собака The dog is called both собака and пёс in the tale. Because gender in this context is linguistic, the dog is она when it is a собака and он when a пёс.
смолоду Adverb formed from the preposition с in the meaing of ‘from’ plus a genitive in –у.
сторожила Cf. осторожно.
брехать Лаять.
собрался ‘Got ready.’
осине ‘Aspen.’
хотел было This use of было indicates would-be action that was not completed
удавить ‘Choke.’ Cf. давление.
морде Морда is the normal word for the face of an animal, and can also be used pejoratively to refer to the face of a person.
смиловался Cf. милый.
большущий The suffix –ущ– has an augmentative function: очень большой
пестрый ‘Mottled.’
кобель The technical term for a male dog. The corresponding term for a female dog is сука, which, like English ‘bitch,’ is a common term of abuse directed against women.
Долгонько –оньк– is a diminutive suffix.
Бывало Frequentative of быть, in the meaning of ‘it used to be that …’
дому Note the alternative Gsg ending.
отплачу Отплатить.
волчок –ок– is a diminutive suffix, used here by the dog for ingratiation, since we already know that the wolf is quite large, i.e., not physically diminutive.
шкурой ‘Hide’ (that is, the skin of an animal, although may also be used in idioms to refer to the skin of a person).
С жиру Preposition с plus the genitive case to indicate cause: ‘out of fatness you no longer know what you’re doing.’ Note the alternative genitive in –у.
таки Все-таки.
говядины Russian has special words for animals as food (cf English steer / beef or pig / pork), often formed with the suffix –ин– (e.g., свинья / свинина, баран / баранина; see also кобыятина below.). Говядо is an archaic word for ‘bull, steer,’ although говядина is the standard word for ‘beef.’
жрать The normal verb to describe eating by animals, also used pejoratively to describe gobbling or guzzling by humans.
худое Here ‘lean.’
песье Песий (may be pronouned with either ё or е in the root) is derived from пёс by means of a /–j/ suffix. This is a common way of forming adjectives that pertain to animals, e.g., собачий, волчий.
понапрасну = напрасно.
словно = как.
гнилая Cf гнить, гнию ‘rot.’ The adjective is historically related to the past tense form of the verb (which was originally a participle), cf. устать ‘get tired’ / усталый ‘tired’.
колода ‘Log.’
поди-ка The particle –ка is hortative, so that the phrase can be understood along the lines of ‘c’mon, why don’t you go?’
пудика три Пудик is a variant of пуд, an old Russian unit of weight roughly equivalent to thirty-six pounds. The inversion of the number and modified noun indicates approximation: ‘how about if you bring me about a hundred pounds of … ?’
кобылятинки From кобыла ‘mare.’ See the note about говядина above.
поправь Поправить, literally ‘correct,’ is the normal Russian way to say ‘fatten.’ Russian culture traditionally viewed a certain amount of body fat as a sign of health, so gaining weight is equated with correcting oneself, much as худой ‘lean’ (above) also means ‘bad’ (related to хуже ‘worse’).
говядинка Note the diminutive suffix. Говядина literally means ‘beef,’ but it is used here to refer to horsement in the general sense of ‘meat.’
прибирать Literally ‘clean up, put away’ (cf. убирать), used here to mean ‘eat up’ (similarly to English ‘put away’).
мясцо Diminutive of мясо.
али Dialect for или.
Маленько Немножко.
коли = если.
не в пример = Намного.
слаще Comparative of сладкий, with an unusual consonant mutation. Comparatives of adjectives with the suffix –к– after a consonant usually either drop the –к– (e.g., редкий / реже, близкий / ближе) or mutate the –к– suffix itself while retaining the preceding consonant intact (e.g., резкий / резче, лёгкий / легче). Сладкий / слаще is the only word in the language where the entire –дк– cluster mutates: к mutates regularly to ч, д mutates regularly to ж, the ж devoices regularly to ш before voiceless ч, and the resulting sound sequence шч is spelled appropriately as щ. (The cluster –ст– also mutates regularly to щ in comparative adjectives, e.g., густой / гуще, простой / проще.)
на то согласился Согласиться на + A means ‘agree’ in the sense of ‘accede to’ (cf. согласиться с + I, which means ‘agree with’).
лощине Лощина ‘hollow, dell.’
караулить Караул means ‘sentry.’ The basic meaning of this verb is ‘guard, watch,’ but here it has the more specific sense of ‘watch out for, lie in wait for.’
повысмотрел = высмотрел. The double prefix is unusual.
пожирнее Cf. жир ‘fat.’ The prefix по– before a comparative adjective means ‘a little bit, somewhat.’
почуяла Cf. чувство.
когда Here = если.
кабана Кабан ‘boar.’
поправлюсь This verb, previously used in the sense of ‘fatten up,’ here means ‘set things straight.’
откормленному Cf кормить.
собралась уже с силами ‘Gathered his strength.’
дыбки Стать на дыбы means ‘stand on one’s hind legs’ (here with a diminutive form of the noun). The noun is not used other than in this expression, but cf. also дыбиться ‘prance; stand on end’ and дыбом ‘on end’ (adverb, as in волосы у него встали выбом ‘his hair stood on end’).
потчевать ‘Entertain’ (colloquial), related to честь ‘honor’ (in the sense that entertaining someone is showing that person respect). Used sarcastically here.
космы ‘Fur, hair, mane’ (plural only).
бежать The infinitive here is used in the sense of ‘he up and ran.’
припустил Here ‘quickened his pace.’
Ишь Interjection expressing surprise or disgust.
добычей Cf. добыть.
об О +A means ‘against [a surface].’ When used with the prepositional case in the meaning of ‘about,’ this preposition usually takes the form о before consonant sounds and об before vowel sounds, but when used with the accusative in the meaning of ‘against,’ the form об is frequently found before consonant sounds.
на уме Умный (colloq.).
Коли Если.
полнехонько Dim. of полный.
кажись The imperative is used here with present meaning.
харя Морда.
кумом Кум ‘godfather.’
кумою Кума ‘godmother.’
заставки A technical term referring to the dam that impedes the flow of water at a mill. Cf. заставить ‘block up.’
окунать ‘Dip.’ Related to купаться ‘bathe,’ with loss of the п before the suffixal н.
насилу С трудом.
рыскать Рыскать means ‘roam, rove,’ but the use of по imparts a sense of scouring or ransacking the forest in search of something (to eat).
издыхал Умирал. Similar to the use of the present tense of ‘die’ in English, where “I’m dying of hunger” needn’t entail actual death.
гумна Гумно ‘barn.’
падла ‘Carrion.’ Cf. падать.
неурожайное Урожай means ‘harvest’; a неурожайиое время is a lean time, when there is little to eat.
поживиться ‘Live off of’ (cf. жить).
пощелкивать Cf. щелк ‘snap, crack.’
уписывать Colloquial for есть
орехов Here a euphemism for bullets.