such word comes immediately to mind. The common word for debt is "DOLG," while the common word for guilt is "VINA," with accent on the second syllable.
 
Something I've learned the hard way while working in Russian text translation: if you encounter a word which DOES NOT EXIST IN ANY RUSSIAN DICTIONARY IN THE UNIVERSE, it may very well have just then been made up as a contraction/combination/abbreviation of two or more words. Precisely because Russian is so long-winded, Russian-speakers often suddenly make up shorter, compacted words to give themselves a break.
 
Referring to last post of previous page:

"Belka" (Белка) is the Russian word for "squirrel," and is also used as a term for bleaching. "Strelka" (Стрелка) is the word for a clock-hand or the pointer on a dial; it is related to the word for "arrow."
 
Thank you, that's a piece of Russian history I myself didn't know! I knew they had sent animals into orbit, but I didn't know those particular dogs.

Concerning the reference on that page to the BMD-4: the armored vehicle depicted is not called "airborne" because IT can fly. It is designed to be carried on board a transport airplane. Since Russia's elite Airborne Troops will often be sent to where they will not have any tanks to help them, this gives them at least some armored-combat capability. The BMD-4 is like our own Bradley Fighting Vehicle, which was used in Iraq where our troops had no tanks.
 
Completely unrelated, but of interest...

For those of you who are 'Avatar' fans (The blue people Avatar, that is) and Russian speakers, yu might find this of interest.

Many of you know that a new language was created for this film, and its sequals. It is called Na`vi. An active online community has developed to learn and further develop this language. It has a comprehensive grammar, syntax, and a vocabulary of about 1,500 words. There is a community for every major language in use here on earth, including Russian. The website can be found at www.learnnavi.org The Russian-Na`vi and Na`vi-Russian dictionaries can be found here For those interested, there is also a set of Estonian dicxtionaries. And it would appear that Estonian was borrowed from a lot in developing this language.

I don't want to steal this thread, but PM me if you wish to learn more about Na`vi.

Kìevame (Good bye, see you again soon)
Timbalionguy (Na`vi name is `Eylan Ayfalulukanä if you go looking around th forum. I'll let you figure out what it means!)
 
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