GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
21:51 Jul 11, 2012 |
Hebrew to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - History / memoirs of a partisan | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||
| Selected response from: Ty Kendall United Kingdom Local time: 22:11 | ||||||
Grading comment
|
Summary of answers provided | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
3 +2 | Vaneks/"Johns" - term denoting a random stranger |
|
Summary of reference entries provided | |||
---|---|---|---|
Van'ka |
|
Vaneks/"Johns" - term denoting a random stranger Explanation: "Vanek \v(a)-nek\ as a boy's name is a variant of John (Hebrew), and the meaning of Vanek is "God is gracious". Given that "Vanek" is a variant of "John" - which is one of the most ubiquitous names for men in English and often used as a generic name for male strangers or randoms (à la John Doe)....my guess would be that this is just the speakers way of saying he met two randoms on the street and asked them the way to the partisan hospital. He didn't exactly stop to get their names so just designated them "Vaneks". *It may be Russian slang but I couldn't find any such information which would back this up, even after searching using various Cyrillic spellings: ванек ваник ванук ванэк ванык. Reference: http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Vanek |
| |||||||||
Grading comment
| ||||||||||
Notes to answerer
| ||||||||||
|
8 hrs |
Reference: Van'ka Reference information: I absolutely agree with Ty. Van'ka (Ванька) or Ivan is a variant of John the meaning is that the author met two RUSSIAN guys (or local guys). Here the meaning of Van'ka is the same as "muzhik" - a Russian man of not noble origin or we can say one from the working class. But "muzhik" reffers to adults, "van'ka" may reffer to teenagers. |
| |
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade) |
Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.
You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.