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Otstavil - Put Aside
10 June 2024 - Dream - Otstavil
I went to bed saying “I will dream a dream of the future.”
When I woke up this morning– Or rather, what woke me up this morning, was an image of a man standing in an upside-down quincunx (probability curve). He is facing left, and underneath this picture is a single word in Russian, “otstavil.” Here is the picture I drew after awaking;
I could not remember what the word meant. Google translate definition is “[He was/It was] put aside. It is masculine, past tense.
Я отставил is translated as “I put it aside” by Google Translate--
But when I ask Google Translate to translate “I put it aside” into Russian, I get:
Я отложил это в сторону which means something more like “I postponed it.”
“I left it there” is translated “Я оставил это там”– only one letter different.
I suspect Google translate has gotten this one slightly wrong–or my dream spelling is not great.
Отставил [infinitive Отставить] is related to the word ставить, meaning ‘to place upright.’
What does it mean?
Hmmm, I dunno. The upside-down probability curve may mean, “you think it’s improbable, but it’s not.” I have some minor concerns about losing my job. I think this is very unlikely, but perhaps I should take a closer look at these concerns.
On the other hand, why is the caption a Russian word that I don’t understand well, with a subtle meaning that eludes my dictionaries?
I feel it has something to do with the war in Ukraine.
In Ukranian, the word simply translates as ‘left,’ in the sense of something you discarded.
This is very mysterious. Probably will mean something to me someday, but just now I don’t have a clue.
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Actually, I have taught Russian. That is not a huge brag. I can get my students an overview of the grammar, a slightly flawed version of the phonetics, a mob of useful expressions and the confidence to use their knowledge to speak to native Russian speakers, from whence they can make greater progress. I'm in the middle of Bulgakov, looking up each and every word I don't immediately know, noting the stress, etc., and began corresponding with a Russian scientist recently as part of my EMR activism.
I think it is possible, if we look back far enough in the evolution of the Russian language, that the prefix "ot-" would have been considered separate from the verb, as it is with nouns. It would be possible even now to say "ot stavit'" with the infinitive acting as a noun, meaning "moving away from" or "starting from" positioning something. My far from native impression is that would be possible but awkward. With the past tense "stavil" it would be ungrammatical.
So what we have here would be a man (presumably Vladimir Vladimirovich) saying "I put it aside" or that a man put it aside or stood down. I've heard "otstav'/otstav'te" used to mean "Quit it!" (Yandex says "Leave it alone!" but also meaning "Leave me alone!" https://translate.yandex.com/?source_lang=ru&target_lang=en&text=%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%8C
As you have been studying Russian, it's likely you've seen the word and it stuck in your subconscious. That's actually an important part of the process of learning a language. Your mind treats it like a puzzle.
It would be useful to ask one of the native Russians like Daniil Adamov on Ecosophia what they make of it. I think the mystery will remain whether Putin will decide to stand down or persuade "Morgan" to. My bet is on Morgan, because he has less to lose from it, and Putin has never been a quitter.
But we'll see.
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I like your prayer very much too. Thank you for sharing your dream!