# по коням



## moonlight7

Hi, friends!
Does anyone know how to traslate this phrase better into English?
The context is the following:
*Даже когда они с папой на велосипедах ехать собирались, они говорили: «По коням!» *
My intent:
And when she was going to ride a bike with her dad, they would say: “To horse!”. 
Another option would be "Let´s mount!".


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## Enquiring Mind

Hello moonlight7, _saddle up!_ is the phrase you need here. It works well because both horses and bikes have saddles.

*saddle up*
*1.* _Lit._ to prepare one's horse for riding by putting a saddle on it. Let's saddle up and go for a ride.
*2.* _Fig._ to mount one's horse and sit in the saddle. The cowboys saddled up and took off after the rustlers. (source: idioms.thefreedictionary.com)


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## Drink

I think the surrounding context would be helpful in deciding what kind of translation you are looking for. I think the average English speaking reader would probably be unfamiliar with the phrase "To horse!", so you might want to explain it. Or you could say "Mount your horses!", which requires no explanation, but is a bit less of an authentic command.

EDIT: I like Enquiring Mind's suggestion of "Saddle up!"


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## moonlight7

Perfect! Thanks, friends!!!


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## Maroseika

I'm not sure "saddle up" is correct translation.
First, по коням is cavalry command, and as such it precisely matchs with English cavalry commands "Mount!" or "To horse!".
Secondly, по коням presumes immediate setting off, while "Saddle up!" (Седлай!) refers to the preparation for departure, saddling takes time.


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## Drink

Maroseika said:


> I'm not sure "saddle up" is correct translation.
> First, по коням is cavalry command, and as such it precisely matchs with English cavalry commands "Mount!" or "To horse!".



This is why it's important to know the purpose of the translation and what type of literature this is. With the limited context given, I suspect that "saddle up" is sufficiently close.



Maroseika said:


> Secondly, по коням presumes immediate setting off, while "Saddle up!" (Седлай!) refers to the preparation for departure, saddling takes time.



See definition number 2 that Enquiring Mind quoted.


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## Maroseika

Drink said:


> See definition number 2 that Enquiring Mind quoted.


Actually I overlooked it and checked the word in my dictionaries, where I found only the first explanation.
The question is whether this "illogical" figurative (slangy?) sense is known enough to make it clear? I mean would not it sound as "Собирайся!" rather than "Поехали!"?


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## Rosett

The variants: "Clap on your saddles! Mount on horseback!" are unequivocal.

Shakespeare's Military World
Paul A. Jorgensen - 1956 - ‎War and literature
... the precise cavalry signals used : "Butte sella, _*Clap on your saddles*_; Mounte Cavallo, *mount on horseback*; ...


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## moonlight7

Drink said:


> This is why it's important to know the purpose of the translation and what type of literature this is. With the limited context given, I suspect that "saddle up" is sufficiently close.


As I understand, it is prohibited to post links, but everyone can google this phrase and find it in the context online.
It is literature for children mostly.


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## Rosett

Enquiring Mind said:


> Hello moonlight7, _saddle up!_ is the phrase you need here. It works well because both horses and bikes have saddles.
> 
> *saddle up*
> *1.* _Lit._ to prepare one's horse for riding by putting a saddle on it. Let's saddle up and go for a ride.
> *2.* _Fig._ to mount one's horse and sit in the saddle. The cowboys saddled up and took off after the rustlers. (source: idioms.thefreedictionary.com)


The same meanings are acquired by Russian "оседлать".


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## Drink

Maroseika said:


> Actually I overlooked it and checked the word in my dictionaries, where I found only the first explanation.
> The question is whether this "illogical" figurative (slangy?) sense is known enough to make it clear? I mean would not it sound as "Собирайся!" rather than "Поехали!"?



I think it's rather the other way around, that the figurative sense is more known nowadays, but many dictionaries only include the "real" meaning. Or rather more commonly it just means "get ready to go", without unambiguously referring to any specific action.



moonlight7 said:


> As I understand, it is prohibited to post links, but everyone can google this phrase and find it in the context online.
> It is literature for children mostly.



It's only prohibited to post links to videos (as far as I know). But anyway, it does seem that I was right and that the details of meaning Maroseika was dissatisfied with are not really that important.


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## Awwal12

Rosett said:


> The same meanings are acquired by Russian "оседлать".


Yes, but Russian оседлать, as it often happens with Russian verbs, is strictly transitive, while "saddle up" isn't.


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## Drink

Awwal12 said:


> Yes, but Russian оседлать, as it often happens with Russian verbs, is strictly transitive, while "saddle up" isn't.



I think Rosett was making a comparison in the development of the meaning, not necessarily saying that you can use оседлать in this context.


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## Rosett

Drink said:


> I think Rosett was making a comparison in the development of the meaning, not necessarily saying that you can use оседлать in this context.


As a result of the development, we use оседлать figuratively in a few more different contexts, like тему, любимого конька, пегаса, волну, вертикаль власти и т.д.


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## Maroseika

Drink said:


> I think it's rather the other way around, that the figurative sense is more known nowadays, but many dictionaries only include the "real" meaning. Or rather more commonly it just means "get ready to go", without unambiguously referring to any specific action.


If the figurative sense is more known, that's great. But what's still embarassing me, is that it means "get ready to go", as you wrote. However _по коням_ means something different: "let's go". As explained in the dictionary of Ozhegov, по коням - призыв, распоряжение всем присутствующим ехать, отправляться. 
Cf.: _ready, steady, go!_
In this sense_ "saddle up" _refers to the first command, while по коням - to the third and the last one.


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## Q-cumber

Maroseika said:


> If the figurative sense is more known, that's great. But what's still embarassing me, is that it means "get ready to go", as you wrote. However _по коням_ means something different: "let's go". As explained in the dictionary of Ozhegov, по коням - призыв, распоряжение всем присутствующим ехать, отправляться.
> Cf.: _ready, steady, go!_
> In this sense_ "saddle up" _refers to the first command, while по коням - to the third and the last one.


Not exactly.



> «По коням! Садись!» - всадники одновременно должны сесть на лошадей



Something like 'mount and get ready'.


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## Maroseika

Q-cumber said:


> Not exactly.


I referred not to the cavalry command, but to its "civil" sense as explained in the Ozhegov's dictionary.


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## Stan0

The phrase "по коням" itself does mean "let's go" or "let's move". And it would have been the best translation, but the "*Даже когда они с папой на велосипедах ехать собирались*" part makes it absolutely necessary to use "horses" in the translation or the sentence altogether will be confusing to any reader. So, I suppose, no saddles and probably not even mount will do. If it is not possible to convey the idea of horses used regardless of horses, than one might consider leaving the whole sentence out of the translation. As painful as it is.


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## Drink

Maroseika said:


> If the figurative sense is more known, that's great. But what's still embarassing me, is that it means "get ready to go", as you wrote. However _по коням_ means something different: "let's go". As explained in the dictionary of Ozhegov, по коням - призыв, распоряжение всем присутствующим ехать, отправляться.
> Cf.: _ready, steady, go!_
> In this sense_ "saddle up" _refers to the first command, while по коням - to the third and the last one.



Using your "ready, set, go!" analogy, what I was trying to explain is that even though it means the first one, the second and third are implied anyway, so it has the same effect in this context.


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## Maroseika

Drink said:


> Using your "ready, set, go!" analogy, what I was trying to explain is that even though it means the first one, the second and third are implied anyway, so it has the same effect in this context.


OK, thank you for clarification.


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## Q-cumber

Maroseika said:


> I referred not to the cavalry command, but to its "civil" sense as explained in the Ozhegov's dictionary.


I'd interprete this 'civil command' as 'get ready to go'. It's not 'start!' yet, but it implies intention to start moving very soon. 

-Ну что, по коням? (Все рассаживаются по машинам). Готовы?  Выдвигаемся! (Начинаем движение).


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## Maroseika

Q-cumber said:


> I'd interprete this 'civil command' as 'get ready to go'. It's not 'start!' yet, but it implies intention to start moving very soon.
> 
> -Ну что, по коням? (Все рассаживаются по машинам). Готовы?  Выдвигаемся! (Начинаем движение).


This context problem is that when everybody is in his car, how they will ask each other "Ready?"? Or if they mount their bikes, will they really stand still and waiting for the last command?
That's why for me, _по коням_ in similar contexts means: "Mount aboard your vehicle and start moving". But of course it may be different for others.


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## Stan0

В моем personal experience "по коням" это фраза, которую можно сказать, после традиционного "присесть на дорожку". Я не знаю насчет военного смысла, но в гражданском смысле в наши дни это никакого "подготовительного" к движению смысла не имеет. Опять-таки, основываясь на моем личном опыте.


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## Drink

Stan0 said:


> В моем personal experience "по коням" это фраза, которую можно сказать, после традиционного "присесть на дорожку". Я не знаю насчет военного смысла, но в гражданском смысле в наши дни это никакого "подготовительного" к движению смысла не имеет. Опять-таки, основываясь на моем личном опыте.



Мы "сели на дорожку", а теперь встаем и садимся в машину, т. е. готовимся ехать. Есть разные степени подготовления, и эта самая последняя степень тоже может считаться подготовлением.


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## Stan0

Да, и я имею ввиду, что "по коням" никакого отношения ни к каким стадиям не имеет, это просто "двинули". Опять-таки, подчеркиваю, что это на личном опыте.


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## rusita preciosa

Enquiring Mind said:


> *saddle up*


My vote is for saddle up.


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