???????°???‚?? ?? ?†?µ???‚?????‚: to run out of time
There is a lovely concept in linguistics called the Frequency Illusion, which I personally experience very frequently. In nonspecialist language, it means that once you’ve noticed a phenomenon, it seems to happen a lot. In my case, once I identified the chess metaphor in ?€???????€???????° (castling), now all I see are chess allusions.
To catch all these allusions in Russian, first you need to know the basics. ???°?…???°?‚?‹ (chess) is played on a ?????????° (board) with ?„???????€?‹ (chess pieces). The names of the pieces vary from language to language. In Russian, the pieces are ?????€???»?? (king), ?„?µ?€?·?? (queen; literally “vizier”), ?»?°?????? (rook; literally “boat”), ???»???? (bishop; literally “elephant”), ???????? (knight; literally “steed”) and ???µ?????° (pawn). ???????? and ???»???? are called ?»?‘???????µ ?„???????€?‹ (minor pieces), and ?»?°?????? and ?„?µ?€?·?? are ?‚???¶?‘?»?‹?µ (heavy or major pieces).
Since ?„???????€?° is also a figure (person), you can see the fun you can have with puns. A political figure might be a lightweight (?»?‘?????°?? ?„???????€?°) or a heavyweight (?‚???¶?‘?»?°?? ?„???????€?°). ?‘???·???µ?????µ???‹ — ???‚?? ???µ??????, ?° ???µ?????‚?°?‚?‹ ?? ?‡???????????????? — ???‚?? ?„???????€?‹ ?±???»?µ?µ ?‚???¶?‘?»?‹?µ (Business leaders are pawns, while deputies and bureaucrats are the heavyweights).
Most of the time, the lot of pawns is pretty terrible. Someone wrote dramatically: ?“?»?????‹?µ, ?¶?°?????‹?µ ?????€???‡????, ?????? ?????????±?»?? ???µ?????°???? ?? ?‡???¶???? ?????€?µ (Stupid, greedy little fools, they died as pawns in someone else’s game).
But as someone pointed out: ???µ?????? ???°?·?°?? ???µ ?…???????‚, ?????? ???€?µ???€?°?‰?°???‚???? ?? ?„???????€?‹ (pawns can’t go backwards, and they can turn into major figures). That is, a pawn can inch its way to the other side of the board and become promoted — usually to a queen. In Russian, this is ???‹???‚?? ?? ?„?µ?€?·?? and is used whenever a figure of ostensibly little importance rises up to the top. For example, an analyst studying Middle Eastern politics wrote: ?????€?†???? — ???µ?????°, ?????‚???€?°?? ???????????±???° ???‹???‚?? ?? ?„?µ?€?·?? (Turkey is a pawn that could very well be promoted to queen).
?’?‹???‚?? ?? ?„?µ?€?·?? is sometimes confused with a similar expression, ???€?????‚?? ?? ???°?????? (to be crowned), which comes from checkers (???°??????). Here, the notion is not so much coming into power but rather achieving success and wealth: ???µ ?????????????? ?????°?‘?‚????, ???? ?????????????? ?¶?µ?»?°?µ?‚???? ???????°???‚?? ?? ???°?????? (Not everyone can do it, but everyone wants to go from rags to riches).
Even though the knight (????????) is a lightweight, its L-shaped, jumping move suggests strength and daring. This ?…???? ???????‘?? (knight’s move) is used figuratively to describe any clever and unexpected move. Sometimes the move is crafty: ?’?°?»?µ???‚?????° ???°?‚?????µ?????? ?????µ?»?°?»?° ?…???? ???????‘??. ???° ?????????†?????°?»?????‹?… ???‹?±???€?°?… ?????° ???µ ?±?????µ?‚ ???????‚???·?°?‚?????? ?? ?????????·???†???????µ?€?°???? (Valentina Matvienko made a clever move — she won’t be going up against opposition politicians in the city elections). Now it also seems to refer to any bold and perhaps unexpected act: ???? ?????µ?»?°?» ?…???? ???????‘?? ?? ?????????» ?????? (He took the leap and bought a house).
But not only chess pieces are used figuratively. ???????°???‚?? ?? ?†?µ???‚?????‚ is chess-speak for being in a time crunch — zeitnot is German for “time trouble.” A managerial consultant advises: ?•???»?? ?’?‹ ???µ ?…???‚???‚?µ ???????°???‚?? ?? ?†?µ???‚?????‚, ?‚?? ???‚?????‚ ?·?°???µ???‚?? ???€???°???°???·?µ?€ (If you don’t want to find yourself pressured for time, you should get a personal organizer).
To which I would add: You might also consider hiring a pawn who is about to be promoted to queen.
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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