Thread: "Xодить по миру" = Begging?

What are the Russian words for "beggars" "begging"? I mean this...



My cards say "ходить по миру". Is that really right?

Lingvo says "нищенство".

But how do you say beggar?

Yes, you are right.

Пойти пО миру. (the stress falls on 'о') Not 'по мИру'!
Пойти по миру = Обеднев, начать побираться.

Originally Posted by Hanna

What are the Russian words for "beggars" "begging"? I mean this...

My cards say "ходить по миру". Is that really right?

Lingvo says "нищенство".

But how do you say beggar?

You can also use просить подаяния, or, if you're begging for something specific, просить (insert what you're begging for here).
Beggar is нищий. To beg can also be нищенствовать (this word can also mean, more broadly, to live in poverty).

ходить по миру sounds to me more like description of being poor and being forced to beg, not specifically the act of begging. Native speakers can correct me if I'm wrong.

Hm... Ok!
Just one of those strange expressions, I guess!

Thanks for explaining!

I am changing the card though, to нищенство


one to go.... 3000 left until I can read a book....

one to go.... 3000 left until I can read a book....

Nonsense... I'm better than halfway through my second novel, and I haven't learned a single word in any structured fashion because that's just not the way memory works. I look up the words when I encounter them, that's much better because they come from a context then, and the brain can more easily store them if it gets real context (as opposed to "that's the word on this flash card", which is a counterproductive context).

So I would suggest reading a novel and learning the words along the way instead of the other way round.

Originally Posted by bitpicker

one to go.... 3000 left until I can read a book....

Nonsense... I'm better than halfway through my second novel, and I haven't learned a single word in any structured fashion because that's just not the way memory works. I look up the words when I encounter them, that's much better because they come from a context then, and the brain can more easily store them if it gets real context (as opposed to "that's the word on this flash card", which is a counterproductive context).

So I would suggest reading a novel and learning the words along the way instead of the other way round.

Agreed. Although, first I read without looking any words up to try to figure out the sense of it. Then I look up some words, never all.

Originally Posted by bitpicker

one to go.... 3000 left until I can read a book....

So I would suggest reading a novel and learning the words along the way instead of the other way round.

Thanks both of you for spurring me on & moral support.... I really need it!

As I said before; I have a sort of phobia about Russian which I do not feel about other langauges... Does anyone know what I mean? Yet I very much want to learn it! It's got some kind of mysterious lure on me, going back many years! ;- ) For example with French, German or Spanish I would not hesitate to try reading a book, or even (in an "emergency") speaking and making silly mistakes... But Russian feels like a completely different kettle of fish.... In my fear of failure, I've dumbed it down to the point where I am proceeding too slowly and never really doing anything challenging... Really need to get my act together!! During Xmas I was considering reading a book, but it seemed too hard.

Originally Posted by Hanna

What are the Russian words for "beggars" "begging"? I mean this...

You can translate "begging" as "нищенство" or "попрошайничество" (from "просить", surprise!).
"To beg" - нищенствовать, попрошайничать, побираться.
"Beggar" - нищий, попрошайка, побирушка.

"Нищий", "нищенство", "нищенствовать" are literary words. Others are more or less colloquial variants.

There is also the set expression "пойти по миру". It means "to become bankrupt". If you are going to become bankrupt you loose your home and have no choice except wander around the world.

"Ходить по миру" means just "to wander". It doesn't connected with begging.

I found that Russian books, contrary to what you might have heard, do not bite and don't call the publisher at night saying "Get me out of here, she doesn't understand me anyway".

My first novel was Oksana Robski's Casual. It was pretty hard at the beginning, but near the end I could read the odd page without looking up a single word. Then I took up Ночной дозор and it put me back to square one or so it seemed. Now I'm past page 200 and I sometimes get whole sentences at once.

Really, words aren't the half of it. You need to see the language in action, and dictionaries won't give you that. And if you venture into runet you will find that you can read a lot online.

Robin

Originally Posted by Полуношник

"Ходить по миру" means just "to wander". It doesn't connected with begging.

Ходить по миру in Ushakov dictionary: Ходить по́ миру (разг.) — нищенствовать

Originally Posted by Полуношник

There is also the set expression "пойти по миру". It means "to become bankrupt". If you are going to become bankrupt you loose your home and have no choice except wander around the world.

This is an old phrase. It use the old meaning of the word "мир". Here it means not "world", but "people", "society". "пойти по миру" means to go to people for help. No metaphors.

Толковый словарь русского языка Ушакова:
Пустить п́ó миру (разг.) = разорить, заставить нищенствовать.
Пойти п́ó миру (разг.) = обеднев, начать побираться.
Ходить п́ó миру (разг.) = нищенствовать.

P.S.: in this case мир = сельская община с её членами (= village community with her members)

Originally Posted by oldboy

P.S.: in this case мир = сельская община с её членами (= village community with her members)

It's wrong!
Неre "мир" is not surely "сельская община с её членами"! It is closer to meaning 7 in
http://slovari.yandex.ru/dict/ushakov/a ... stpar3=1.1

compare with "храстарадничать"

Originally Posted by словарь Даля

Храстарадничать, просить милостыни, подаяния ради Христа, побираться Христовым именем, нищенствовать, ходить с сумою, по миру.