Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Russian term or phrase:
чернявый
English translation:
dark-looking guy//Hey you darkie (darkey, darky)!
Added to glossary by
Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D.
Oct 12, 2019 10:16
4 yrs ago
4 viewers *
Russian term
Чернявый
Russian to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
сленг
Чернявый парень маленького роста уверенно говорит свою речь...Эй, ты чернявый!
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Sep 15, 2020 10:37: Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D. Created KOG entry
Sep 15, 2020 10:37: Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D. changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1807880">Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D.'s</a> old entry - "чернявый"" to ""dark-looking guy//Hey you darkie (darkey, darky)!""
Proposed translations
+1
1 hr
Selected
dark-looking guy//Hey you darkie (darkey, darky)!
Careful: darkie is a slur!
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/darkie
Older Use: Now Offensive.
a term used to refer to a black person.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/darky
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Note added at 1 day 13 hrs (2019-10-13 23:56:46 GMT)
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darkey
Noun
(plural darkeys)
(slang, normally considered offensive, ethnic slur) a person with a dark skin, notably of African ancestry. But it can also be used for other people, such as in England for people of Indian/Pakistani ancestry and in the US for people of Hispanic ancestry.
https://www.yourdictionary.com/darkey
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Note added at 1 day 13 hrs (2019-10-14 00:04:19 GMT)
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Darky
Too describe dark skinned people in the Caribbean. Not an insult whatsoever in the caribbean its moslty used towards dark skinned black women as a term of endearment. btw no matter what race anybody in the Caribbean can say it.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=darkies
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/darkie
Older Use: Now Offensive.
a term used to refer to a black person.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/darky
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Note added at 1 day 13 hrs (2019-10-13 23:56:46 GMT)
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darkey
Noun
(plural darkeys)
(slang, normally considered offensive, ethnic slur) a person with a dark skin, notably of African ancestry. But it can also be used for other people, such as in England for people of Indian/Pakistani ancestry and in the US for people of Hispanic ancestry.
https://www.yourdictionary.com/darkey
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Note added at 1 day 13 hrs (2019-10-14 00:04:19 GMT)
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Darky
Too describe dark skinned people in the Caribbean. Not an insult whatsoever in the caribbean its moslty used towards dark skinned black women as a term of endearment. btw no matter what race anybody in the Caribbean can say it.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=darkies
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Boris Shapiro
: We're talking Caucasian people here (perhaps even literally from the Caucasus), so 'darkie' is wrong here,
7 mins
|
Thank you, Boris. (I do not see the Caucasus in the context, so I will trust you on that one.) Darkie is derogatory in any ethnic setting and does not need to be localized to the US or Australia, for example.
|
|
agree |
Turdimurod Rakhmanov
: I am sure the author did not mean only "hair" here, dark-looking, dark-complexioned, something in general for the first one. For the second Эй ты чернявый should be different. In Russian "смуглый"
1 day 1 hr
|
Thank you, Turdimurod.
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
3 mins
dark-haired
brunette
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Boris Shapiro
: И прозвучит это в точности как если бы кто-нибудь крикнул по-русски: "Эй, вы, брюнет!" или "Эй, вы, темноволосый человек!" Стилистика не та.
21 mins
|
29 mins
Black-haired or brunet
A person who has black hair is generally called "black-haired".
brunet is:
a person having brown or black hair and often a relatively dark complexion —spelled brunet when used of a boy or man
brunet is:
a person having brown or black hair and often a relatively dark complexion —spelled brunet when used of a boy or man
19 hrs
dark curly hair
It is not about skin colour here but about his hair, there is no racial connotation whatsoever, trust me. It gives description of his curly black hair, that’s it.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Boris Shapiro
: Толковые словари русского языка единогласно дают не только цвет волос, но и смуглый оттенок кожи. Хуже то, что на основную сложность данного случая - как передать "эй, чернявый" - Ваш вариант ответа не даёт.
12 mins
|
2 hrs
brown
Normally, you'd refer to complexion using "swarthy" or "tawny," but since the source word is also pejorative, you'd have to use something like: "Hey, brown boy!". It's okay for people to call themselves brown but calling someone else brown can be taken as a racial slur--it's like saying: "Hey, white boy!".
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Note added at 3 hrs (2019-10-12 14:06:11 GMT)
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Reply to Boris Shapiro's comment (couldn't fit the entire thing in the answer box):
I totally know where you’re coming from! But this is a lit. translation, so we can’t just make it PC like we would (and should) when doing marketing localization/transcreation because we don’t believe in using these kinds of pejoratives. For example, it’s generally okay to use “black” (“the black community,” “black families,” even “he’s black”) as long as you aren’t using it as a slur. There are people of color who prefer “black” to “colored people” or “African Americans,” for some it’s a personal preference while others don’t consider themselves to have African heritage. These are my feelings and observations on the matter--I’m originally from LA, but this is also periodically written about: https://fordhamobserver.com/30133/opinions/should-we-say-bla... It’s a delicate and ongoing dialogue, but it’s definitely not cut and dry.
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Note added at 4 hrs (2019-10-12 14:55:54 GMT)
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Also: https://medium.com/@journojoshua/we-should-stop-saying-peopl...
Just continuing the sociocultural dialogue with another article, but I want to make it clear that using "brown boy" will be pejorative, and I'm only suggesting it because it's a literary translation.
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Note added at 5 hrs (2019-10-12 15:38:09 GMT)
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Boris, please see the notes I added. I couldn't fit the entire reply in to the answer box.
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Note added at 10 hrs (2019-10-12 20:59:27 GMT)
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Boris, I just saw your comments to others regarding the Caucasus, and I think I understand now what you meant. But, “In Russian slang, Peoples of the Caucasus are called black, despite the fact that the Georgian, Dagestani, Chechen etc. population is fair-skinned while the Azeri and Armenian are darker toned; this name calling comes from their relatively darker features. While the word black in itself is not racist, the racist synonym for it is "chernozhopy" (черножо́пый, trans. black arsed)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Russia.
I grew up in CA, but I am bilingual and bicultural (although English is much stronger in the language pair). I’ve also lived in Moscow for the last six years and have personally seen this happen here to the aforementioned groups of people, as well as to the Romani and even light-skinned Ashkenazi Jews (not just the darker-skinned Sephardic).
Maybe, I still don’t understand exactly what you meant, but the context for "black vs white" exists here. While “brown” isn’t used in this region and translating the OP’s term as “black” would be confusing for English-speakers, “brown” works in a lit. translation into English (we're translating into English, right?) as some East Asians, Southeast Asians, as well as Middle Easterners and Hispanics, etc (at least in the States) do sometimes refer to themselves as “brown,” and are also sometimes referred to this way in a derogatory manner. Please clarify if I still don't understand what you meant.
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Note added at 11 hrs (2019-10-12 22:07:03 GMT)
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I didn’t realize the OP was asking about both usage instances. I thought she just needed help with the latter one. Whether two different words need to be used depends on the narrator’s tone, so more context is needed! It could be anything from: “A small-framed, dark-skinned young man…” + “…Hey, brown boy” to “A short swarthy young man…” + “Hey, brown boy!” to literally: "A small-framed /short brown boy" + "Hey, brown boy!".
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Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2019-10-13 12:43:50 GMT)
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Olesya, it boils down to the context, time-period, medium (prose, film, etc) and artistic merit of what you’re translating. Does the narrator mean to demean the guy when he calls him chernyaviy? Or, is he solely describing him this way based on his features, using a common word that no one thinks twice about? If this is older prose, I feel like it’s the latter. If that's the case, I would choose a neutral-sounding variation for the first instance because using brown pejoratively would be confusing to many in the modern English speaking PC world; an unnecessary distraction, raising questions about the narrator/author, rather than keeping them engaged with the storyline.
As for the second instance, you need something that sounds natural in speech. So, I would use “brown boy” or it’s older equivalent—“brownie,” which apparently was a thing in the US in the 1940s-1950s (Green, Jonathon (2005). Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, p188) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs#cite_note... I haven’t quite heard “brownie” used in modern lexicon, but it sounds natural in speech, and if it’s something older you’re working on, and you need to preserve the literary merit of the piece, you might want to use something old-school. The Misha mentioned that cops in NY are sometimes referred to as brownies, maybe other natives/those living in primarily English speaking countries can weigh in on this. Personally, I don’t think this is critical because the number of English speakers who have this association may be negligible, plus the narrator’s description will point the audience to physical features, rather than profession.
PS Although, I appreciate the points Boris has raised, I think the fact that I didn't understand at first what he was talking about is a clue as to whether not having a context for something between black and white locally is relevant for a lit. translation into English. I wouldn't worry about using something associated with brown because although this sounds off when translated into Russian, you're translating into English where the context for being oppressed for being something between black and white does exist. This will make perfect sense to English-speakers and won't distract them from the storyline. Boris did propose some interesting alternatives in his Russian comment in the Discussion entry chat-box, so you might want to check them out. In order to use them, though, you would need additional context. Is the reader/audience familiar enough with the characters in order to recognize them, if you were to use an adjective that has nothing to do with color, but with their features, and/or personality?
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Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2019-10-13 12:58:27 GMT)
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PPS Using something associated with "black" would illicit the wrong [racial] associations in English speakers due to local socio-cultural factors, which is why I don't suggest it, even though "browns" don't exist lexically in the region your piece is about.
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Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2019-10-13 12:58:56 GMT)
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PPS Using something associated with "black" would illicit the wrong [racial] associations in English speakers due to local socio-cultural factors, which is why I don't suggest it, even though "browns" don't exist lexically in the region your piece is about.
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Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2019-10-13 14:46:47 GMT)
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On “swarthy” as part of first usage of chernyaviy (narrator’s description) and it’s relevance to the source's context:
“This race of southern Slavs presents some peculiarities when compared with the recognized Slav type. They are dark-eyed and swarthy skinned (very different in complexion from the northern Slavs).”
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volum...
"(...) There exist two kinds of Slavic people. First kind are people of swarthy complexion and dark hair. They live near the coast of the [Mediterranean] Sea. The other kind are fair people, who live inland. (…)"
"(...) What is peculiar [when it comes to Slavs], most of Bojema people [Bohemians / Czechs] are of swarthy complexion and dark hair, while fair colors are rare among them [compared to frequencies among other West and East Slavs]. (...)"
https://historum.com/threads/physical-appearance-of-early-me...
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Note added at 3 hrs (2019-10-12 14:06:11 GMT)
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Reply to Boris Shapiro's comment (couldn't fit the entire thing in the answer box):
I totally know where you’re coming from! But this is a lit. translation, so we can’t just make it PC like we would (and should) when doing marketing localization/transcreation because we don’t believe in using these kinds of pejoratives. For example, it’s generally okay to use “black” (“the black community,” “black families,” even “he’s black”) as long as you aren’t using it as a slur. There are people of color who prefer “black” to “colored people” or “African Americans,” for some it’s a personal preference while others don’t consider themselves to have African heritage. These are my feelings and observations on the matter--I’m originally from LA, but this is also periodically written about: https://fordhamobserver.com/30133/opinions/should-we-say-bla... It’s a delicate and ongoing dialogue, but it’s definitely not cut and dry.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2019-10-12 14:55:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Also: https://medium.com/@journojoshua/we-should-stop-saying-peopl...
Just continuing the sociocultural dialogue with another article, but I want to make it clear that using "brown boy" will be pejorative, and I'm only suggesting it because it's a literary translation.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2019-10-12 15:38:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Boris, please see the notes I added. I couldn't fit the entire reply in to the answer box.
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Note added at 10 hrs (2019-10-12 20:59:27 GMT)
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Boris, I just saw your comments to others regarding the Caucasus, and I think I understand now what you meant. But, “In Russian slang, Peoples of the Caucasus are called black, despite the fact that the Georgian, Dagestani, Chechen etc. population is fair-skinned while the Azeri and Armenian are darker toned; this name calling comes from their relatively darker features. While the word black in itself is not racist, the racist synonym for it is "chernozhopy" (черножо́пый, trans. black arsed)” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Russia.
I grew up in CA, but I am bilingual and bicultural (although English is much stronger in the language pair). I’ve also lived in Moscow for the last six years and have personally seen this happen here to the aforementioned groups of people, as well as to the Romani and even light-skinned Ashkenazi Jews (not just the darker-skinned Sephardic).
Maybe, I still don’t understand exactly what you meant, but the context for "black vs white" exists here. While “brown” isn’t used in this region and translating the OP’s term as “black” would be confusing for English-speakers, “brown” works in a lit. translation into English (we're translating into English, right?) as some East Asians, Southeast Asians, as well as Middle Easterners and Hispanics, etc (at least in the States) do sometimes refer to themselves as “brown,” and are also sometimes referred to this way in a derogatory manner. Please clarify if I still don't understand what you meant.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2019-10-12 22:07:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
I didn’t realize the OP was asking about both usage instances. I thought she just needed help with the latter one. Whether two different words need to be used depends on the narrator’s tone, so more context is needed! It could be anything from: “A small-framed, dark-skinned young man…” + “…Hey, brown boy” to “A short swarthy young man…” + “Hey, brown boy!” to literally: "A small-framed /short brown boy" + "Hey, brown boy!".
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2019-10-13 12:43:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Olesya, it boils down to the context, time-period, medium (prose, film, etc) and artistic merit of what you’re translating. Does the narrator mean to demean the guy when he calls him chernyaviy? Or, is he solely describing him this way based on his features, using a common word that no one thinks twice about? If this is older prose, I feel like it’s the latter. If that's the case, I would choose a neutral-sounding variation for the first instance because using brown pejoratively would be confusing to many in the modern English speaking PC world; an unnecessary distraction, raising questions about the narrator/author, rather than keeping them engaged with the storyline.
As for the second instance, you need something that sounds natural in speech. So, I would use “brown boy” or it’s older equivalent—“brownie,” which apparently was a thing in the US in the 1940s-1950s (Green, Jonathon (2005). Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, p188) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs#cite_note... I haven’t quite heard “brownie” used in modern lexicon, but it sounds natural in speech, and if it’s something older you’re working on, and you need to preserve the literary merit of the piece, you might want to use something old-school. The Misha mentioned that cops in NY are sometimes referred to as brownies, maybe other natives/those living in primarily English speaking countries can weigh in on this. Personally, I don’t think this is critical because the number of English speakers who have this association may be negligible, plus the narrator’s description will point the audience to physical features, rather than profession.
PS Although, I appreciate the points Boris has raised, I think the fact that I didn't understand at first what he was talking about is a clue as to whether not having a context for something between black and white locally is relevant for a lit. translation into English. I wouldn't worry about using something associated with brown because although this sounds off when translated into Russian, you're translating into English where the context for being oppressed for being something between black and white does exist. This will make perfect sense to English-speakers and won't distract them from the storyline. Boris did propose some interesting alternatives in his Russian comment in the Discussion entry chat-box, so you might want to check them out. In order to use them, though, you would need additional context. Is the reader/audience familiar enough with the characters in order to recognize them, if you were to use an adjective that has nothing to do with color, but with their features, and/or personality?
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Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2019-10-13 12:58:27 GMT)
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PPS Using something associated with "black" would illicit the wrong [racial] associations in English speakers due to local socio-cultural factors, which is why I don't suggest it, even though "browns" don't exist lexically in the region your piece is about.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 2 hrs (2019-10-13 12:58:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
PPS Using something associated with "black" would illicit the wrong [racial] associations in English speakers due to local socio-cultural factors, which is why I don't suggest it, even though "browns" don't exist lexically in the region your piece is about.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2019-10-13 14:46:47 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
On “swarthy” as part of first usage of chernyaviy (narrator’s description) and it’s relevance to the source's context:
“This race of southern Slavs presents some peculiarities when compared with the recognized Slav type. They are dark-eyed and swarthy skinned (very different in complexion from the northern Slavs).”
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volum...
"(...) There exist two kinds of Slavic people. First kind are people of swarthy complexion and dark hair. They live near the coast of the [Mediterranean] Sea. The other kind are fair people, who live inland. (…)"
"(...) What is peculiar [when it comes to Slavs], most of Bojema people [Bohemians / Czechs] are of swarthy complexion and dark hair, while fair colors are rare among them [compared to frequencies among other West and East Slavs]. (...)"
https://historum.com/threads/physical-appearance-of-early-me...
Note from asker:
The fragment of this story is about the Kazakhs |
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Boris Shapiro
: Whether it is PC or otherwise wasn't on my mind at all! It's just that it's a wrong term to describe Russians, since it comes from the 'white/black' semantic spectrum alien to the cultural context in question. Like I said, no 'blacks' means no 'browns'.
41 mins
|
I totally know where you’re coming from! But this is a lit. translation, so we can’t just make it PC like we would (and should) when doing marketing localization/transcreation because we don’t believe in using these kinds of pejoratives.
|
Reference comments
10 mins
Reference:
swarthy / dark-complexioned
Hey, you- swarthy!
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Note added at 11 mins (2019-10-12 10:27:16 GMT)
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https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/dark-co...
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Note added at 11 mins (2019-10-12 10:27:16 GMT)
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https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/dark-co...
Peer comments on this reference comment:
disagree |
Boris Shapiro
: Yeah, sure, Collins to the rescue. Now imagine anyone crying: 'Hey you, the dark-complexioned individual!'. And, just so you know, no-one's been using 'swarthy' for, like, 100 years. The word's as archaic as the dictionary you must've pulled it from.
11 mins
|
1 hr
Reference:
"чернявый" - стилистическая памятка
I
1. разг.-сниж. Тот, кто имеет смуглое лицо и волосы чёрного или тёмного цвета.
2. Употребляется как порицающее или бранное слово. (Ефремова)
1. разг.-сниж. Тот, кто имеет смуглое лицо и волосы чёрного или тёмного цвета.
2. Употребляется как порицающее или бранное слово. (Ефремова)
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree |
Frank Szmulowicz, Ph. D.
9 mins
|
agree |
Katya Kesten
1 hr
|
agree |
P.L.F. Persio
2 hrs
|
Discussion
Если это мнение и описание говорящего (кажется не так) то говорящий описывает их по внешнему виду. Еще может быть когда говорящий описывает челевека по внешнему виду когда незнает кто он или как его или ее зовут, но здесь не так. Поэтому, не можем передать как shorty (коротыш), porky (толстяк), stretch (долговязый) и т. п. И вполне возможно дальше есть еще кто то коротыш или толстяк, Как вы думаете?
ЧЕРНЯВЫЙ
(на казахском)
Я считаю, что высшее образование не для всех. Нужны и технические специалисты и другие.
Эй, чернявый можешь погромче!...
Чернявый отходит от кафедры, на его место встает Марат.
https://www.amazon.ae/Memoriam-Alexander-Stewart-Webb-1835-1...
The first is description, smarthy-face.... the second is address, you may say Hey, smarthy one! Maybe!
Noun
(plural darkeys)
(slang, normally considered offensive, ethnic slur) a person with a dark skin, notably of African ancestry. But it can also be used for other people, such as in England for people of Indian/Pakistani ancestry and in the US for people of Hispanic ancestry.
https://www.yourdictionary.com/darkey
I’m also struggling to understand how you’re planning on using swarthy in the second instance—“My swarthy fellow”? Seriously though, you're thinking: "Hey, swarthy boy" or "Hey, swarthy"? I don't want to keep beating a dead horse, but if you could just humor me with the exact wording of what you're proposing is used in both instances (description and address)? I'm genuinely curious. I’ve already discussed all the ideas I have in my notes but for my own peace of mind, I just want to leave the discussion having made sure that I understood the debate correctly.
My associations lie with South Asians, Southeast Asians, Middle Easterners, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans, Latinos, which is a pretty diverse group of people I grew up around and who would sometimes refer to themselves in this way. It was also used in regards to those that spent a lot of time in the sun (Damn, you're brown, etc) as well as by activists that used "brown people" to refer to those that are neither black nor white. These are just the variations of use that can but don't necessarily have to do with more than complexion since we can't pin "brown" down to a specific enough group of people. Of course, there's also the slur-usage. How is this kind of context different from that of chernyaviy?
1. The difference between brown and swarthy is precisely that between korichenyi and chernyavyi or, say, between electric tea kettle and (electric) samovar. The former is generic and the latter specific. By definition, the latter offers richer, more robust description of a special case and thus offers substantially more information and a more nuanced meaning that may be more suitable for a specific, limited purpose.
2. Additionally "brown" isn't good for exactly the same reasons you mentioned yourself, i.e. a specific cultural reference in modern use. Seeing that you, as you say, are from LA, how about a test? What is the first immediate association you have with "brown people"? Obviously not that they are all graduates of Brown University:) That's why using "brown" here would be misleading - for the simple reason that the cultural connotation...
In this context, it is about individual's complexion, not Caucasian or Slavic.
Regarding, swarthy, I still think it is not wrong. I have to conclude discussion here.
you don't understand anyway.
I am not so sure but kind of slightly, for ex; brownish or blackish, something close to this.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/swart...
Anyways, this has been a most delightful little discussion! Will be seeing you around, I guess?
Boris, I never suggested cherniy is equivalent to black, which is why I don’t suggest any variations with “black”. As for variants of “brown,” I speak to the relevancy of them not existing, in terms of the source’s local context, in the additional notes I posted under my entry.
Ahem. Despite it being written in plain Russian and English, like, a hundred times already, you still don't realise this is precisely what we're trying to achieve here? Duh.
And no - dusky is inherently neither pejorative nor offensive.
But swarthy also works, it is not archaic, it is widely used.
Dusky could be used here, I think, but it might be understood as offensive as well.
Borrowed, huh? I'll just leave it here, then: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=noiraud, swart...
Noiraud means swarthy
and dark-haired
borrowed from French
As to the general applicability of 'darkie' - most dictionaries seem to think otherwise.
Webster's: 'negro'
OED: 'A Black, esp. a Southern U.S. Black'
AHD: 'Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.'
And while is true that Collins (and Collins alone) also cites an alternative Australian English meaning, I bet most Americans and Brits (not to mention Australians) would immediately take it to mean 'their' kind of Black (African or Asian-Pacific, respectively) - exactly the thing I think we'd better avoid. purely for linguistic and philological reasons.
(dated slang, offensive, ethnic slur) A person with dark skin.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/darkey#English
In a society with no mixed-race population (meaning specifically lighter-skinned Negroids) the term 'brown' would be as meaningless as Am. Eng. words questioning a person's race like 'choc ice', etc. The underlying cultural reality is just not there!
As a mental experiment, try imagining anyone in Russia self-identifying as "коричневый"!
A word does not exist in a vacuum. What is does not say (it's linguistic context and place in lexical oppositions) defines its meaning no less than what it does. You know better than I do that 'black' in the US is opposed to both 'white' (as in WASP) and to a long list of racial terms - and later PC euphemisms - it came to replace (including the n-word, which is always there in its linguistic DNA). Moreover, it is seen as a thoroughly 'reclaimed' term, one that can now be freely applied to others without sounding racist (though not, perhaps, permanently so, hence the 1980s push towards 'African-American').
All this 'history' forms part of the word's implicit meaning. Long story short, "чёрный" does not share that history. Thus, Russians saying "чёрный" do not mean the same thing as Americans saying 'black'. That's what I meant by saying that, since there are no 'blacks' in Russia, there can be no 'browns' either.
As to 'this is literature' - this is ridiculous. This is colloquial direct speech by a character. Just because it's written in a book doesn't mean he can talk bookish like 'behold' or 'swarthy' (or, indeed, quote Walt Whitman's 'Leaves of Grass').
The Misha is right regarding the usage.
And this is literature, Nowadays, behold is also widely used in literature and religion. Even archaic words can be used.
I still like "My swarthy face" because, Эй, ты чернявый! Russian "YOU" we are changing into English "MY", like playing on words. Russian "YOU" can't be rendered as YOU, because, by saying Эй, ты - the speaker meant himself and in the eyes of the beholder.
But I suggested saying we don't know when the author wrote this.
So, you don't need to use "behold".
This was the rationale for my arguing against using culture-specific slurs derived from skin and/or hair colour.
Just my intuition says that this belongs to the old times,
and I would say, behold, this swarthy face! or my swarthy face!
And I am sure that hair alone is out of place, Presumably the author meant "skin" or both "skin and hair".
Если никаких намёков на другие отличительные особенности "чернявого" нет, я бы предложил, во избежание нелепого своей нейтральностью эпитета "тёмноволосый" (переводя обратно), описать ту же ситуацию по контексту указанием на иной признак. Например, на рост (shorty), болтливость (loudmouth) и т.п.