Косоручка Косоручка does not literally mean ‘armless maiden’; it is closer to ‘one with crooked arms.’ The Russian root кос– means ‘crooked,’ and is used to describe physical deformities (e.g., косоглазый ‘cross-eyed, squint-eyed’, косолапый ‘pigeon-toed’).
купец ‘Merchant’ (cf. купить).
двое Два. This is a collective numeral, usually reserved for living beings and pluralia tantum.
померли Colloquial for умерли.
Братец и говорит сестрице Note the use of the diminutive suffixes –ец and –ица.
эстого Этого (dialect).
вон ‘Here (hence).’ The colloquial fixed expression Пошел вон! is roughly equivalent to ‘Get outta here!’
займусь Заняться ‘occupy oneself.’ The perfective is used to indicate that he’ll begin his career a shopkeeper.
лавочке Diminutive of лавка ‘shop,’ which appears later on in the story.
найму Нанять ‘rent,’ conjugated like понять.
фатерку Квартиру. In some Russian dialects the sound sequence кв is replaced by ф. What is happening linguistically is a progressive devoicing assimilation (кв becomes кф as the voiceless к causes voiced в to be pronounced like voiceless ф) followed by a simplification of the consonant cluster (кф is reduced to simply ф).
пошли In light of the use of пришли in the following sentence, the prefix по– here is best understood as inceptive (‘they set out for another province’), rather than more generally and comprehensively as ‘went.’
губерню ‘Province,’ cognate with English governor.
определился ‘Got himself set up.’
красным Here ‘beautiful’ or ‘fine.’ In Russian culture the color red is associated with beauty, cf. красивый.
товаром Nsg товар ‘goods.’ This is a mass noun in Russian, and therefore singular (cf. English ‘merchandise’).
Вздумалось братцу жениться ‘To the brother it seemed like a good idea to marry.’ The verb вздумать means ‘to begin to think about.’
таку такую (dialect).
Собиратся Here and elsewhere, 3sg present verbs that would end in –ает in the standard language have instead a contracted form –ат.
Жене ненавистно стало This is an impersonal dative construction, meaning ‘the wife conceived a hatred.’
фтрафила Потрафила ‘handled it.’ The version in our text has the underlying prefix у– instead of the по– that is found in the standard language. In some Russian dialects the sound у before consonants may be replaced by в before voiced consonants and ф before voiceless consonants (such as т, as in this example).
как мужу возвратиться ‘When the husband was to come home.’ Note the use of the dative with infinitive.
взяла перебила The conjunction и is omitted between the verbs.
небель Мебель. The bilabial nasal м is being replaced by a dental nasal н.
кладовой ‘Pantry.’
наживное дело ‘It’s no big deal’ (idiom).
пожаласта = пожалуйста.
время, в какое быть мужу That is, she learned when the husband was supposed to be home.
конюшню ‘Stables,’ from конь ‘horse, stallion.’
мужниному любимому коню ‘The husband’s favorite horse’s.’ Мужниному is a possessive adjective. Typically nouns ending in –а in the Nsg (that is, feminine nouns and male diminutive names) form possessives in –ин– (e.g., сестрни ‘sister’s’), but a few masculine kinship terms, including муж, may take the extended suffix –нин– in this function. Коню is a dative of possession; see the note on ему голову below.
саблей Nsg сабля ‘saber.’
собачье собакам есть ‘What will be, will be’ (idiom).
Смотри, пожаласта, за хозяйкой ‘Please look after my wife.’ Note за followed by the instrumental, and хозяйка ‘housewife, landlady, mistress.’
что не сделала = ничего не сделала
али = или.
паче чаяния ‘(If) contrary to expectation.’
Вот приходит это муж Note that ‘это,’ which is neuter, cannot modify муж. The sentence can be understood as Вот это приходит муж ‘and here comes the husband,’ where это is part of the deictic expression вот это. Cf Вот жена это узнала время above.
она взяла и саблей ему голову снесла ‘She snatched him and cut off his very head with a saber.’ Ему is a dative of possession. Semantically it may be that this use of the dative is not arbitrary, but is being used to emphasize “inalienable” possession [Šarić 2002, http://www.seelrc.org/glossos/issues/3/saric.pdf]; thus the gloss ‘his very head.’
слезьми Variant of слезами.
В самую полночь ‘Right at midnight’ or, to use a fairytale cliché, ‘At the stroke of midnight.’
подымается = поднимается.
поедем мы с тобой к обедне ‘Let’s set off for mass.’ Note the root обед because the celebration of the liturgy normally precedes dinner.
ехать Note the vehicular verb of motion, since they will go by carriage.
ваше (дело) девичье, скоро ли, — говорит, — вы уберетесь The brother switches to the 2pl to complain that “you girls” take a long time to get yourselves ready. A (somewhat awkward) literal translation would be something like ‘It your girlish affair whether you can get ready quickly.’
убирается — не убирается Implying uncertainty about her ability to get herself ready.
руки у ней всё отваливаются Literally ‘her arms were falling off.’ This is a natural enough idiom to describe how someone is too tired to work quickly; in this case it also prefigures the sister’s impending literal mutilation.
проворней Быстрее.
одевайся Одеваться; cf. одежда.
поехали к обедне ‘They set off for mass.’ The prefix по- combined with the preposition к indicates initiation of movement towards an intended destination with no indication of whether they’ll arrive.
Что это за лес? ‘What kind of forest is this?’ The construction что (это) за in the meaning of ‘what sort’ is one of the very places in Russian where за governs the nominative case.
ограда ‘Fence.’ The root град/город refers to enclosed or surrounded spaces (including cities).
за кустик зацепились дрожечки The reflexive construction here can be translated similarly in English: ‘The carriage caught itself on a bush.’ Дрожечки is a dimunative of дрожки, which is plural even when referring to a single carriage.
отцепи ‘Get free.’ The prefix от– here negates or undoes the effect of the prefix за– that precedes it.
замараю ‘Soil.’
отцепливать Imperfective counterpart to отцепить, above.
братец ей по локоть ручки отрубил ‘Her brother cut her arms off up to the elbows.’ This is another example of the dative of possession. По локоть (по plus accusative means ‘up to’) helps to disambiguate the word рука, which is used both for ‘hand’ and ‘arm.’
вдарил Here ‘he drove.’ The replacement of the expected prefix у– with в– before a consonant is a dialect feature.
залилась слезьми Idiom: ‘she cried her eyes out.’
пошла по лесу The use of a unidirectional perfective verb with the phrase по лесу is unusual; the onset of multidirectional (in this case aimless) motion is typically conveyed by a multidirectional root with the prefix за– (e.g., заходила).
ощипалась ‘She scratched herself.’
следу From след ‘path.’ –у is an alternative genitive ending used with certain monosyllabic masculine nouns. This is a genitive of negation; the genitive in –у is also found in partitive constructions. See also из лесу later in this sentence.
из лесу See the note for следу, above.
годов The usual genitive plural of год for counting purposes is the suppletive лет (one finds годов in other expressions, e.g., поколение двадцатых годов ‘the generation of the twenties’).
купеческий город ‘Merchant town’ (cf. купец, купить.
богатищему The suffix –ищ– has a superlative function here, similar to English ‘a most wealthy merchant.’
милостину ‘Alms’ (dialect form; the standard version is милостыня). Cf. милый.
единый Historically един– is the Church Slavonic counterpart to native Russian один–, but some Slavonic forms (including единый) have become established as standard Russian, and are not considered ostentatiously Slavonic in the modern language.
влюбился ‘Fell in love with.’
нищенку ‘Beggar-woman.’
мене Dialect for меня.
На кого же тебе женить? The expression жеинть(ся) на typically governs the prepositional case, rather than the accusative. Indeed, the immediately following answer is given in the prepositional: на этой нищенке.
Да жените Да may be used with the present tense to express desire, with a meaning comparable to (я хочу,) чтобы вы меня женили!
ежели = если.
обидно ‘Distressing,’ with nuances of ‘unfortunate’ and ‘offensive.’
священство ‘Clergy.’
что присудят ‘What would you advise?’ The verb has an official connotation, and can mean ‘advise,’ ‘sentence,’ or ‘prescribe,’ depending on the context.
его бог благословляет на нищенке жениться ‘His fate is such that God gives his blessing [for the boy] to marry this beggar-woman.’
сидит в лавочке Here in the sense of работает в лавочке.
Не оставьте ‘Don’t forsake.’
не равно она родит, вы пишите ко мне тот раз и тот час ‘Write me the minute she gives birth.’
чрез = через.
по локти в золоте ‘His arms were gold up to the elbows.’
звезды Звезда ‘star.’
месяц ‘Moon.’ Russian, like English, can use the same word for both ‘month’ and ‘moon’ (cf. English “many moons” = ‘a long time’).
красно The contracted adjectival form is dialectal.
с запиской с эстою Note the repetition of the preposition, with the noun preceding the demosntrative pronoun. Эстой is a dialect form of этой.
поскоряючи = скоро. The ending –чи forms adverbs from adjectives that were historically participles in –чий.
невестка ‘Sister-in-low.’
зазывает = очень приглашает.
Поди = иди (related to пойди).
батюшка Literally an affectionate term for ‘father,’ but commonly used to address old me in general.
на скорую руку ‘On an urgent matter.’
посадила Causative of сидеть.
сумочку Diminutive of сумка.
изорвала Root рв–
клочьи Клок ‘piece’ normally forms two plurals, either клочи or клочья. The form in the text combines features of both but conforms to neither.
собачьего Собачий ‘canine’ (adj. derived from собака).
ведмежачьего Медвежьего. There are three interesting linguistic details about this word. 1) Медведь literally means ‘honey eater’ (from мед– ‘honey’ and ед– ‘eat’). The в between the two parts is a historical relic, representing the fact that the root мед– originally included a following у, and у could be transformed into в in some situations. The use of a euphemism like ‘honey eater’ instead of a word that literally means ‘bear’ is an example of a “taboo deformation,” a sociolinguistic phenomenon where one does not utter the names of possibly harmful creatures lest the mere mention of the name cause them magically to appear. The Ivanits textbook gives examples of euphemistic replacements for the word леший, which is another manifestation of the same phenomenon. 2) The names of small animals in Russian are often formed by adding the suffix –ёнок in the singular and –ята in the plural, e.g., котёнок, котята ‘kitten’. Stem-final –д typically although not obligatorily is mutated to –ж in this construction. 3) The word in the text is a possessive adjective, commonly formed from animal names and some other words by mutating the stem-final consonant (cf. волчий ‘wolf’s’ from волк ‘wolf’; also леший from лес). Here the possessive is formed from the name for the small animal (with the suffix mentioned above).
прижила ‘Had a child with.’ This verb is commonly used for illegitimate offspring, although it may also occur within that nuance in fairy tales.
купеческому Adj. derived from купец.
мово Dialect for моего.
народился Colloquial equvalent of родился.
кой-как Dialect for кое-как.
заговорила Cf. заговор ‘charm, incantation.’
как записка на двор ‘As soon as the letter reaches the house.’
огорчились Cf. горький.
изъян ‘Error.’
Жаль им не так жену, как жаль младенца. Жаль ‘feel sorry for’ takes the dative of the persons who feels sorry and the accusative of the persons for whom they feel sorry. Не так … как … ‘not so much … than …’ (that is, ‘they felt sorry not so much for the wife as for the child’).
Взяли благословили The conjunction и between the verbs is understood.
чистое Here ‘wide-open; clear.’
лощине Hollow, dale.
напиться The combination of a prefix на– with the particle –ся can convey doing something until one is satisfied; thus ‘to drink one’s fill.’
захотелось Perfective, and therefore not just ‘wanted,’ but ‘conceived a desire.’
колодезь Archaic equivalent of standard колодец ‘well.’
напиться-то The particle –то here can be understood as emphatic.
поглазилось Показалось. Cf. глаз.
будто бы вода ближе стала That is, it seemed as if the water had become closer to her than she had previously thought, implying that she wouldn't have to bend over too far to reach it.
выпал и упал Note the difference in meaning when different prefixes are applied to the same root: he fell out (from the binding holding him to her body) and fell away (into the well).
достать Literally ‘attain,’ here in the sense of ‘reach’ or ‘obtain.’
раба Literally ‘slave,’ here probably in the sense of раба божья ‘slave of God,’ and expression of respect for someone’s piety.
одни Here ‘only.’
локоточки ‘Stump’ (cf. локоть).
очутились Появились.
присказки Embellishments to tales.
смерть люблю = очень люблю.
душенька Душа ‘soul’ (here in a diminutive form) = милый, милая.
скажи-ка The particle –ка is hortative (‘c’mon and tell’).
сторьицу = рассказ (cf. историю.
вякать Болтать пустяки.
б.... Блядь literally means ‘whore,’ but like its English counterpart, it is used a general term of abuse for women, without any necessary connotation of sexual commerce. The Russian word, unlike the English, is considered obscene, and it is therefore typically replaced in print by the spelling that occurs in our text.
переколотила Колоть = рубить.
заманула Заманила.
наизнова = заново.
чепуху городить Городить literally means ‘encircle, enclose.’ The idiom чепуху городить чушь (with чушь omitted here) means ‘surround nonsense with nonsense’ literally and ‘talk nonsense’ figuratively.
досказала Note the use of the prefix до– to say that she came up to a certain point in her story.
робенка Dialect for ребёнок.
чушь какую порет Пороть чушь = говорить ерунду.
орать Орать literally means кричать; here it is used in the sense of ‘talk too much’ or ‘talk nonsense.’
развили This verb is most commonly used in its metaphoric meaning of ‘unfold, develop’, but here it has its literal meaning of ‘unwrap.’
правда-истина Russian has two words for truth; правда is standard and истина has an elevated (Slavonic) flavor. They are combined here for emphasis.
самую что ни лучшую = самую лучшую. The particle ни here is emphatic and does not have negative meaning (cf. как это ни странно).
Потель Потель … покель … is dialect for потоль … поколь … ‘to such an extent that … .’
мыкала ‘Hatchel.’ A technical term meaning ‘to comb flax,’ here in the metaphoric sense that the horse dragged and scraped her over the ground.
самоё fAsg of сам (same ending as её).
запрягли Запрячь ‘harness.’