Thread: сажен

I am translating Nautilius Pompilius song Князь тишины and wondering if anyone has suggestions for translating сажен. One suggestion has been simply transliterate the word while another was to say "seventy feet" as 1 сажен is approximately seven feet. Any other suggestions?

The lines:

идет вслед за мной вышиной в десять сажен
добрейший князь, князь тишины

Сажень (plural genitive саженей or сажен) is an outdated linear measure, two and something meters

Сажень
(жен)
Русская мера длины, определяемая средними размерами человеческого тела. Малая сажень - от поднятой на уровень плеча руки, до пола. Косая сажень - расстояние от подошвы левой ноги до конца пальцев поднятой вверх правой руки. 1 сажень = 48 вершкам = 7 футам = 84 дюймам = 2,13360 м

Therefore, Prince of Silence was 21.336 meters tall.

сажень = sazhen
вершок = vershok (4.45 cm)
фут = foot
дйюм = inch

Usually a poetic translation doesn't have to be precise, but has to preserve the feeling. Use whatever measure you can put into rhyme, just make sure it is big,

The measure is about what I came up with. But what I am wrestling with is how to best translate the line in the context of a poem.

I think I will try something like "towering height" rather than give numbers.