Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms, Revised Edition

This is the most innovative, comprehensive, and scholarly bilingual dictionary of Russian idioms available today. It includes close to 14,000 idioms, set expressions, and sayings found in contemporary colloquial Russian and in literature from the nineteenth century to the present. The Russian idioms are provided with many English equivalents to render idioms in various contexts. Illustrative examples are cited to show how the idioms are used in context. Each entry also contains a grammatical description of the idiom, a definition-an innovative feature for a bilingual dictionary-and stylistic and usage information. A most notable part of the work is the alphanumeric index that makes finding the right expression very easy.

About the Author :
Sophia Lubensky is professor emerita of Russian in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at SUNY (Albany). She is author of Nachalo, a basal Russian textbook with a video component (with Gerard Ervin et al.),Advanced Russian: From Reading to Speaking (with Irina Odintsova and Slava Paperno), and numerous articles on semantics, the Russian language, and translation.

Review :
"Professor Lubensky has made what I already considered to be the definitive Russian-English dictionary of idioms even better. It is indispensable for any Russian-English translator, as well as any serious student of the Russian language."—Steven Shabad, ATA-certified translator "[The book] stands out for its excellent organization, systematic approach, detailed grammatical information and a variety of usage examples."—Anatoly Liberman, University of Minnesota "I own many dictionaries of many kinds, but there is none I enjoy using more than Sophia Lubensky's.  It is organised impeccably.  The explanations are crystal clear.  And the illustrative examples are entertaining and often memorable. I am delighted that it is being republished in an expanded version."—Robert Chandler, translator of Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate “Mae West said it best: 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!' While she may not have had this book in mind, I own that sentiment with regard to this new revised edition of Sophia Lubensky’s magnificent Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms, first published in 1995. As a life-long student of the Russian language, a retired professor of Russian literature, and as an experienced translator, I cannot express enough praise for this labor of love. How on earth did we ever manage before it? And now, we are treated to a new edition. How lucky can we get?” —Michael R. Katz, C.V. Starr Professor Emeritus of Russian and East European Studies at Middlebury College “Eighteen years after publishing her enormously successful Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms, Sophia Lubensky has given us a significantly enlarged and revised edition. Anyone who explores the nearly 14,000 idioms included here, traces their past and current usage in a wide variety of contexts, compares them to their English equivalents, will once again be struck by the aptness of Ivan Turgenev’s famous characterization of the Russian language as 'great, mighty, truthful, and free.'  The new edition will delight translators and others dealing professionally with Russia, teachers and students of Russian, and all who cherish Russian culture and its verbal core.” —Henryk Baran, Professor of Russian Studies, University at Albany "Hardly a day goes by when I do not open my 'Lubensky.' My bookshelves groans with mediocre Russian<>English dictionaries, but this one gathers no dust. Thank goodness for the revised edition. This is an indispensible work for any student of Russian language and especially for Russian into English translators.  " — Nora Seligman Favorov, Russian to English translator, Yale University Press and Russian Life magazine "Sophia Lubensky’s Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms is a masterpiece of scholarship and a treasure trove for translators. Updated to capture the rapid changes in contemporary usage, it is an indispensable guide to understanding idioms in various contexts and time periods, learning how to use them, and translating them into English. No student of Russian or translator should be without it" —Michele A. Berdy, author of The Russian Word’s Worth "It is a great pleasure to learn that the Yale Press has undertaken to publish a new, revised version of Sophie Lubensky's wonderful Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms. All of us who deal professionally with Russian have for years kept her book close at hand, an indispensable resource. It not only explains Russian idioms whose meaning is often far from readily apparent, but also renders them into genuine English, and at a corresponding stylistic level, from solemn and lofty to folksy, colloquial, or slang. The original edition was a monumental achievement, and the revision can only add to its value."— Hugh McLean, University of California, Berkeley. "A most complete Russian-English dictionary of idioms, S. I. Lubensky’s Comprehensive Russian-English Phraseological Dictionary [2004] offers virtually the only lexicographic description of Russian phraseology alongside its English counterpart which is based on contemporary notions of linguistically significant features of idioms. In addition to English equivalents and government patterns (for verbal idioms), this dictionary provides definitions of Russian idioms in English. The presentation of entries and principles employed to describe the idioms meet the highest lexicographic standards." —Dmitrij Dobrovolskij Winner of the the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages for Best Contribution to Language Pedagogy (AATSEEL). ,