{"id":7140,"date":"2014-12-01T07:50:45","date_gmt":"2014-12-01T07:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=7140"},"modified":"2018-08-16T13:37:22","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T13:37:22","slug":"metaphoric-country-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/metaphoric-country-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Metaphoric Country Names"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russian is notoriously intolerant of repeating words within a sentence or in adjacent sentences. As a result, elaborate\u00a0circumlocutions are used to say\u00a0the same thing. A specific case is metaphors that refer to countries. As always, I will link\u00a0to sources for words in languages I don’t know. All usage examples come from the Russian National Corpus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Japan<\/h2>\n

\u042f\u043f\u043e<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u044f – \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0430<\/span> \u0432\u043e\u0441\u0445\u043e\u0434\u044f<\/span>\u0449\u0435\u0433\u043e \u0441\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u043d\u0446\u0430<\/span><\/strong> (literally, “country of the rising sun”)<\/p>\n

The two characters that make up the word “Japan” in Japanese (\u65e5\u672c) are “sun” and “origin,” hence the literal translation as “land of the rising sun<\/a>.” This name is thought to have been used in correspondence with China; it refers to Japan’s easterly position relative to China.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/p>\n

\u0421\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0430<\/span><\/span> \u0432\u043e\u0441\u0445\u043e\u0434\u044f<\/span>\u0449\u0435\u0433\u043e<\/span> \u0441\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u043d\u0446\u0430<\/span> \u043d\u0430\u0447\u0430\u043b\u0430<\/span><\/span> \u0431\u043e\u0440\u044c\u0431\u0443<\/span><\/span> \u0441<\/span> \u0434\u0435\u0444\u0438\u0446\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u043e\u043c<\/span> \u0431\u044e\u0434\u0436\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0430<\/span> \u0438<\/span> \u0433\u043e\u0441\u0434\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u0433\u043e\u043c<\/span>, \u043a\u043e\u0442\u043e<\/span>\u0440\u044b\u0439<\/span> \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0432\u044b\u0448\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u0442<\/span> 200<\/span>% \u0412\u0412\u041f<\/span>.<\/strong>
\nThe Land of the Rising Sun has started a struggle against\u00a0the budget deficit and national debt, which exceeds 200 percent of the GDP.<\/p>\n

China<\/h2>\n

\u041a\u0438\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u0439 – \u041f\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0435\u0431\u0435<\/span>\u0441\u043d\u0430\u044f<\/span><\/strong> (“under the heaven”)<\/p>\n

The Chinese word tianxia<\/a>\/\u0442\u044f\u043d\u044c\u0441\u044f<\/em> (\u5929\u4e0b) has traditionally signified the entire world or all the lands nominally belonging to the Chinese emperor. According to Russian Wikpedia<\/a>, nowadays this term in China refers to the world, but in Russia it still means China.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/p>\n

\u0411\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0438\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0432\u043e<\/span><\/span> \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0431\u044b\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u044e\u0449\u0438\u0445<\/span> \u0438\u0437<\/span> \u041f\u043e\u0434\u043d\u0435\u0431\u0435<\/span>\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0439<\/span> \u0431\u0438\u0437\u043d\u0435\u0441\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u043e\u0432<\/span> \u043f\u0440\u0435\u043a\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0441\u043d\u043e<\/span> \u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u044f<\/span>\u0442<\/span> \u043f\u043e-\u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0438<\/span>, \u0445\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0448\u043e<\/span><\/span> \u0443<\/span> \u043d\u0430\u0441<\/span> \u043e\u0440\u0438\u0435\u043d\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0440\u0443\u044e\u0442\u0441\u044f<\/span>.<\/strong>
\nMost businesspeople arriving from China speak Russian fluently and know their way around here.<\/p>\n

Israel<\/h2>\n

\u0418\u0437\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0438\u043b\u044c – \u0437\u0435\u043c\u043b\u044f<\/span> \u043e\u0431\u0435\u0442\u043e\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u0430\u044f<\/strong><\/span> (“the promised land”)<\/p>\n

Israel is often referred to as the promised land\/ \u0437\u0435\u043c\u043b\u044f \u043e\u0431\u0435\u0442\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u043d\u0430\u044f (\u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d4\u05de\u05d5\u05d1\u05d8\u05d7\u05ea)\u00a0based on a Biblical\/Torah passage<\/a> where God promised the land of Israel to Abraham and his descendants. I am purposely staying away from the State of Israel and\u00a0Palestine; the article I linked to has a good overview of how the concept of a “promised land” is used by various parties. In addition to this original sense, this expression is used metaphorically for any long-awaited destination.<\/p>\n

Example:<\/p>\n

\u0422\u0443\u0440\u043e\u043f\u0435\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u043e\u0440\u044b<\/span> \u043e\u0436\u0438\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u044e\u0442<\/span>, \u0447\u0442\u043e<\/span> \u0443\u0436\u0435<\/span><\/span> \u0447\u0435<\/span>\u0440\u0435\u0437<\/span> \u043c\u0435<\/span>\u0441\u044f\u0446<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u0442\u043e<\/span>\u043a<\/span> \u0440\u043e\u0441\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0439\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0445<\/span> \u0442\u0443\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0432<\/span> \u043d\u0430<\/span> \u0417\u0435<\/span>\u043c\u043b\u044e<\/span> \u043e\u0431\u0435\u0442\u043e\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u0443\u044e<\/span> \u0441\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u0430<\/span> \u0441\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u0435\u0442<\/span> \u043f\u043e\u043b\u043d\u043e\u043a\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0432\u043d\u044b\u043c<\/span>.<\/strong>
\nTravel-agents expect the flow of Russian tourists to the Promised Land to go back to normal (literally, “to be full-bloodied again”) in as soon as a month.<\/p>\n

There are a few other examples, like England — or the UK, although many Russians use the two interchangeably — being called “\u0442\u0443\u043c\u0430\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0410\u043b\u044c\u0431\u0438\u043e\u043d” (the foggy Albion). Can you think of any in Russian or in your language?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russian is notoriously intolerant of repeating words within a sentence or in adjacent sentences. As a result, elaborate\u00a0circumlocutions are used to say\u00a0the same thing. A specific case is metaphors that refer to countries. As always, I will link\u00a0to sources for words in languages I don’t know. All usage examples come from the Russian National Corpus…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2039,5,218684],"class_list":["post-7140","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-countries","tag-geography","tag-metaphors"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t