Russian sayings give an insight into many aspects of Russian history, culture, and national character. Russian language is replete with many hundreds of proverbs (пословица/poslov'itsa/) and sayings (поговоркa/pogovorka/). These were already tabulated by the seventeenth century, and collected and studied in the nineteenth and twentieth, with the folk-tales being an especially fertile source. Quite a few sayings are of literary origin.
Sample sayings
в тридевятом царстве /v trid'ev'atom tsartsv'e/ "in the three-ninth kingdom", a typical beginning of a fairy tale; often used ironically in a reference to a place far away.
со времён царя Гороха /so vrem'on tsar'a goroxa/ "since the times of Tsar Green-pea" = "since time immemorial"
ни к селу, ни к городу /ni k s'elu, ni k gorodu/ "neither for a village nor for a city" = "of no use or relevance whatsoever"
хоть кол на голове теши /xot' kol na golov'e teS1/ "even if you whittled a spike on his head..." (said of someone ultimately stubborn or recalcitrant)
делать из мухи слона/delat' iz mukhi slona/ "to make an elephant from a fly"="to make a mountain of a mole-hill"
палить из пушки по воробьям/palit' iz pushki po vorobyam/ "to shoot with a cannon at sparrows"="break a fly upon a wheel"
Бить баклуши/bit' baklushi/"to split wood for making wooden spoons"="to fool (away)"
Когда рак (на горе) свистнет/kogda rak (na gore) svistnet/"when the crayfish will whistle(on the mountain[top])"="never"
Показать, где раки зимуют/pokazat', gde raki zimuyut/"to show where the crayfishes spend winter"="to punish; to give a piece of one's mind"
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Categories: Russia stubs | Russian language
