Feb 5, 2020 13:55
4 yrs ago
34 viewers *
Russian term

Опчество

Russian to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
From a gulag memoir:
При случае, она пускала первоклассным матюгом и умела быстро навести порядок в бараке. Потом она изви­нялась и поясняла соседям: - Ничего не поделаешь, иначе они не понимают! Это-ж... «Опчество»!
Состояло «опчество» из раскулаченных, сбежав­ших с мест поселения, колхозников и рабочего люда.

Discussion

tatyana000 (asker) Feb 18, 2020:
@Boris Shapiro Thanks! I agree with your take on this -- that the word itself is not important since it's used idiosyncratically. I went with "riff-raff" since they are contrasted with the "intelligentsia."
Boris Shapiro Feb 6, 2020:
The precise word is immaterial. It can be pretty much anything (s'ciety is very good, 'munity might be workable, too) because the character uses it in a totally idiosyncratic way. Just make sure it is not a 'positive' (for that time) word like 'commune' or 'collective'.

Proposed translations

19 hrs
Selected

riff-raff /riff-raffies

I'm totally with Pavel, exept that IMO his "scum" is too categorical: what's meant here is, in a way, antagonistic to "society" right-and-proper.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you! I went with "riff-raff" because they are contrasted with the intelligentsia."
+4
16 mins

Sciety

...
Peer comment(s):

agree Valery Lyutov
4 hrs
agree Egor Shapurov : может быть даже 's'ciety', я где-то видел именно такой вариант
7 hrs
agree Boris Shapiro : 'ciety might be even better. "It's a 'ciety" rolls right off the tongue.
16 hrs
agree svetlana cosquéric
5 days
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-1
1 hr

collective

Диалект, употребляемый, например, в новелле В. П. Астафьева "Царь-рыба. Значение: сельскохозяйственная община.
https://otvet.mail.ru/question/195606095

община характеризуется коллективным трудом и потреблением, более поздняя форма - соседская
https://www.multitran.com/m.exe?l1=2&l2=1&s=община
Peer comment(s):

disagree Boris Shapiro : No, this meaning is entirely accidental here.
1 day 16 hrs
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3 hrs

Scum

She didn't mean society, on the contrary
Peer comment(s):

neutral Boris Shapiro : Or, she might have meant precisely that, but in a true 'class-consciously' contemptuous way.
1 day 14 hrs
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-1
1 day 20 mins

Ribble-rabbles / rascality

I would say:
Ribble-rabbles / rascality
or
vulgar or common herds

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Note added at 1 day 21 mins (2020-02-06 14:17:29 GMT)
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Опчество в этом контексте не связано с society.
Peer comment(s):

disagree Boris Shapiro : O the vulgar herd! The common spirits! The, dare I say it, barbarous multitudes! Your sense of style is killing me, man!
17 hrs
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Reference comments

34 mins
Reference:

Commune

I think it is about agricultural commune,
If we may change it as in the context, i would call it agro commune,
Not so sure
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