Какую прелесть я нашла! Никогда не знаешь на что наткнешься в паутине…
Стих Пушкина (из «Руслана и Людмилы») с комментариями для англоязычных товарищей.
Ну, помните, тот, «У лукоморья дуб зеленый…».
Зацените:
читать дальшеЛукоморье - лука = ‘river bend.’
Златая - Poetic for золотая.
Песнь - A poetic variant of песня, useful when the poet needs to economize on a syllable.
Заводит - ‘Start up.’
Чудеса - чудо. This word and небо are the only nouns in standard Russian that regularly form a plural with an -ес- extension before the ending.
Бродит - ‘Wander, roam.’ This is a verb of motion (indeterminate бродить, determinate брести [бреду, бредёшь]). In Russian The Communist Manifesto begins Призрак бродит по Европе ‘a spectre is haunting Europe.’
Неведомых - ‘Unknown.’ Note the word play between this and the next line; the roots вед- ‘learn, know’ and вид- ‘see’ are related etymologically, since both pertain to the acquisition of experience and knowledge.
Курьих - Кура means ‘hen,’ and the form here is a special possessive that is common for animals, e.g., волчий, волчья ‘wolf’s’ or собачий, собачья ‘dog’s.’ These possessive adjectives are declined like the numeral третий, третья.
Ножках - Note the use of the diminutive.
Дол - ‘Valley.’
О заре - A poetic variant of на заре.
Прихлынут - ‘Surge forward.’
Брег – A poetic variant of берег.
Песчаный - Material adjective derived from песок.
Витязей – витязь = богатырь (Bogatyr) The legendary mighty warrior is a common figure in Russian folk epics, and sometimes in fairy tales based on epics. The most famous богатырь is Илья Муромец.
Чредой - чреда ‘row.’; очередь.
Мимоходом - Note the etymology: мимо and ход-.
Пленяет - The root плен- indicates captivity.
Грозного – ‘Terrifying.’ The Russian name of the ruler known in English as Ivan the Terrible is Иван Грозный.
Колдун – ‘Warlock.’
Темнице - темница ‘dungeon.’ This word is derived from the root тём- ‘dark,’ cf. светлица ‘front room (the room with windows) in a peasant hut,’ derived from the root свет- ‘light.’
Бурый – ‘Gray-brown’ (when describing the color of animals). Cf. каштановый ‘chestnut (of hair color),’ русый ‘light brown (of hair color),’ карий ‘brown or hazel (of eye color)’, and коричневый ‘cinnamon, bark-colored’ (the most general term for ‘brown’). ‘Brown shoes’ are, perhaps unexpectedly, жёлтые туфли.
Ступа – ‘Mortar.’
Бредет - See the note about бродит above.
Златом - злато. Poetic variant of золото.
Чахнет - чахнуть ‘wither away, grow weak.’
Русью пахнет - ‘It smells of Russia.’ Note the impersonal use of the verb with the instrumental complement.
Поведаю - поведать = рассказать, but with the added nuance of disclosing a secret.
Свету - Synonym of мир ‘world.’
Королевич - In Russian tales, as in those of other traditions, the hero is often (although not obligatorily) a prince.
Кащей – (Кощей -Koshchei ) Бессмертный is a common fairy-tale villian. He is typically depicted as a dessicated old man with a fondness for kidnapping young women.
царевна тужит - The damsel in distress is a common fairy-tale cliche in Russian, as in other traditions.
И там я был, и мёд я пил - A reference to a common poetic ritual ending to fairy tales. The words represent an intrusion of a first-person narrator (“I was there”), and may represent a coded request to be paid in drink for having told an entertaining story (“I tried to drink mead and beer, but none of it got in my mouth” = “I’m thirsty, and would appreciate being given something to drink now”).

И там полно еще русских сказок с такими же пояснениями. Прелестно!

Ссылка: clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~tales/aa/pushkin_ruslan...