Thread: красен и услуга

These two sentences are supposed to mean basically the same thing:
Это был случай одного красен.
Это был случай услуга за услугу.
Both can be translated to
"It was a case of one good turn deserves another."
Is this correct?

услуга за услугу is supposed to literally mean "favor for favor." Is that correct?

Is красен as it appears in this sentence the short, masculine form of красный or is it a form of a different word?

Это был случай одного красен. - Sorry, this is nonsense. I can only guess that you meant something like "this chance/case is as good as any". Not even remotely close to being sure though.

Это был случай услуга за услугу. - This also doesn't make much sense.

Please, provide some context.

Anyway, let's see what can be answered.

Красен is a short masculine form of красивый. Красный is just красный, don't think there is any short form to it, at least one that is widely used.

Услуга за услугу - yes, this literally means "a favor for a favor".

According to this page:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%B...BD%D1%8B%D0%B9
красен is a short for of красный.

According to Google красен can mean:
1) is red
2) red in the face
3) flushed
4) one good turn deserves another
Is there some idiomatic situation where красен implies some kind of tit for tat or favor for favor exchange?

You must understand that красный meant beautiful in old Slavic and that wiki article you provided even mentions that. Only later the word shifted it's meaning to red. Now when we say красный we 99,9% of the time mean "red", not beautiful. But the short form of красный somehow retained its original meaning, therefore when saying красен we 99.9% of the time mean beautiful.

1) Yep, but extremely rarely, up to the point of never, and not in everyday speech. You might come across the word in this meaning in books and that's pretty much it.
2) Might be. Yet again румяный is much more common in this sense.
3) Might be, but we'd more likely use a verb краснеть for that. And if you say - ты красен - that would not mean that you're flushed. That'd mean you're beatuful. But most people won't even understand you this way or it'll take them a while to do so.
4) Can't wrap my head around this one.

There is an idiomatic expression with красен.

Долг платежом красен. It's usually used when you do something good for someone and want them to do the same for you.

— Уж как-то я вам благодарна, так благодарна..
— Очень рада, Марья Петровна, очень рада... ну, а так как долг платежом красен, говорят добрые люди, и у меня также найдется к вам просьбица...

To be frank, it's not strictly a favor for a favor as in a bargain. It's usually mentioned after someone did a favor for someone else. It's like a reminder that someone is indebted to you, hence the word долг in the expression.

Услуга за услугу is used more when there is a bargain in the making. Like two people meat and decide to exchange favors. If one helps the other, the other help the one in return.

In addition:
The fact that "красный" (red) meant "beautiful" in old slavic language can be noted if you look at word "прекрасный" ("very beautiful" literally).

There is fun fact about it: the famous Red Square in Moscow is not "Red" at all! In the old times there were no red bricks. That name meant/means "Beautiful Square".
It is fun, but even native russians do not know it often.