Chrononyms in Stratagema Oeconomicum by S. Gubert and in Lifliandskaia Ekonomiia by M. V. Lomonosov (a comparative study)

Abstract

Stratagema Oeconomicum by S. Gubert (first ed. 1645) is a German-language manual on farming in the historical region of Livonia. This German text, as well as its Russian translation Lifljandskaia Ekonomiia (“Economy of Livonia”) signed by M. Lomonosov (1747), contains numerous calendar dates in the form of proper names (chrononyms). Most of these names refer to religious holidays and Christian saints’ days of remembrance. A comparative study of chrononyms from the two texts approaches issues that were not fully resolved in previous works, namely, revealing the strategies used by the Russian author and identifying the reasons for deviations from the original text. An analysis of the linguistic material shows that in the selection of equivalents for German chrononyms, the Russian translator used both the Orthodox Church calendar and the traditional Slavic almanac. Many significant Christian figures are not represented in the Slavic folk calendar, and this led to cases in which names from the German book were replaced with names indicating different, albeit close, calendar dates. In addition, the days of remembrance of some Christian saints differ in the Western and Eastern traditions, which also caused a number of replacements with shifts in dates. Other factors, e. g. climate of Russia and the use of the Julian calendar, did not have a significant impact on the translation of chrononyms. The main aim of the adaptation carried out by the Russian translator, most likely, was the desire to present calendar milestones and intervals in a form familiar to the Russian reader.