Маѳъ Маѳонъвичь: A New Translation of the Mabinogi to (Old) Russian (Маѳъ Маѳонъвичь: Cyfieithiad Newydd o’r Mabinogi i (Hen) Rwsieg)
Dmitri Hrapof
Abstract
The first question, perhaps, is whether a new translation is needed, as two translations of the Mabinogi into Russian already exist? Unfortunately, those translations are incomplete and sometimes inaccurate. The first translation was by Liudmila Volodarskaia (2000): Кельты — Валлийские сказания — Мабиногион [Celts — Welsh Legends — Mabinogion]; as this is a translation of Charlotte Guest's English, it is very Victorian in nature (cf. Parina 2003).
The second translation was the work of Vadim Erlichman, Мабиногион. Волшебные легенды Уэльса [Mabinogion: Welsh Magic Tales], recently reprinted (Erlichman 1995; Erlichman 2002). The first edition is discussed by Parina (2003) and the second edition by A. Falileyev (2002). Erlichman still translates from the text of the Red Book of Hergest — and therefore from Middle Welsh — but owing to the many mistakes, reviewers have found reason to doubt his accuracy. Suffice it to note that the Welsh letter <v> was transliterated using Cyrillic <ф> [f], rather than <в> [v], in order to make names more ‘magical’ and ‘exotic’ (Erlichman 1995: 216).
Why Old Russian? We believe that this would be very beneficial for such a work, as it ensures that the effect of the Russian text is similar to that of the Welsh text: i.e., the response of the Russian reader will be similar to the response of the Welsh reader to the medieval text. Old Russian is as comprehensible to modern Russian speakers as is Middle Welsh to speakers of contemporary Welsh. In addition, the orthography may vary in Old Russian texts, as is the case with Middle Welsh, and this property is reflected in our translation.