concept
Gehenna
also: геенна огненная, гиена огненная
The place of fiery punishment for sinners in Jewish and Christian tradition. In "Kashtanka," the drunk Luka Alexandrych actually says "гиена огненная" ("the fiery hyena") -- a common folk mishearing of "геенна огненная" ("fiery Gehenna") -- as he maunders through a garbled paraphrase of the Psalter's penitential language; the translation renders the intended word rather than preserving the malapropism.
Reading notes
- From the Notebook of Ivan Ivanych (Thoughts and Notes) §33 the fires of Gehenna
Geenna ognennaya, the biblical place of fiery punishment for sinners -- generic period shorthand for hell.
- Kashtanka §9 fiery Gehenna
In the Russian, the drunk Luka Alexandrych actually says "the fiery hyena" (giena for geenna), a common folk mishearing of "Gehenna" that the translation smooths into the word he means rather than the malapropism he says.