# Translation help for gravestone in Russian **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 10, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074 "2005-12-10T23:26:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/1 "2005-12-10T23:26:10Z")
I recently found a tombstone inscribed with what to me looks like Russian, or Cyrillic anyway. Here is my transcription : ОЄЕ ПОЧИВА МИРУ РА БОНЕИ НИКОДА ЈАЊАТОВИђ РОђЕН Т 1875 ПРЕСТАВИСб 20 СљЧЊА 1907 ОВАј СПОМЕ ПОАИҜ БР ТОВО ТАНАТО ВУћ Γ1910 Can anyone decypher any of this? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/2 "2005-12-10T23:34:02Z")
It’s likely Serbian or Bulgarian. While it’s in Cyrillic script, it uses a couple of letters never used in Russian, even before the alphabet reforms, but found in one or the other of those languages. Beyond that, I cannot tell. I recognized only a couple of words. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/3 "2005-12-11T07:30:14Z")
Do you have a picture? To the best of my knowledge, no language uses all the cyrillic letters you have used. It’s not serbian or bulgarian, since neither one of those has the letter “Є”. To the best of my knowledge, it is only present in Ukrainian. Њ is only in Macedonian. ђ only in Serbian. Is it possible you transliterated wrong? I mean, they look like slavic words, but if I would read that aloud in Russian it’s pretty much gibberish as written. The third word means “world”, sixth word means “never” (but misspelled). If you had a picture I could do a much better job. ---
**Author:** ![Anaptyxis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anaptyxis/32/3171_2.png) [@Anaptyxis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaptyxis)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/4 "2005-12-11T16:02:08Z")
First off I can’t seem to type Cyrillic on the board, so I’ll have to transliterate - sorry all. I know a bit of Serbian and there are definitely typos in this: the first word probably should be “Ove”, i.e. “Here”. The third word more likely means “peace” in the context of a gravestone. The second line is the person’s name, “Nikoda Janjatovic” or somesuch, born in 1875. (Final letter of the surname is c with ´ above it) This is what I can figure out: Here began the peace [something I cannot decipher] Nikoda Janjatovic born [?] 1875 [?some word that probably means “died”] 20 January 1907 [something] [I have no idea about the rest, except “Tanato” reminds me of Greek “Thanatos”] It’s most likely Serbian, because line three contains the month of death. January in Serbian is sijecanj (that is c with the hacek). Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/5 "2005-12-11T18:06:43Z")
I found a site where I could host the picture of the [gravestone](http://tinypic.com/ifpj5g.jpg) . Could a moderator change the title to “Translation help for a gravestone in Cyrillic” ? Thanks for the help with decipherment. ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/6 "2005-12-11T18:11:26Z")
here is [full](http://tinypic.com/ifpmap.jpg) shot in color ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/7 "2005-12-11T18:32:22Z")
I have a friend that speaks serbian. If she comes online soon, I will ask her to translate it, unless someone comes along before then and does it. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2005, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/8 "2005-12-11T23:28:03Z")
This is my friend’s translation: * * * here rests god’s slave Nikola Janjatovich born 1875, passed in (died) 1907 “ovaj spome” - this memorial stone? * * * she says the rest are only parts of words. ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/9 "2005-12-12T19:13:28Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > This is my friend’s translation: > > * * * > > here rests god’s slave Nikola Janjatovich > born 1875, passed in (died) 1907 > > “ovaj spome” - this memorial stone? > > * * * > > she says the rest are only parts of words. so it is in Serbian? How many letters did I transcribe incorrectly? ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/10 "2005-12-12T22:02:34Z")
> [@Hooleehootoo](#): > > so it is in Serbian? How many letters did I transcribe incorrectly? I’m pretty sure most of the letters were right. I showed her the pictures, and she changed a couple of the words. ---
**Author:** ![Hooleehootoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/eada6e/32.png) [@Hooleehootoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hooleehootoo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/11 "2005-12-13T20:24:24Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > I’m pretty sure most of the letters were right. I showed her the pictures, and she changed a couple of the words. thanks for your help. The tombstone is from the town of Goldfield, Nevada. ---
**Author:** ![Nic2004](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@Nic2004](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nic2004)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translation-help-for-gravestone-in-russian/335074/12 "2005-12-15T02:45:50Z")
These Dopers! Is there nothing they cannot do? You never cease to amaze.