Register register register!

Another little rant about my students - 'cause why have a blog if you can't rant occasionally? Anyway, we used an article recently, published in Izvestiya and titled Смертельные игры в политику (Politics' Deadly Games) (in Russian here) It's part of a discussion about political assassinations, a discussion held on a TV show (Danger! History) between an historian and a high-ranking cop. It begins by identifying the springboard topic with this:

28 мая - День памяти благоверного царевича Дмитрия Углицкого, погибшего в 1591 году
May 28 - Day of Remembrance for the Blagovernyy tsarevich Dmitry of Uglich, who died in 1591

It's that word "blagovernyy" that caused all the trouble.

Not one got it right. Not one. All but one put "the lord and master tsarevich (or "prince" for some) Dmitry Uglitsky". The one that didn't ignored the adjective altogether.

I'm not overly concerned that they put "Uglitsky" when "of Uglich" is the usual English. Getting them to turn Russian place-name adjectives into simple English place names (Perm Oblast, not Permskaya, for instance) isn't that hard. No, it's translating "blagovernyy" as "lord and master" that gets me.

Yes, indeed: most of the Russian-English dictionaries give that definition. However they all also label it "jocular". The one that doesn't is the Oxford, which leaves you find your own phrase by, instead of offering one that might be dated, saying "(now only used facetiously, as noun) masculine form - husband; feminine form - wife".

C'mon, people. Think. Is this a jocular reference? Is Dmitry someone's husband? (He was 9 when he died, so ...) Don't you think you'd need to look elsewhere for a better - non-jocular - translation? Even, maybe, just at the roots (bless & faith)?

Now, normally, I tell them to use Ozhegov or the new BTS (Bolshoy Tolkovyy Slovar, or Big Defining Dictionary). Ozhegov isn't much help in this case, though, saying разг. шутл. муж. супруг - but that's basically the same information: colloquial, jocular, masculine. spouse. But that's because Sergey Ivanovich and his later editors were good Soviets at heart. And even they are calling it jocular. But looking in the BTS or any other Russian-Russian dictionary - or Multitran, or the Russian-language version of Wikipedia - will tell you what's up:

Благоверные (греч. εὐσεβής, лат. pius) — лик православных святых из монархов, прославляемых церковью за праведную жизнь и не относящихся к мученикам и страстотерпцам.

Blagovernye (Greek εὐσεβής (eusebēs), Latin pius) - the Community of Orthodox Saints from the monarchy, glorified by the church for the righteousness of their lives, but not belonging to the company of martyrs or passion-bearers

Yeah. Not "lord and master" but (usually) "the Holy Prince Dmitry of Uglich" or (acceptably) "the Blessed Prince Dmitry of Uglich".

Register is part of context, and context tells you which translation you should use. It's a Church holiday. Use the religious meaning, not the jokey one.