# Джигитовка



## Xigua

Just now, I am reading historical materials about Russia in 1914 - which are written in French. The context is that of a regimental equestrian display. At its conclusion, something called _la «dgiguitovka»_ commences. One of the ladies present as a spectator says to another that she hates it. But what does this transliterated noun mean, please? (I have found nothing to enlighten me in my researches so far.)

Thank you so much for any insight you can provide.


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## Q-cumber

Hi! Yes, this is transliteration of the Russian noun "джигитовка". The word origins from Turkic 'Dzhigit' (a skillful equestrian and a brave young man). 'Джигитовка' generally means something like 'a set of exercises on a running horse". It's one of popular circus disciplines nowadays.


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## Xigua

Q-cumber said:


> Hi! Yes, this is transliteration of the Russian noun "джигитовка". The word origins from Turkic 'Dzhigit' (a skillful equestrian and a brave young man).



Hi, Q-cumber,

Bolshoie spassibo - I do not have a lot of Russian, but give you my thanks for your very helpful contribution to my work.

I wonder why the speaker did not like what she was seeing, though? Perhaps it was dangerous, and she feared for the young men? Another mystery ...


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## Q-cumber

You are welcome! It's difficult to say why she didn't like the show without more of the context, but I dare to suggest that was just because she was a woman. Indeed,  such a show could look too dangerous to her to watch it... especially if she liked the rider. Or perhaps she just feared for the horse.


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## Xigua

Q-cumber said:


> You are welcome! It's difficult to say why she didn't like the show without more of the context, but I dare to suggest that was just because she was a woman. Indeed,  such a show could look too dangerous to her to watch it... especially if she liked the rider.



The context is a regimental display of horsemanship presented to the Imperial Family. It was the Tsaritsa, Aleksandra Feodorovna, who was speaking to her eldest daughter, saying she hated the _dgiguitovka_. It's puzzling, because she saw herself as a real 'little mother' to the military and, like her grandmother, Queen Victoria, was hugely supportive of the troops. You have given me an idea, however, when you suggest that she found the dangerous aspect deeply disturbing. Maybe, given her son's haemophilia, and thinking how the least injury could cause him weeks of excruciating pain and perhaps kill him, that was on her mind as she watched these young men engage in daring feats of horsemanship.


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## Rosett

voltige équestre/en cercle, voltige cosaque/en ligne = вольтижировка, джигитовка
Selon Wiki, Джигитовка — Википедия la djiguitovka est à l'origine de la voltige équestre (является родоначальницей вольтижировки). In English it is "equestrian vaulting."


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## Xigua

Rosett said:


> voltige équestre/en circle, voltiqe cosaque/en ligne = вольтижировка, джигитовка
> Selon Wiki, Джигитовка — Википедия la djiguitovka est à l'origine de la voltige équestre является родоначальницей вольтижировки.



Merci Rosett ! Ce que vous dites m'est bien utile. Je peux lire un peu en russe, mais je vous avoue franchement que je ne m'y connais pas. Alors ce mot dont se sert l'auteur de "mon" extrait m'avait tracassée, donc me voici en sollicitant l'aide de vous autres, les Russes !


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## Q-cumber

Xigua said:


> The context is a regimental display of horsemanship presented to the Imperial Family. It was the Tsaritsa, Aleksandra Feodorovna, who was speaking to her eldest daughter, saying she hated the _dgiguitovka_. It's puzzling, because she saw herself as a real 'little mother' to the military and, like her grandmother, Queen Victoria, was hugely supportive of the troops. You have given me an idea, however, when you suggest that she found the dangerous aspect deeply disturbing. Maybe, given her son's haemophilia, and thinking how the least injury could cause him weeks of excruciating pain and perhaps kill him, that was on her mind as she watched these young men engage in daring feats of horsemanship.


Good suggestion. I think that she actually meant that she hated watching it rather than she hated "джигитовка" itself. After all, Tsaritsa is still a woman.


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## Xigua

Q-cumber said:


> Good suggestion. I think that she actually meant that she hated watching it rather than she hated "джигитовка" itself. After all, Tsaritsa is still a woman.



She was essentially maternal. Not all women are: consider Ekaterina II by contrast. Nor was Queen Victoria, but two of the latter's five daughters and some of her granddaughters were quite the opposite.


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## Rosett

Xigua said:


> Merci Rosett ! Ce que vous dites m'est bien utile.


De rien.

Veuillez juste tenir compte du fait que la "djiguitovka" peut être aussi utilisée en russe au figuré à un sens réprobateur.
("Реже слово «джигитовка» употребляется в переносном, неодобрительном смысле", selon Wiki).


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## Xigua

Rosett said:


> De rien.
> 
> Veuillez juste tenir compte du fait que la "djiguitovka" peut être aussi utilisée en russe au figuré à un sens réprobateur.
> ("Реже слово «джигитовка» употребляется в переносном, неодобрительном смысле", selon Wiki).



Pourriez-vous traduire la citation russe ci-dessus vers le français, s'il vous plaît ? Juste afin que je puisse m'assurer de sa signification. 
De nouveau, un grand merci !


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## Q-cumber

Rosett said:


> De rien.
> 
> Veuillez juste tenir compte du fait que la "djiguitovka" peut être aussi utilisée en russe au figuré à un sens réprobateur.
> ("Реже слово «джигитовка» употребляется в переносном, неодобрительном смысле", selon Wiki).


The word is obviously used in its direct meaning here. And frankly speaking, I'm not recollecting any figurative meaning of this noun that might cause negative connotations. I referred to several dictionaries, but I couldn't find any extra meanings listed there.


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## abracadabra!

She might have thought it was an entertainment of low taste, or contrary to the God's testament, or anything else. I thought it was very strait-forward when I read the description. The point of the trick is "how dexterous I am", which is an emotion that people of her circles may have not liked. Some kind of nationalism (the trick is Asian) may have been involved, too. Who knows?


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## Q-cumber

abracadabra! said:


> She might have thought it was an entertainment of low taste, or contrary to the God's testament, or anything else. I thought it was very strait-forward when I read the description. The point of the trick is "how dexterous I am", which is an emotion that people of her circles may have not liked. Some kind of nationalism (the trick is Asian) may have been involved, too. Who knows?


I don't think that nationalism was involved here. As a matter of  fact, 'dzigitovka' was an official and obligatory part of Russian couzack troops' training.


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## Enquiring Mind

I found one - but only one - figurative use of джигитовкa, and as Rosett mentioned in #10, it has negative connotations. The word has obviously been introduced here because it's about North Ossetia, and the Ossetians have traditionally been known for their horsemanship skills.  

_Вот вам, например: «Хлопцы начинают разбегаться в разные стороны. Если так пойдет дальше, я тоже разбегусь в разные стороны»*.* С нашими хлопцами, вернее, джигитами, не все так просто и прямолинейно, как в кино. Но одно уже понятно: джигиты наши облажались. Никогда бы не подумал, что скажу это: Путин молодец! Долго он смотрел на осетинскую *политическую джигитовку* и принял решение «не вашим и не нашим». Другими словами, политические элиты Северной Осетии (слово «элиты» — тут больше фигура речи) настолько заигрались в своих политических интрижках, что главе государства пришлось, скажем  так, делать неожиданный кадровый выбор._ (source: gradus.pro)


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## Q-cumber

Enquiring Mind said:


> I found one - but only one - figurative use of джигитовкa, and as Rosett mentioned in #10, it has negative connotations. The word has obviously been introduced here because it's about North Ossetia, and the Ossetians have traditionally been known for their horsemanship skills.
> 
> _Вот вам, например: «Хлопцы начинают разбегаться в разные стороны. Если так пойдет дальше, я тоже разбегусь в разные стороны»*.* С нашими хлопцами, вернее, джигитами, не все так просто и прямолинейно, как в кино. Но одно уже понятно: джигиты наши облажались. Никогда бы не подумал, что скажу это: Путин молодец! Долго он смотрел на осетинскую *политическую джигитовку* и принял решение «не вашим и не нашим». Другими словами, политические элиты Северной Осетии (слово «элиты» — тут больше фигура речи) настолько заигрались в своих политических интрижках, что главе государства пришлось, скажем  так, делать неожиданный кадровый выбор._ (source: gradus.pro)


OK, this makes some sense. However, it's rather an occasionalism.


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## abracadabra!

The point is, the "negative connotations" in this example are precisely connected with what I described: dexterity for its own sake, which is deemed inappropriate... (In this case also immoral and petty...) As to nationalism and other, guessing is pointless as far as we don't know the fact. By the way, the context probably won't help anyone to know, either: why she hated to watch that sport is probably a subject for a whole scholarship study, there's a little chance that it was explained right in the text, otherwise the topic starter wouldn't ask about it here. What is official plays a little role in the personal feelings of people, high-ranked ones too.


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## Sobakus

I see nothing unusual about some people finding someone's dangerously showing off childish, distasteful and unsophisticated, especially an empress. C.f. _bravado_, which shifted its meaning completely as a result of such usage.


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## Rosett

Xigua said:


> Pourriez-vous traduire la citation russe ci-dessus vers le français, s'il vous plaît ? Juste afin que je puisse m'assurer de sa signification.


The Russian quote from Wiki is entirely translated into French for your convenience in my post #10, as a part of the phrase.



Sobakus said:


> I see nothing unusual about some people finding someone's dangerously showing off childish, distasteful and unsophisticated, especially an empress. C.f. _bravado_, which shifted its meaning completely as a result of such usage.


"La bravade" is probably the most appropriate French translation of "djiguitovka" in the given context, although superficially it might be applied directly to dangerous equestrian performance watched there.

Q-cumber, I agree with your #8


Q-cumber said:


> Good suggestion. I think that she actually meant that she hated watching it rather than she hated "джигитовка" itself.


that prompted me to suggest another possible meaning of "джигитовка" used in OP.


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