мелкий помещик

English translation: small landowner, petty landowner

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:мелкий помещик
English translation:small landowner, petty landowner
Entered by: Natalia Volkova

22:18 Dec 25, 2013
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - History
Russian term or phrase: мелкий помещик
Minor gentry just doesn't seem apropos. From a listing of people in a work of literary non-fiction who were being deported from Bessarabia to Siberia in the early 1940s.

Его родителей, мелких помещиков (в кавычках, так как от помещиков-предков у них осталось пять-шесть десятин земли и полуразрушенная избушка на семью из пяти или больше человек), забрали ночью, а мальчик гостил у бабушки в деревне Боксаны, верстах в пятнадцати от Сорок.
Deborah Hoffman
Local time: 07:47
small landowner
Explanation:
*
Selected response from:

Natalia Volkova
Russian Federation
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +10small landowner
Natalia Volkova
4 +2petty landowner
Rachel Douglas
4 +1belonged to /was the member of the small landed gentry
Michael Korovkin
4petty gentry
Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D.


  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +10
small landowner


Explanation:
*

Natalia Volkova
Russian Federation
Works in field
Native speaker of: Russian
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  GaryG
3 mins
  -> Thank you, Gary.

agree  The Misha
2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Misha.

agree  Andrew Vdovin
2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Andrew.

neutral  Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D.: Apparently true, but it sounds like he is short.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  cyhul
4 hrs
  -> Thank you, Cyhul.

agree  Alexander Kayumov
4 hrs
  -> Thank you, Alexander.

agree  James McVay: Or "small landholder." That term has been in use since the 15th century, according to Miriam Webster.
5 hrs
  -> Thank you, James.

agree  Yuri Larin
8 hrs
  -> Thank you Yuri.

agree  Dmitry Murzakov: http://books.google.ru/books?id=1JGTkzEk79oC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA4...
9 hrs
  -> Thank you, Dmitry. A nice link.

agree  interprivate
10 hrs
  -> Thank you.

agree  LilianNekipelov: Yes.
13 hrs
  -> Thank you, Lilian.

neutral  Michael Korovkin: Natasha, I'm mortified but have to disagree: ALL pomeschki are nobles, while not all landowners are such. This is a very important distinction! Even if many translators/tions neglect it!
14 hrs
  -> Thank you Michael. But I think that for a person who was exiled from her native land to Siberia the fact of being noble was less important than the fact that she was a landowner and the piece of land was her family property for years.
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7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
petty landowner


Explanation:
Traditional.

Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 07:47
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 91

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vladyslav Golovaty: minor, low-level (hardly?), мелкий щебень - finely broken stone:)
10 hrs
  -> Thanks. "Petty" is traditional.

neutral  Michael Korovkin: Not quite, alas: ALL pomeschki are nobles, while not all landowners are such. This is a very important distinction! Even if many translators/tions neglect it!+I made a simple and straightforward point:don't translate shark as fish.No need getting fancy.
14 hrs
  -> But maybe the whole history of поместья and their service-nobility-becoming-hereditary-nobility holders (from бояре and дети боярские through to помещики) needn't be packed into every translation. In this case, one could handle that aspect in the parens.

agree  danya: I like this one
4 days
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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
petty gentry


Explanation:
Based on Michael's comments and further readings, this should fit the context. A Wikipedia article on Gogol speaks of him as petty gentry.

Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D.
United States
Local time: 07:47
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PolishPolish
PRO pts in category: 52

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Michael Korovkin: I had posted mine before reading a new one here. Anyway, lots – actually a majority – of petty gentry had absolutely no land!
4 mins
  -> so we are of like mind. I also thought of putting petty landed gentry.
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
belonged to /was the member of the small landed gentry


Explanation:
... No matter who and how many on Google and beyond have translated the term as "landowner", it's radically, that is, categorically wrong; and the problem is, I repeat, categorical in the literal sense of the term: As you are dobtless aware, "помещик" in Russian INVARIABLY denotes a noble, whilst a "landowner" (incidentally, "землевладелец") in English simply denotes anyone who owns land. Even in the times of the czars, many a landowner were by no means помещики. Поместье is a manor, no matter how minor :))). Why do I say "categorical"? Because by using "landowner" you'd be translating "shark" as "fish".


Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 12:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 36

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D.: OK. I vote for gentry. Thanks for your words of wisdom.
8 hrs
  -> Thanks! That's the attitude of a real Pro! As for wisdom, I'm still struggling under a large load of silliness, but there's still hope! :))
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