буфетчик

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

How would you translate "буфетчика" in this couplet from Griboedov's Woe from Wit? Is it a cook? A waiter? A buffet worker? Simply a servant?

А я... одна лишь я любви до смерти трушу.-
А как не полюбить буфетчика Петрушу!  

Comments

[khathi.livejournal.com]

Originally "buffet" meant "bar" in Russian, so "буфетчик" was more or less a synonym to "barman" or "bartender", but the meaning of the word has since drifted and by Griboediv's times already basically meant just waiter, who, nevertheless kept some of the bartender or even butler duties. For example in old noble homes буфетчик was in charge of the pantry.

[merry1978.livejournal.com]

It was more like a butler at the time, but not quite. Certainly not a waiter and not a cook. In this text probably under-butler would be the closest translation.

[kozavr.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about Петруша from "Горе от ума" but lead character of one of the most famous and funniest soviet movie "Полосатый рейс" was working as a буфетчик in a circus.

[ekaterina-80.livejournal.com]

Буфетчик - man; буфетчица - woman. They are bar workers. But these words use very seldom in modern russian.

[burrru.livejournal.com]

valet

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

There's approx. 160 years between the two, and the meaning of the word drifted considerably.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

+1. Under-butler is quite close. The servant (houseworker serf) in charge for his masters' silverware, that's who he is.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

no

[burrru.livejournal.com]

Петрушка, вечно ты с обновкой,
С разодранным локтём. Достань-ка календарь;
Читай не так, как пономарь,
А с чувством, с толком, с расстановкой.
Постой же.- На листе черкни на записном,
Противу будущей недели:
К Прасковье Федоровне в дом
Во вторник зван я на форели.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

And?

[emperor-spock.livejournal.com]

Quite close to what a valet is: a private man-servant for a noble man.

[burrru.livejournal.com]

Well, he's kind of a personal servant. In Russian we'd say камердинер.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

A butler, would we say in English. Not a valet. He is not dressing/undressing his master (at least Griboyedov does not write it.) But Griboedov also specifies that he is a буфетчик, an under-butler, that is (somebody who is, mainly, in charge of his masters' silverware.) Of course this does not mean that he cannot fulfil other duties in his masters' household, such as read to his missus.

[hyyudu.livejournal.com]

Петрушка is a common name for a young servant in XVII century. Probably буфетчик Петруша and personal servant Петрушка are two different men.

Буфетчики

[lion-casserole.livejournal.com]

.
"Буфетчик" is a foot-man servant, serving his master in the refreshment room, or a bartender-waiter in a public snack-bar.

"Буфетчик" could be the host of the bar, e.g. in Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" there is "буфетчик" Andrei Fokich Sokov - the manager of the buffet of the Variety Theater.

In contrast, Griboedov "Woe from Wit"'s Petrusha (who is one of Famusov's male servants) is a kind of easy toy-teddy-bear male character. His name is Peter, while hosts and servants are using the forms of name, which are much closer to the Russian pupil-show theater's character - "Петрушка".

Re: Буфетчики

[mithrilian.livejournal.com]

Puppet-show, not pupil-show ^)

[mithrilian.livejournal.com]

Famusov could

1. call all the undersevants by a single name
2. had enough male servants to have two or more of them have the same name

[burrru.livejournal.com]

Famusov could. Griboedov couldn't...

[burrru.livejournal.com]

True. But butler is too much serious, whereas under-butler is though more precise, but clumsy for poetry. I'd use under-butler for commentaries and valet for poetic translation.