? ?°?·?????????‚??/?€?°?·???µ???‚??: to lead in different directions, divorce, divide, separate, scam, cultivate, dissolve, distribute and a thoroughly annoying bunch of other meanings
The verb pair ?€?°?·?????????‚??/?€?°?·???µ???‚?? is one of my personal headaches. It’s not just the polysemy — multiple meanings — or the seemingly illogical diverse meanings. It’s the combination of polysemy and puns in Russian headlines that does me in. I can’t tell you how many minutes I’ve spent staring at a headline, wondering if the person being described was divorced, scammed, taken home, nurtured or dissolved in a vat of liquid.
It shouldn’t be that hard. The word is easily dissected: the prefix ?€?°?·- (action in various directions, reversed, done to completion) and ?????????‚?? (to lead). So one meaning is pretty easy to get: ?????·???µ???° ?€?°?·???µ?»?? ???????‚?µ?? ???? ?????????°?‚?°?? (The hosts showed the guests to their rooms).
It’s not much of a stretch to the next meaning: to separate or divide something. You should remember this meaning if you spend time in St. Petersburg: ?????‡???? ?€?°?·?????????‚ ???????‚?‹ (At night they raise the bridges; literally, “separate” them).
People can be separated by forces beyond their control: ???°?? ?€?°?·???µ?»?° ?????????±?° (We were divided by fate). But they can also be separated by a state official at their request, at apparently any age: ?’ ?’?µ?»???????±?€???‚?°?????? ?€?°?·???µ?»?? 98-?»?µ?‚?????… ???????€???????? (In Britain, a 98-year-old couple was divorced).
? ?°?·?????????‚??/?€?°?·???µ???‚?? and the related noun ?€?°?·?????????° can also refer to various kinds of distribution. For those of us doing apartment remodeling (yes, I know it’s getting boring, but: ???‚?? ?? ?‡?‘??, ?° ?????????‹?? ?? ?±?°???µ — people talk about many things, but someone with lice keeps nattering on about the banya), ?€?°?·?????????° ???????‹ means the whole system of pipes and gauges that distributes water through your apartment — what I’d call “the plumbing.” The electrician also does ?€?°?·?????????° — the routing of electricity in the apartment — what I’d call “the wiring.”
? ?°?·?????????‚?? ?€?????°???? is a gesture of opening your arms to express bewilderment, amazement, and/or mental impasse. Think of it as a kind of full-body shrug of “Huh?”
And with that, we exit the domain of easily understood meanings and enter the realm of all-over-the-map meanings. In the courtyard we have ?€?°?·???µ???‚?? ???????‚?‘?€ (to light a bonfire). In the kitchen we have ?€?°?·???µ???‚?? ???????? ?? ???‚?°???°???µ ???????‹ (to dissolve baking soda in a cup of water), which is similar to the dinner table ?€?°?·???µ???‚?? ???????€?‚ ?????????? (to cut grain alcohol with water). In the barnyard, we have ?€?°?·???µ???‚?? ???€???»???????? (to raise rabbits). In the drawing room, we have the colloquial ?€?°?·???µ???‚?? ?‡?µ?????…?? (to yammer nonsense).
It’s also possible to use this verb pair when talking about how to separate a mark from his money, that is, when describing a scam. This can be rather genteel: ?????° ?€?°?·???µ?»?° ???‚?†?° ???° ?????????? ???°???????? (She cajoled her father into giving her a new car). But most of the time, it isn’t:
? ?°?·???µ?»?? ?µ?‘ ???° 1000 ?????»?»?°?€???? (They conned her out of $1,000). ???µ???? ?€?°?·???µ?»??! (I was scammed!)
And then there are those annoying punning headlines. For example, I found a site with the banner: ?’?°?? ?€?°?·???µ?»??? ?????·???€?°???»????! I thought it meant: Have you gotten divorced? Congratulations! I was expecting upbeat tips about the single life. But no, it was a site telling you what to do if you lost your savings, apartment or car to crooks.
But then again, depending on the lawyers, it could be the same thing, couldn’t it?
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
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