person
Father Korf
also: о. Корф, о. Корфу
A priest (о. = отец, "Father") who sent Chekhov a small cask of Santorini wine as a homecoming gift -- repaid, in this letter, with Chekhov's blunt complaint that he has grown unused to the wine and finds it nasty. Not further identified beyond the title and surname given here; the gift plausibly connects to the letter's earlier mention of Santorini wine among the goods Chekhov saw shipped from the Greek Archipelago (\S5), though no direct link is stated in the source.
Reading notes
- To G. M. Chekhov, 29 December 1890. Moscow. §8 Прислали мне с о. Корфу в подарок бочонок сантуринского вина
"Father Korf sent me a little cask of Santorini wine as a gift" -- an unidentified priest (о. = отец, "Father"), plausibly connected to the same Santorini-wine trade Chekhov has just described seeing at its Aegean source in S5, though the letter does not say so directly. Chekhov's blunt complaint that he has "grown unused to" the wine and finds it "nasty" is a small domestic joke at the gift-giver's expense, softened only by "no offense meant."