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Glossary entry

Russian term or phrase:

боженька

English translation:

godling

Added to glossary by Emil Tubinshlak
Nov 19, 2007 02:19
16 yrs ago
Russian term

боженька

Russian to English Art/Literary Religion
Человечество существует десятки тысяч лет. Мы говорим о неком образе, существовавшем согласно библейскому летоисчислению 5767 лет назад (если сегодня у нас 2007 г.) А до этого что - ничего не было? Какой-то ***боженька*** сотворил из комочка земли, водички и из чего-то там еще Адама, потом вытащил из него ребрышко и вокруг этого ребрышка сотворил еще и женщину? Надо понимать все в виде духовных сил, которые действуют в нашем мире, и тогда мы, действительно, правильно сможем увидеть проявление этих сил.

"Little god"? "Some god"? I'm really not sure as to whether there's an appropriate equivalent in English, but I thought I'd ask. Thanks in advance.
Proposed translations (English)
4 deity
3 +5 some ancient "Almighty"
3 +2 some old god
4 +1 some kind of god
5 Ни один из предложенных вариантов
5 puny god
4 some kind God
4 some dear God
4 lordy lord
4 some so-called God
3 demiurge
3 Some godly grandpa
3 supposed god
Change log

Nov 20, 2007 20:36: Emil Tubinshlak Created KOG entry

Discussion

Roman Bulkiewicz Nov 19, 2007:
Some "Bible-stories-for-children-character" - that sort of thing. You don't even have to change this particular word (God). Just try and imitate tone/words that you would use to tell the Bible to a small child.
Roman Bulkiewicz Nov 19, 2007:
Some "Bible-stories-for-children-character" - that sort of thing. You don't even have to change this particular word (God). Just try and imitate tone/words that you would use to tell the Bible to a small child.
Roman Bulkiewicz Nov 19, 2007:
Dylan got it right - it's God from a children's story. The author is mocking the creation story as something that is too naive, and good enough only for small children, like a fairy tale.
Vladimir Dubisskiy Nov 19, 2007:
Mark, the process of creation mentioned and the name Adam point directly to Christianity (actually, the ethnicity of a speaker only stresses that he refers to a Christian god / Biblical history).
Mark Berelekhis (asker) Nov 19, 2007:
Vladimir, the man speaking is actually Jewish, but I don't think that matters. He's not referring to a particular religion, but sort of lumping them all together in this belief in a 'боженька.' So the image of a "grandpa" is a workable one (as many others below), as the connotation does seem to render the source.
Vladimir Dubisskiy Nov 19, 2007:
To Mark: the thing is - it is hardly a 'grandpa' (or 'godly grandpa') but a god indeed, and definitely a Christian God (that's why, for ex., I tend to use 'almighty' and 'omnipotent' 'cause these are the accepted names.
Mark Berelekhis (asker) Nov 19, 2007:
Or you can really mix-n-match and get 'some almighty grandpa,' which also sounds great. I'm going to have a tough time figuring out who to give points to here...
Mark Berelekhis (asker) Nov 19, 2007:
And what fabulous responses, I never expected to see so many great ideas! To be honest, so far I'm leaning toward Emil's 'godling' (same in meaning as many other suggestions, but also works as an actual English diminutive) or Katerina's 'godly grandpa.' I'm curious as to what else my very creative and imaginative colleagues can come up with!
Jim Tucker (X) Nov 19, 2007:
Fabulous question, Mark!

Proposed translations

2 hrs
Selected

deity

Perhaps "deity" instead of "god" would work - Or, if you wish to be inventive, some "godling"
Peer comment(s):
neutral Roman Bulkiewicz : both terms have Pagan connotations, not appropriate here
16 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Many many thanks to everyone for your input! Many great and interesting ideas. To me, 'godling' seems the best fit -- it's diminutive, and reads sarcastic and condescending. "
+2
11 mins

some old god

You're right -- there's no perfect English equivalent for this kind of Russian morphemic word play. I think you have to look at the tone of the piece and try to convey that, rather than concentrating on individual words. The tone here strikes me as somewhat sardonic, with боженька, комочка, водички, and ребрышко all in the same sentence.
Peer comment(s):
agree Donald Scott Alexander : You're going in the right direction to capture the Russian diminutive. Another option is "some kind of god" if we accept that "kind of" is an English way of expressing a diminutive -- plus this avoids possible misunderstandings taking "old" literally.
7 mins
Thanks. I actually liked the ambiguity of "old," meaning "of long duration," "former," "familiar," "past," as well as just "old."
agree Ekaterina Filatova : also with above peer comment
5 hrs
Thanks.
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16 mins

demiurge

Just a suggestion -- I realize it doesn't capture the diminutive, but it is a sort of general, all-purpose divine creative principle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demiurge

Something went wrong...
3 hrs

some kind God

I think you can rewrite it a bit:

Some god was kind enough to....
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+5
2 hrs

some ancient "Almighty"

a variant.

and it is unlikely 'some god' as the context reflects on the way of creation described in the Bible

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Note added at 3 hrs (2007-11-19 06:07:00 GMT)
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or

...some old sweet 'almighty'

...some Omnipotent

... some old sweet Omnipotent
Peer comment(s):
agree Olga Arakelyan : Мне нравится Some old sweet 'almighty'. :)
2 hrs
Спасибо!
agree Vanda Nissen : с Ольгой
3 hrs
Thank you, Vanda!
agree M Krasnitskaya : Old sweet, пожалуй.
3 hrs
Thanks!
agree katerina turevich : and qoutes are also not really so necessarily. Sounds so good.
5 hrs
Thank you!
agree Roman Bulkiewicz
16 hrs
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5 hrs

some dear God

Я бы выбрала такой вариант, т.к. dear God очень распространенное словосочетание, причем почти с такой же смысловой нагрузкой, как и русское слегка устаревшее "Боженька", а в этом тексте такое выражение будет отражать сарказм, содержащийся в оригинале. Для пущего сарказма я бы еще поставила dear God в кавычки.
Peer comment(s):
neutral M Krasnitskaya : Там не только сарказм. Там еще масса других нюансов и оттенков. Трудно, в общем...
46 mins
Абсолютно согласна. Мне еще и вариант Владимира Дубисского понравился (насчет других оттенков). Но Боженька - это в принципе непереводимо. :)
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+1
5 hrs

some kind of god

Scott Alexander has it right, but has not proposed it as an answer! "kind of" expresses the diminutive, as well as it can be expressed in English.
Peer comment(s):
agree Jim Tucker (X) : Pretty good - at first blush this looks like a trans. of Какой-то , but it works well as a translation of the noun itself.
7 hrs
Thanks Jim. The Russian has "kind of" twice - once for какой-то and once for the diminutive.
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5 hrs

Ни один из предложенных вариантов

не передает понятия "боженька". Имхо. Sort of, kind of не подходит, поскольку в исходнике тоже пишут "какой-то". Значит, нужно искать приемлемый экивалент именно слову "боженька".
Peer comment(s):
neutral Roman Bardachev : это не ответ на поставленный вопрос
7 hrs
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8 hrs

Some godly grandpa

A long, long time ago some godly GRANDPA had created....// had taken some clay and water, and put Adam together...

I kind of like the "grandpa" image, perhaps it's autobiographical, but to me a grandpa is a bit of a shrunken personality, with an artificial leg, and reading foreign journals after lunch. His name, though, rings far and wide. Bozhen'ka, koroche.
Just mention it.

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Note added at 8 hrs (2007-11-19 10:30:22 GMT)
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"celestial" goes too, i think.
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11 hrs

puny god

В исходном тексте слышится сарказм. Подается мысль о нелепости традиционного мифологического толкования Книги Бытия. Идея о том, что само то толкование, как и его элементы, слишком наивно,ничтожно, слабо. Слово "боженька" в этом контексте следует переводить именно в знаечении "божок". Конечно, во многих других контекстах оно бы переводилось совсем по-другому, как например "Good Lord!" или "Sweet Jesus!", и это было бы уместно в тексте с настроем сердечным и набожным.
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13 hrs

lordy lord

some kind of a lordy lord
Something went wrong...
6 hrs

supposed god

Another attempt to convey that nuance.

"some supposed god...".

It's probably inadequate, but "supposed" is the best I can come up with, if the essential idea is scepticism or cynicism about the belief in such a god.

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Note added at 7 hrs (2007-11-19 09:28:13 GMT)
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This is a tough one, because you can go in various directions with this. The diminutive makes it seem like childish language in a children's story ("some (dear) God once-upon-a-time created..."??). I can see some point in the answers that use "kind" or "dear".

Another idea arising from this is "some Our Father created ....".
"Our Father" (with memories of reciting the Lord's Prayer at school) gives that sense of a childlike, unquestioning belief.

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Note added at 7 hrs (2007-11-19 09:35:17 GMT)
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If I'm getting this right, this kind of belief is being presented as naïve. A typical phrase used in such a context would be "some God up there" (with "God" not necessarily capitalised).

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Note added at 14 hrs (2007-11-19 16:43:50 GMT)
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... and, in a similar vein, "some (kind of) heavenly Father". Difficult to match the exact tone of the Russian!
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1 day 4 hrs

some so-called God

If some so-called God is talking to you, you got issues. If some SKY GOD is watching over us as a people of the planet earth..I think this GOD would care ...
www.topix.com/forum/who/rudy-giuliani/T2FGUAJR1ISIUF066

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Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2007-11-20 06:50:31 GMT)
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