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Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen

English translation: "there you have it, Granny, Yuri's Day"

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:Вот тебе, бабушка, и Юрьев день!
English translation:"there you have it, Granny, Yuri's Day"
Entered by: Vladimir Alexandrov

16:59 Feb 23, 2009
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Music
Russian term or phrase: Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen
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!!
Erik Werner
United States
Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen
Explanation:
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"
Selected response from:

Vladimir Alexandrov
Local time: 07:19
Grading comment
Thanks for the information and the link!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +1Oh, come now!
DTSM
3 +3That's just my luck!
John Sowerby
5There you are!/Surprise, surprise!
Alexandra Taggart
4 -1Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen
Vladimir Alexandrov


Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
There you are!/Surprise, surprise!


Explanation:
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.

Alexandra Taggart
Russian Federation
Local time: 07:19
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 2

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
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
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18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Вот тебе, бабушка, и Юрьев день!
Vot tebye babushka i Yuryev dyen


Explanation:
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"

Vladimir Alexandrov
Local time: 07:19
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks for the information and the link!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  DTSM: Your translation becomes transparent only with the Wiki article physically stuck to it.
30 mins
disagree  Mikhail Kropotov: Unidiomatic
11 hrs
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Oh, come now!


Explanation:
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)

DTSM
Local time: 07:19
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
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.
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
That's just my luck!


Explanation:
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.

John Sowerby
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:19
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
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
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