Thread: Ivan and Lizaveta. Please look over the translation.

Lizaveta imela mnovo lyubovnikob, posle ona ctala beremennoi, potomy chto togda profilkticheskie meri ne bili nenuzhnie. Tozhe ei nravilsya imet' sviditel' svoevo prestupleniya, ditya v eyo matke. - Ono ne cdelat' vreda k dityati - skazala eyo lyubitelyam.

Lizaveta had many lovers after she became pregnant, because then prophylactic measures were unnecessary. Also she liked to have a witness to her transgressions, the child in her womb. "It will do the child no harm," she told her lovers.

I would translate it in this way:

У Лизаветы было много любовников после того, как она забеременела, поскольку отныне отпала надобность в профилактических мерах (OR: поскольку теперь профилактические меры стали ненужными). Кроме того, ей нравилось, что у ее преступлений есть свидетель - дитя в ее утробе. "Это не причинит вреда дитяти", - говорила она своим любовникам. ("дитяти" is archaism)

Cheers Tanya. Would "dityati" have been used in 1830s Russia when the story is set? And what do people use now instead?

Originally Posted by Martin Miles

And what do people use now instead?

child = ребёнок = дитя
It will do the child no harm = это не причинит вреда ребёнку.

I don`t know exactly whether this word have been used in 1830s, but I suppose so. In works by Pushkin (in particular "The Captain's Daughter", 1836) we can find this word.

Thanks, Evelina.

The only tale by Pushkin I've read in Russian is Egyptian Nights. I didn't understand every word, but I got the sense of it. Have you read that one, Tania?

Yes, I read it. In Russia we study the most part of Pushkin`s works at school.

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