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Clarify "свернуть?" | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Русский |  | |
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4763 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes  Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 1 of 5 02 June 2011 at 12:11am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Hello, all!
I'm currently reading a story in Russian, but I've come across a word I don't know the precise translation of: свернуть. The sentence is this: Поднял ее Андрей, хотел свернуть ей голобу, положить в сумку. From that, I gather that he wants to pick her up, cut off her head, and put the head in his bag. My translator is giving me "turn" for свернуть...Perhaps it means a rolling off of the head? I apologize for the grisliness..this comes from an old fairytale. Thanks to all who answer! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| megazver Triglot Newbie Lithuania Joined 5781 days ago 34 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Lithuanian, Russian*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Polish | Message 2 of 5 02 June 2011 at 12:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Свернуть голову means to break (someone's) neck (by yanking it).
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| Cabaire Senior Member Germany Joined 5386 days ago 725 posts - 1352 votes | Message 3 of 5 02 June 2011 at 1:23am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I think it is something like "to wring someones neck" as an idiomatic expression for "to kill someone"
My dictionary gives both "свернуть шею / голову кому-н." So I am not sure whether he puts only the head in the bag or the whole corpse?!? Edited by Cabaire on 02 June 2011 at 1:30am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4763 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 4 of 5 02 June 2011 at 1:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Thanks! I understand the meaning a lot better, now!
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| s0fist Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4833 days ago 260 posts - 445 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Sign Language, German, Spanish, French | Message 5 of 5 03 June 2011 at 8:12am | IP Logged | ||||||||
The sentence reads "Andrey picked her up, wanted to wring her neck (twist off her head), and put in his bag". The expression свернуть (кому-то) шею или голову is roughly equivalent to wring someone's neck / twist someone's head off, meaning to break someone's neck by twisting. As a point of interest, the expression need not have an agent, e.g. "Осторожно, шею свернешь!" meaning "Careful, you'll break your neck".
Most of the time, and imho in this case as well, the head would not have been severed from the body, i.e. he wanted to put the corpse in the bag not the head.
Your translator is correct in that свернуть general meaning is to 'turn' or 'swerve', e.g. свернуть с пути. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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