Translating old Russian

[quem98.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to translate a decree of Catherine the Great.

How would one translate Приняв за благо ваше предствление ваше, чтоб Мулл и проче духовные чны магометынскаго закона между народами, оный в империи нашей исповtдующими, определялись не инако, как по учинении им надлежащаго испытания и с утверждения наместнbческаго правленя...
The sentence goes on for another ten lines.

I can't quite figure out the construction

"implementing your presentation for the greater good?" Or something like that?

Comments

[danvolodar.livejournal.com]

Urrm... Would you please give the full sentence? Unable to tranlsate.

[danvolodar.livejournal.com]

Or was it ваше предствление выше?
Then context is needed.

[sanin.livejournal.com]

Sorry for bad english but probably that will help:

...Accepting your statement that Mullahs and other islamic religious officials should be confirmed as such for peoples practicing Islam in our empire only after passing appropriate examinations and after being approved by governors...

I've omitted two "ваше" in the beginning, it looks like a mistake.

[botanik1.livejournal.com]

after some googling, I believe представление meant a "formal report to the government" in old Russian beaureucratic usage.

Принять что-то за благо is a somewhat formal idiom that means "consider it beneficial", after some googling it was commonly used in old Russian documents.

[ja-va.livejournal.com]

Accepting as a pleasure your presentation, so that the Mull(a) as well as the rest of the members of the Law of Muhammad between the peoples, who are practicing the above mentioned in our empire, could be destinguished not in any other way then upon exectution of the proper trial and following the establishment of the rule of the procurator....

[kalaus.livejournal.com]

<...> представление meant a "formal report to the government"
===
"Report" is correct, but here, contextually, I would use "recommendation". Otherwise, I like sanin's translation.

[halevi.livejournal.com]

The correct Old Russian writing of the text is the follows:

Принявъ за благо Ваше представленiе вышѣ, чтобъ Муллъ и прочiе духовные чины магометанскаго закона между народами, оный въ Имперiи Нашей исповѣдующими, пределялись не инако, какъ по учиненiи ими надлежащаго испытанiя и съ утвержденiя наместнѣческаго правления...

As far as my English permits, the translation would be:

According your previous presentation, that Mullas and other religious officials of Mahometan law, for the peoples worshiping one in Our Empire, have to be appointed in no way, other than through proper examination and approvement by the governor's administration.

There are a words not presenting in modern Russian, or having another meanings:

принять за благо --- to accept a proposal.
чин --- officer, official (= официальное лицо)
оный --- that
инако = иначе
не инако, как --- in no other way
учинить испытание --- to give an examination
наместническое правление --- governor's administration ("administration" here is to be treated as "administering" as well as "administrative personal")

Futhermore, in Modern Russian final "-аго" is substituted with "-ого", final "ъ" is omitted, "i" is substituted with "и" (sometimes with "ь"), ѣ is substituted with "е" (sometimes with "и").

[kart.livejournal.com]

Thank you for that very detailed and helpful explanation.

One question, however: in Old Russian, was "г" soft in the final "-аго" as it is in Modern Russian? I've always wondered how "г" ended up with hard and soft pronounciations.

[stephan-nn.livejournal.com]

На конце русских прилагательных "-ого" буква "г" читается как [в].
Вы это хотели узнать?

[kart.livejournal.com]

Ok, maybe "soft" isn't the right term. For whatever reason, г ends up getting pronounced as a в in -ого words and some other words like чего.

I guess it's wrong to call this sound shift "soft"?

What I wanted to know was: why does Modern Russian use г in words that obviously are not pronounced with a normal г sound? Looking at Slavonic, Bulgarian, etc, it's plain to see that the -ого is pronounced with a hard г in other related languages. To further confuse things there's the ordinary H-sounding "soft" mutation, as in southern accents.

It seems like, long ago, words spelled with -ого were pronounced o-g-o. Then over time two (maybe three?) changes crept into the language:
1. unstressed "о" sounds like "а"
2. г softens to х/h (but not everywhere, not sure, help?)
3. г in -ого and related phonemes mutates into в... but did this shift come directly from hard г or did it come by way of the softened х/h mutation?

[capitan-blood.livejournal.com]

Не всегда и не у всех. Это зависит и от региона, и от стиля речи, места и т.д. и т.п. Например в Питере, достаточно часто произносят именно "ого", так же и в официальных выступлениях и т.п.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I would love to remind that the working language of this community, for the sake of those who still are in a very early stage of their study, is English. It is OK to post or comment in Russian, but you are expected to provide an English translation as well.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

I would love to remind that the working language of this community, for the sake of those who still are in a very early stage of their study, is English. It is OK to post or comment in Russian, but you are expected to provide an English translation as well.

[halevi.livejournal.com]

In Modern Russian "г" in final "-ого" in adjectives is commonly prononced as "в". There are some exceptions, but "в" is a common rule, and this way never will be a mistaken: no exception is mandatory.

As far as I can guess, final "-аго" in Old Russian is pronounced in the same way. This conclusion comes from some poems of M.Lomonosov, where, e.g. "краснаго" is rhymed with "иваново". ("Иваново" means "related to Ivan").

As far as I know, final "-аго" in Russian writing went from the Old Slavonic orthography, which is the common source of the Russian writing tradition.

[mikharojo.livejournal.com]

i am russian but it really dificult text even for me, do you know this is not russian lenguage it's lengusge of 18th centure? nobody use it ourdays!