????????????: trunk
I loved everything about the giant-suitcase-on-Red-Square story.
I loved the way that officials and politicians expressed astonishment — ???‚???????° ?¶?µ ????? (Where did it come from?) — as if you could just put up a structure 30-meters long and nine-meters high a few steps from the Kremlin and no one would ask what you were doing. I adored the hilarious comments on various websites by witty Muscovites, thus once again renewing my faith in the creative genius of the nation. Against the backdrop of the rest of the news — the usual array of the disturbing, tragic and grim — the suitcase story was a cracker.
Bloggers and commenters wondered what it was — ???????????? (trunk) or ?‡?µ???????°?? (suitcase). I, on the other hand, wondered why the main Russian words for containers to put things in for traveling are foreign in origin. Think of them: ???????????? is from one of the Turkic languages (either Tatar or possibly Polovtsian); ?‡?µ???????°?? is a compound word from Persian — djame (dress) and dan (box); ???°?????????¶ (grip, traveling bag) is easily deciphered as sac de voyage; ?€?????·?°?? is clearly from the German rucksack (from Rucken — back, and Sack — bag); and even ?‚???? (bundle, bale) isn't native Russian but comes from the Dutch tuig, which an online dictionary translates as gear, tackle or rig.
There are, of course, native Russian words for all of these things: ?»?°?€?? (box); ?»?°?€?µ?† (small box); ?????€???± (trunk); ?????????° (bag); ?????‘?€?‚???? (roll); or ???????·???° (bundle).
I don't know why they didn't stick around in everyday traveling Russian. My totally uninformed, speculative, armchair etymology theory is that long ago the majority of Russians — like the majority of everyone else on earth — didn't travel, and so they didn't have words for travel necessities at their mental fingertips. When foreign merchants or officials appeared, pointed to their luggage and used their native word for it, that word filled kind of an empty niche in the language.
In any case, the Louis Vuitton structure on the square provoked what is called ?±???»???????? ???±?‰?µ???‚???µ?????‹?? ?€?µ?·?????°???? (lively public discussion). One parliamentarian said it was wrong to put it "???° ???°???€?°?»???????? ???µ???‚?µ ? ???????????????????? ???????????°?€???‚???°" (in a sacred place for the Russian state). A journalist argued that if you've got a mausoleum on the square and dead people buried in the Kremlin walls, a trunk is a real improvement. But he jokingly supported the patriotic call: ?’???µ ???° ???‚???€?? ?‡?µ???????°???°! (Everyone storm the suitcase!)
A website poster continued the joke with a suggestion: ???µ???±?…?????????? ???‡?€?µ?????‚?? ???€???µ?? "?·?° ?????±?µ???? ???°?? ?‡?µ???????°??????" (We need to establish a "victory over the suitcase" award).
One commenter considered what might be in the suitcase: ?????‚???? ???????????????» ?„???????? ?? ???€?????????????? ???????‘?? ?? ???????µ?»?µ?» ???±?€?°?‚?? ?‡?µ???????°?? ???????°?»?????µ ???‚ ???€?µ???»?? (Putin remembered that trick with the Trojan horse and ordered them to move the suitcase farther from the Kremlin).
Another recalled a Russian fairy tale: ?’ ?????????????µ ?»???????†?°, ?° ?? ?»???????†?µ ???‚???°, ?° ?? ???‚???µ ?????†??, ???° ???µ ???€?????‚???µ ?????†o (In the trunk is a fox, in the fox is a duck, in the duck is an egg, but not just any egg).
Others thought it was a hint to pack up and leave: ?? ?????µ?… ?‚?µ???µ?€?? ?‡?µ???????°???????µ ???°???‚?€???µ?????µ? (Does everyone have wanderlust now?)
As for me, I think: The cost of putting up and taking down the pavilion — $2.7 million. Free advertising from the nonstop media coverage? Priceless.
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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