baconmeteor ([info]baconmeteor) wrote,
@ 2006-10-14 20:37:00
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тарантас
Is there an English equivalent for тарантас? "Tarantas" appears in a dictionary of rare English words, but I thought there might exist some happy medium between that and just plain "cart".

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[info]sergik
2006-10-14 12:59 pm UTC (link)
Old meaning of the word:
Тарантас - четырехколесная дорожная повозка на длинных дрогах, уменьшающих тряску.
http://im2-tub.yandex.ru/i?id=30993248&tov=2

There are 2 contemporary meanings:
1) something (usually a car) that has very bad quality of ride, is very old and must not be used, though it still works. I guess, in live conversation that could be similar to "This car... what a piece of junk!"
2) (used in a book I guess) used to express an admiration, describe something actually rare, not widespread.

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[info]seminarist
2006-10-14 01:20 pm UTC (link)
Тарантас was four-wheeled and fairly long. Unlike regular peasant's cart it had not only sides, but a seat and a top, usually of leather or cloth. However, it was old-fashioned, springless and much less smart, than, say, a coach: somebody riding a tarantas was probably not rich: a small-time landowner, a well-to-do peasant, a village priest, a third-rate merchant. It resembled somewhat an amish buggy. Why not call it a buggy?

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[info]vadim_i_z
2006-10-14 04:47 pm UTC (link)
Try to find any translation of the story Тарантас (1845) by count Vladimir Sollogub. Thiss story was well known in the 19th century, and Ilf and Petrov have read it for sure.

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[info]seminarist
2006-10-15 12:41 am UTC (link)
If I know anything about English translations of Russian books, it is likely to be called a tarantas there. Or even a tarantass.

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[info]aces_up
2006-10-14 09:06 pm UTC (link)
Context is important. In many it means shit-mobile more than anything else.

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[info]made_of_honor
2006-10-15 07:26 am UTC (link)
+1, though less than драндулет и даже колымага или рыдван. Tarantass sounds legit.

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[info]baconmeteor
2006-10-15 08:07 am UTC (link)
Considering "jalopy" for this...

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[info]made_of_honor
2006-10-15 08:47 am UTC (link)
Great to me! Plus the lucky "-lop-" inside!

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[info]guest_informant
2006-10-15 10:18 am UTC (link)
That's what I wanted to suggest.

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[info]seminarist
2006-10-15 12:46 pm UTC (link)
+1

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[info]wackyslav
2006-10-16 05:08 am UTC (link)
I too would have suggesterd jalopy.

Or maybe "heap," but that's probably a relic of my reading a lot of Hammett recently.

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