Russian/old slavonic anyone?

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hi,

i need some help on this one: recently i was supposed to translate a phrase from an ikona and i couldn't do it because there's a word i couldn't find in the dictionary and on the internet. suppose it's some old-church-slavonic thing:

Икона Божией Матери -that's clear, but now it comes: "Семизерная" or "Седьмизерная", I don|t remember that well.

any ideas?

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Is that the last word, or is there more?

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That's the last word. It's printed on a small sheet that came with the ikona. On the ikona itself, there's a printing of what I believe to be the same word in Old Slavonic letters (i have to confess humbly that I know nothing at all about Old Slavonic).

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I'm sorry, I could only guess. The word seems familiar, but I don't know what it means.

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Similar to Slovak - meaning 'of seven pains' , or suffering from seven pains. why, i do not know, but we have that expression.

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are you a russian native? can you tell whether this is Old Slavonic and "Семизерная" is merely a modern-day cyrillic transcript?

Спасибо большое за вашу помочь! Много ли русскоязычных здесь?

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Da, no u menja net azbuki! So, that doesn't work so well. I am not a native and the word is different than in Slovak - so I cannot vouch for it, it's just my guess based on the sound/placement of it.

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dagmaraka wrote:

Similar to Slovak - meaning 'of seven pains' , or suffering from seven pains. why, i do not know, but we have that expression.

Great, that seems to make perfect sense. I'm not orthodox enough to tell what it means, though. Gotta look this up at the slavonic department.

devout orthodox christian, anyone?

thanks

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I haven't heard anyone speak russian here before. Maybe once, long ago.

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Just did a little research and found out that in catholizism there is a feast of the seven dolors/sorrows of mary.

so the mystery is resolved. saves me a way to the department. thanks, guys!

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dagmaraka wrote:

Similar to Slovak - meaning 'of seven pains' , or suffering from seven pains. why, i do not know, but we have that expression.

lodp wrote:

Just did a little research and found out that in catholizism there is a feast of the seven dolors/sorrows of mary.

so the mystery is resolved. saves me a way to the department. thanks, guys!

Congratulations!

While I was trying to find the meaning you have got the foot of me!

Frankly speaking only a few Russians can understand this. To me the English translation (i.e. “seven sorrows”) is clearer than the Old Slavonic word.

I can only add that the word "мизерная" has a common stem with “misery”.

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SerSo wrote:

Frankly speaking only a few Russians can understand this.

That's a good thing - so I don't have to be embarrassed about my poor russian

SerSo wrote:

I can only add that the word "мизерная" has a common stem with "misery".

so maybe it's a case of "contamination" i.e. blending - семи and мизерная become семизерная. cool. thank you, i'd never have thought of мизерн as a stem, i only saw семи.

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lodp wrote:

SerSo wrote:
I can only add that the word "мизерная" has a common stem with "misery".

so maybe it's a case of "contamination" i.e. blending - семи and мизерная become семизерная. cool. thank you, i'd never have thought of мизерн as a stem, i only saw семи.

FYI: The Seven Sorrows of Mary

1. The Prophecy of Simeon.
2. The Flight into Egypt.
3. The Loss of Jesus in the Temple
4. Mary meets Jesus on the Way of the Cross.
5. The Crucifixion
6. Jesus' body Struck by a Lance, Taken Down from the Cross
7. The Burial of Jesus.

http://www.7dolors.com/sevendolors.htm
or
http://www.sevensorrows.com/sorrows.html

If it were "Семимизерная" it would make more sense to me. BTW, lodp, is there a diacritic mark (a "tittle") over the word written in Old Slavonic? If it is abbreviated indeed, I would expect a tittle there. Otherwise it is really a case of contamination.

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I don't have the ikona handy right now and I don't remember exactly, but it may well be that the modern cyrillic transcript was Семимизерная. As for the Old Slavonic word - that was just a bunch of strange-looking symbols for my ignorant eyes, but I'll have a close look when I get to see the ikona the next time around.

You guys are really great! I never expected so much expertise!

greetings
lodp

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I like the original spelling better than your suggestion, Serso. Rather than a compound word, it's more of blend.

I'm saying it's better that way, just that I LIKE it better that way. Smile

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SCoates wrote:

I like the original spelling better than your suggestion, Serso. Rather than a compound word, it's more of blend.

I'm saying it's better that way, just that I LIKE it better that way.

SCoates, probably Orthodox Fathers shared your likes Smile

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Oops, that should say "I'm NOT saying it is better that way."

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Russian/old slavonic anyone?

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