RUSSIAN HISTORICAL CULTURE-SPECIFIC WORDS IN THE WORKS OF HENRI TROYAT IVAN THE TERRIBLE AND BORIS GODUNOV

Abstract

Purpose. The paper is focused on the analysis of the Russian historical culture-specific words of the ruling period of Ivan IV Vasilyevich and Boris Godunov and their translation into French. During this period, Russia was transformed in both structural and socio-political ways (the formation of the Russian centralized state, the reforms of Izbranaya Rada (Chosen Council), replacement of the Code of law (Sudebnik) of 1497 by the Code of law (Sudebnik) of 1550, the strengthening of the army, the conquest of the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, the beginning of the Russian conquest of Siberia etc.). Therefore, many new words were created to designate the changes of that time. Methodology. Methodological framework of this paper is based on the comparative analysis of historical culture-specific words in the French texts (“La Grande Histoire des Tsars”) by Russian immigrant Henri Troyat, which were translated back into Russian language as separate works “Ivan the Terrible” (translation by E. Sutotskaya) and “Boris Godunov” (translation by A.G. Doronin). Results. The analysis reveals how historical culture-specific words are translated from Russian into French and vice versa. Also, own examples of possible translation and their analysis are given. Moreover, it is discussed whether it is even possible to translate the so-called non-equivalent lexis without losing the original meaning. Practical implications. The results of the research can be applied in the study of various translation techniques as well as in the translation of historical works.

Keywords

• русские исторические реалии
• безэквивалентная лексика
• перевод
• русский язык
• французский язык.