?????±?°???? ?????µ???‚??: to be an expert in something, to know something inside out
OK, kids, it’s time for your weekly language pop quiz. Where does the expression “the dog days of summer” come from? No idea? No problem. Your friendly expression-explainer is here to help.
The expression comes from the Latin (dies caniculares) and refers to the star Sirius, called the Dog Star because it is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major. When the Dog Star appears in the morning sky (July 3), it marks the start of the hottest period of the year — the dog days — which end on Aug. 11.
See? The heat wave is not being caused by a secret U.S. weapon, no matter what some Russian bloggers say.
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, these dog days got me thinking about dog expressions in Russian. The easiest ones to understand are comparative expressions formed with an adjective and ???°?? ?????±?°???° (like a dog). Dogs were usually left outside to fend for themselves, hence the expressions ?????»???????‹??, ???°?? ?????±?°???° (ravenous; literally, “as hungry as a dog”) and ?·?°???‘?€?·, ???°?? ?????±?°???° (frozen stiff; literally, “as cold as a dog”). Hunting dogs gave us another comparison: ?? ???€?????»?° ?? ?€?°?±???‚?‹ ?????‚?°?»?°??, ???°?? ?????±?°???° (I came home from work dog-tired). And guard dogs yet another: ?’?µ???? ???µ???? ?? ?±?‹?» ?·?»????, ???°?? ?????±?°???° (All day I’ve been mad as a junkyard dog).
Some ?????±?°???° expressions come from English, like ???µ ?±?????? ???????‰???? ?????±?°???? (let sleeping dogs lie), or German, like ?????‚ ?????µ ?·?°?€?‹?‚?° ?????±?°???° (so this is where the dog is buried). Etymologists propose various convoluted explanations for this puzzling expression. Whatever the origin, today it means finding the real reason for something: Aha! So that’s what this is really about!
A strange but commonly used expression is ?????µ???‚?? ?????±?°???? (literally, “to eat up a dog”), which is used to describe someone’s experience and expertise. Once again, etymologists have various explanations for the origin of this phrase. Some posit that eating dog meat (shudder) was hard to do (no kidding), and thus eating a whole dog was a great achievement (revolting). In any case, today speakers don’t “hear” the literal meaning. ?’ ???·???°?‚?µ?»?????????? ???µ?»?µ, ??, ?????¶???? ?????°?·?°?‚??, ?????±?°???? ?????µ?» (I know publishing inside and out).
There are a couple of ?????±?°???° expressions in which the ?????±?°???° isn’t really a ?????±?°???°. ?’?µ???°?‚?? ?????±?°?? ???° ???µ???? (literally, “to hang dogs on him”) means to heap accusations on someone, to blame someone unfairly. After sports matches, coaches of the losing teams can be heard protesting: ?????°?‚???‚ ???µ???°?‚?? ???° ???µ???? ?????µ?… ?????±?°??! (Stop making me the fall guy!) Here, however, ?????±?°???° refers to a thistle, which was apparently hung on enemies’ clothing as part of a magical spell.
Another expression, ?????????‚?? ?????±?°?? (literally, “to chase dogs”) means to goof off or kill time. In this case, ?????±?°???° in northern Russia meant a stick used to whack a ball around. Over time, the image of hitting a ball with a stick became a synonym for doing nothing, although baseball players would probably disagree. In any case, you need to know this to make sense of a sentence like: ???µ ?????? ?¶?µ ????, ?????€???????? ???„???†?µ?€, ?????????‚?? ?????±?°?? ???? ???°?€?????·?????? (As a naval officer, he certainly couldn’t hang around the garrison doing nothing).
Now if I could get a major league baseball salary for doing nothing, I’d spend the dog days on a beach.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.