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Glossary entry

Russian term or phrase:

Вот тебе, бабушка, и Юрьев день!

English translation:

"there you have it, Granny, Yuri's Day"

Added to glossary by Vladimir Alexandrov
Feb 23, 2009 16:59
15 yrs ago
Russian term

Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen

Russian to English Art/Literary Music
Apologies for my transliteration, Russian is not my primary language and I do not have Cyrillic characters, but here is the original as far as I could get it from an online transliteration tool:

вот тебе бабушка и иурев ден

Yuri in this case should spelled with the Russian "Yu" sign but I couldn't get that to show.

I understand this literally, but am wondering if I can get some more insight. This is from a Shostakovich opera, and I have a German translation of this "Das ist ja eine schoene Schweinerei!", approximately "What a mess this is!".

Does anyone have any more tips about how to translate/understand the original Russian?

thanks!!
Proposed translations (English)
4 -1 Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen
5 +1 Oh, come now!
3 +3 That's just my luck!
5 There you are!/Surprise, surprise!
Change log

Feb 24, 2009 04:39: Vladimir Alexandrov Created KOG entry

Feb 24, 2009 05:27: Vladimir Alexandrov changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/623964">Vladimir Alexandrov's</a> old entry - "Вот тебе, бабушка, и Юрьев день! "" to """there you have it, Granny, Yuri's Day"""

Feb 24, 2009 06:36: Vladimir Alexandrov changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/623964">Vladimir Alexandrov's</a> old entry - "Вот тебе, бабушка, и Юрьев день! "" to """there you have it, Granny, Yuri's Day"""

Discussion

Dylan Edwards Feb 23, 2009:
Here's a fine how d'ye do! / That's a nice kettle of fish! - these are translations I've found, but they probably miss out some nuances.
Alexandra Taggart Feb 23, 2009:
I've just checked, it could be used as positive but only due to lack of knowledge of the original meaning of this expression.
Alexandra Taggart Feb 23, 2009:
when you are just about to leave: "There you are, grunny, this is your Yuri day!" Something stops something.
Alexandra Taggart Feb 23, 2009:
A positive meaning is probably rear. "What a nasty surprise!" This expression is used when your expectations are failed and it comes as a surprise, when the things did not pan out the way you planned. Say, your best friend is comming when you are just ab
Dylan Edwards Feb 23, 2009:
You're right about the meaning. Do you need a word-for-word translation?

Proposed translations

-1
18 mins
Russian term (edited): Вот тебе, бабушка, и Юрьев день!
Selected

Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen

Yuri's Day in the Autumn, celebrated at the time when the agricultural year is over and the harvest is in, had a special significance on the calendar of Russian peasants during the centuries when the system of serfdom was established. The Sudebnik of 1497 established the two weeks' period around the Autumn Yuri's Day (one week before the feast and one week after it), as the only time of the year when the Russian peasants were free to move from one landowner to another. A century later, Boris Godunov's administration interdicted the movement of peasants on Yuri's day, thus finalizing the evolution of Russian serfdom.

A popular Russian expression harking back to that unfortunate event survives to this day (roughly translated, it is "there you have it, Granny, Yuri's Day", referring to a promise that is not kept).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri's_Day

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 мин (2009-02-23 17:20:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sorry, I put the answer in the wrong box!
It should be
"there you have it, Granny, Yuri's Day" instead of
"Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen"
Peer comment(s):
neutral DTSM : Your translation becomes transparent only with the Wiki article physically stuck to it.
30 mins
disagree Mikhail Kropotov : Unidiomatic
11 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks for the information and the link!"
12 mins

There you are!/Surprise, surprise!

The expression means :You've got that what you were waiting for". "Yuriyev den" is 23 rd of April, a holiday for peasants. This expression is still in use nowdays and could be used in both in negative and positive sense.
Peer comment(s):
neutral DTSM : Positive sense???
15 mins
"Вот тебе на!" Say, when insignificant student wins first price. Probably "positive" is not correct, more of a mixture of emotions.
neutral Sergei Tumanov : The expression means :You've NOT got that what you were waiting for".
2 hrs
Literally-yes. Because that new law in Russia,back in the times of yore, prevented peasants from having their holiday and free movement, that "Yuri's da
Something went wrong...
+1
23 mins

Oh, come now!

ЮРЬЕВ, -а: Юрьев день - в старое время на Руси: осенний праздник святого Георгия (Юрия), в день к-рого крепостным разрешалось переходить от одного помещика к другому, - право, отмененное в конце 16 в.; теперь (разг. шутл.) о коротком периоде полного освобождения от всяких обязательств; вот тебе, бабушка, и Юрьев день! (разг. шутл.) - возглас по поводу какой-н. неприятной неожиданности. (полный текст статьи из словаря Ожегова)
Peer comment(s):
agree Mikhail Kropotov : Almost fits; but "oh, come on now" is more than just a complaint, it's usually addressed to someone in particular. A possible solution in some contexts though!
11 hrs
Благодарю за поддержку, Михаил. Странно только, что автор вопроса выбрал наименее подходящее решение.
Something went wrong...
+3
5 hrs

That's just my luck!

The phrase occurs in Mussorgsky's opera 'Boris Godunov', and in the libretto translations in two different recordings that I have the phrase is given as versions of 'That's just my luck!', without putting in any reference to 'babushka'. It is used by Grishka Otrepyev (the future Pretender Dimitri) when he hears from the inn-keeper that there are guards on the frontier that he wants to cross.
Peer comment(s):
agree Rachel Douglas
3 hrs
agree Alexandra Goldburt : Try as you might - there is no equivalent in English, nothing even close. So the transltor of a libretto just said 'That's just my luck!', and I would do the same.
3 hrs
agree Mikhail Kropotov
6 hrs
Something went wrong...
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