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In My Humble Opinion

???????€?µ?????µ: humility

Once upon a time — a few years ago ?€” I decided that a look at the ???µ???? ?????µ?€?‚???‹?… ???€?µ?…???? (seven deadly sins) would be culturally enlightening and personally edifying. After all, to get along in a culture, you have to know what's considered right and wrong. So I slogged through ?????€???‹???? (pride), ?°?»?‡???????‚?? (greed), ?????…???‚?? (lust), ?????µ?? (anger), ?·?°???????‚?? (envy), ???±?¶???€???‚???? (gluttony) and ?????‹?????µ (despondency, sloth), discovering all the interesting words and ways to be a Bad Person in the view of Russian culture.

Russian culture also has strong ideas about being a Good Person. It's much harder, but there are more options. Russian has a long list of ?????±?€?????µ?‚?µ?»?? (virtues), a lovely word that was originally a calque from the Greek and meant "good deeds." The virtues can be grouped variously, sometimes in categories borrowed from Western religious and philosophical traditions, like the ?±?????????»???????????µ ?????±?€?????µ?‚?µ?»?? (theological virtues) of ???µ?€?° (faith), ???°???µ?¶???° (hope) and ?»???±?????? (love). There are also ?????€?°?»?????‹?µ (moral) or ???°?€???????°?»?????‹?µ ?????±?€?????µ?‚?µ?»?? (cardinal virtues) of ???????€?????‚?? (wisdom), ?????€?°???µ???»?????????‚?? (justice), ?????¶?µ???‚???? (courage) and ?????µ?€?µ?????????‚?? (temperance).

Often certain virtues are listed as the opposites of particular sins ?€” something like spiritual antidotes to bad behavior and qualities. At the top of the list are ?????€???‹???? (pride), perhaps the worst of the sins, and its opposite ?€” ???????€?µ?????µ (humility) ?€” probably the greatest of the virtues.

To the modern ear, ???????€?µ?????µ and the verbs ???????€???‚?? (to humble, subdue) and ???????€???‚?????? (to resign oneself to something) sound like they might have originally meant ?? ?????€???? (with peace). But language specialists insist that the root of the word was not ?????€ (peace) but ???µ?€?° (measure). One armchair etymologist interprets the original meaning this way: ???????€?µ?????µ ?€” ???‚?? ?·???°?????µ ???????µ?? ???µ?€?‹, ?????µ?????µ ?????€?°?·???µ?€???‚?? ?? ???????·???°?‚?? ???????µ ???µ???‚?? ?? ?????€?µ (Humility ?€” it's knowing your measure, the ability to compare and acknowledge your place in the world).

That might be a bit of folk etymology, but it's close to religious and philosophical definitions of ???????€?µ?????µ that dominated the Russian moral and cultural landscape for centuries. ???????€?µ?????µ is ?????€???????????‚?? ?????…?° (modesty of the spirit); ?????·???°?????µ, ?‡?‚?? ???????µ?€???µ?????‚????, ?? ?????‚???€?????? ?‡?µ?»?????µ?? ???‚?€?µ?????‚????, ?????‚?°?µ?‚???? ?±?µ?????????µ?‡???? ???°?»?µ?????? (the recognition that the ideal a person is striving toward remains infinitely far away); or ?€?°?????€?‹?‚???µ ???????? ???»?? ?€?µ?°?»?????????‚?? (opening your soul to reality).

As far as I can grasp it, ???????€?µ?????µ is the ability to see the world and your place in it without ego and pride, but also without self-abasement. I think that's what Fyodor Dostoevsky was talking about when he wrote: ???????€?µ?????µ ?€” ???°???°?? ???‚?€?°?????°?? ?????»?°, ???°???°?? ?‚???»?????? ?????¶?µ?‚ ???° ?????µ?‚?µ ?±?‹?‚??! (Humility is the most awesome power that can exist on Earth!)

This lofty cultural value seems to have become one of the casualties of change over the last century in Russia. Today I don't think you'll find ???????€?µ?????µ on the list of the top-10 aspirations of ordinary Russian folks. In everyday speech, the word is often used more narrowly. ?????»???†???????µ?€ ???€?????‘?» ?? ???????€?µ?????µ ?€?°?·?±?????µ???°???????…???? ?…???»?????°?????? (The policeman got the unruly hooligans under control). The verb pair ???????€???‚??/???????€???‚?? is generally rather bookish but can occasionally be used in expressions like ???????€???‚?? ???????????? ?·???µ?€?? (to subdue a wild beast).

???????€???‚?????? has the sense of resigning oneself, giving up and giving in: ?????? ???????€???»?????? ?? ???µ???·?±?µ?¶???‹?? (They resigned themselves to the inevitable). ???°???? ???????€???‚?????? ?? ?????????±???? (You have to accept your fate).

Of course, language and culture change, and there's nothing you can do about it. But it's too bad. It would be nice if a few more people had old-style humility (???????€?µ?????µ), and a few less people were forced to resign themselves (???????€???‚??????) to an inevitable and often unenviable fate.

Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.

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