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מוז׳יקים

English translation: мужик - Russian for "peasant"

06:06 Feb 20, 2012
Hebrew to English translations [PRO]
History / Memoirs of a partisan
Hebrew term or phrase: מוז׳יקים
wider context --

This has to do with how they discriminated between soldiers and officers of the Russian army when treating the wounded in a hospital in Kiev in 1943. The term מוז׳יקים here refers to the soldiers, as opposed to the officers.

אלה מוז׳יקים. אין מחסור במוז׳יקים, אך קצינים אין מספיק. מרפאים אותם מהר ומחזירים אותם לחזית״"
Mary Jane Shubow
United States
Local time: 02:56
English translation:мужик - Russian for "peasant"
Explanation:
Being used in a derogatory sense here clearly to indicate the "lowly" status of the ordinary soldier.

"Muzhik or mujik (Russian мужик) refers to a Russian peasant, usually from pre-1917 Imperial Russia. The term connotes a certain degree of poverty, as most muzhiks were serfs before the 1861 agricultural reforms. After that date, serfs were given parcels of land to work and became free peasants. In Russian, the word has some other connotations; its role in modern conversational (informal) Russian plays a similar role to the English-language words "guy", "dude" and "bloke".

The word was introduced in Western languages by its wide use in literature, mainly by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzhik
Selected response from:

Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:56
Grading comment
Thanks a lot!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +5мужик - Russian for "peasant"
Ty Kendall
Summary of reference entries provided
From Babylon
Gad Kohenov

  

Answers


14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +5
мужик - Russian for "peasant"


Explanation:
Being used in a derogatory sense here clearly to indicate the "lowly" status of the ordinary soldier.

"Muzhik or mujik (Russian мужик) refers to a Russian peasant, usually from pre-1917 Imperial Russia. The term connotes a certain degree of poverty, as most muzhiks were serfs before the 1861 agricultural reforms. After that date, serfs were given parcels of land to work and became free peasants. In Russian, the word has some other connotations; its role in modern conversational (informal) Russian plays a similar role to the English-language words "guy", "dude" and "bloke".

The word was introduced in Western languages by its wide use in literature, mainly by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Leo Tolstoy."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzhik

Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:56
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 44
Grading comment
Thanks a lot!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks a lot!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
19 mins
  -> Thanks Sangro! :-)
agree  Gad Kohenov: +
20 mins
  -> Thanks Gad! :-)
agree  Irina Levchenko
1 hr
  -> Thanks Irina! :-)
agree  Chaya Cohen
2 hrs
  -> Thanks Chaya! :-)
agree  nietsrub
14 hrs
  -> Thanks nietsrub!
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Reference comments


34 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: From Babylon

Reference information:
мужик (m)
n. muzhik, Russian peasant; bumpkin, peasant, yokel; guy, fellow; husband (Slang)

Gad Kohenov
Israel
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench, Native in HebrewHebrew
PRO pts in category: 26

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Chaya Cohen
1 hr
  -> Thanks a lot!
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