(no subject)

[devinshire.livejournal.com]

Strange question, but how do you say "gargoyle" in Russian? With my most advanced English students, I was assigned the most unfortunate task of giving them a lecture on architecture - a subject about which I know embarrassingly little. Still, I did a little background research on the internet to bone up for the lecture, but in class when I had to explain the gargoyle and its role in gothic architecture, no amount of funny faces or amateur drawings on the whiteboard could help. When I went home and checked my trustiest dictionary, there was NO gargoyle! Help?

Comments

[sertoun.livejournal.com]

Горгулья (http://www.multitran.ru/c/m.exe?t=134911_1_2)

[devinshire.livejournal.com]

Спасибо огромное!

[devinshire.livejournal.com]

Oy! Forgot to ask - stress on the "y"???

[lafy.livejournal.com]

yes

[sertoun.livejournal.com]

yes.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I have always used гаргулья (http://build.rin.ru/dict/4/214.html). Google gives 499 for гаргулья but 2,050 for горгулья. Note that the most of the latter version's appearances is in the computer games and/or fantasy literature resources, while гаргулья mostly appears when they write about architecture :))

[asmodeus-dhoine.livejournal.com]

не, не вариант. гОргулья. надо искать не в гугле, а в словарях!

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

The working language of this community is English. It's OK to post or comment in Russian, but you are expected to provide an Eglish translation as well. Please translate your comment. It's simply polite.

BTW could you kindly quote the dictionary you were using? (Title, author, edition, page?)

[asmodeus-dhoine.livejournal.com]

Excuse me :)
So, i just told you that гАргулья is wrong and you shouldn't accept Google as your personal linguist :)
I didn't use any dict (and i failed to find this word also!) but i've been reading fantasy books for few years and the only form of word i've ever seen - гОргулья.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

This is exactly what I say. When it's a fantasy book in Russian, it's always горгулья. The problem is that nobody can list most of Russian fantasy writers as the most literary people in the country. When it comes to architecture or the history of European culture, it's always гаргулья - note that it's only logical to have this word in the same form as it exists in its native language, i.e. French: gargoyle, not gorgoyle. Google is not my personal linguist, it only counts how frequently people use the different forms of a word. The fact that there is 4 горгулья for 1 гаргулья only reflects the fact that there's more fantasy readers than the specialists in European medieval architecture.

[asmodeus-dhoine.livejournal.com]

:)))))
actually, i read foreign writers' books in russian (for instance, Terry Pratchett).
I agree that it's kinda strange that we have "O" where other languages have "A", but there're such words in russian that also spelled different from original word.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Well, the terribly lowsimply poor quality of Russian translations of sci fi and fantasy is just notorious. Sad but true. In a 1990s translation of Frank Herbert's "Dune," I have met the expression астматическое давление (asthmatic pressure) -- where, I knew that for sure, the author used "osmotic pressure" (осмотическое давление.) As you may see, "asthmatic pressure" makes no sense at all, it is just one of numerous translator's mistakes, caused by low literacy and too much translation to do in too brief a time for too little money. Will you insist that this translator's mistake must be also more relevant than a dictionary, like you insist in the gargoyles' case?

[asmodeus-dhoine.livejournal.com]

:))))))))))
nope. but i still insist on "гаргулья".
You can take it as my personal opinion.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Гаргулья is what I insist on :))) Gotcha! :)))))))))))))

[asmodeus-dhoine.livejournal.com]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!
i gotta delete that post!!!!!!

[asmodeus-dhoine.livejournal.com]

well, you know what i mean :)

[some-noise.livejournal.com]

variant: "гаргулья". stress the same )

[temcat.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid though that the translation won't help. Being Russian myself, I've never ever heard the word горгулья ;-)

[kav2k.livejournal.com]

Really strange, you know.. It isn't such a rare word. Though, i thought it was spelled "гаргулья", but dictionaries know better.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Well, this only means that you aren't interested in medieval architecture (http://build.rin.ru/dict/4/214.html) :) In Paris, famous chimeratic gargoyles sit on the edges of the Notre Dame's roof :)

[kav2k.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they're impressive when water emerges from their mouths during rain.. ;) Unfortunately, raindrops prevented me from making an acceptable photo.

[hellga.livejournal.com]

That would be горгулья, but architecturally speaking, the gargoyles of Notre-Dame are usually called химеры (singular would be химера). As far as I remember my art history classes long ago.

It's amazing!

[hound-lancer.livejournal.com]

(if I were to avoid the word rediculous). Microsoft Word doesn't know the word "горгулья". My most trusted 4 Vol. Concise Russian Dictionary doesn't have it either. School dictionary of borrowed words is dumb and deaf. Nothing in the electronic dictionary.

The only one I found eventually was this (a very advisable dictionary in fact): http://lingvo.yandex.ru/en?text=gargoyle&l=R.%D1%A0

Re: It's amazing!

[oryx_and_crake]

This is somewhat offtopic. Microsoft Word does not know A LOT of words... Probably the most famous story is about it not recognising the word "мультиканальный" (multi-channeled) and proposing to change it into "мультик анальный" (anal animated cartoon). I know more of such horror stories, if you are interested :-)

Re: It's amazing!

[asmodeus-dhoine.livejournal.com]

i am! tell me! :)