I’ve been scanning in family photos and I came across this one. My father, rather unhelpfully, wrote-

Russian photo from my maternal grandfather: [NAME] Among the notables: back row, third figure on right is Maxim Gorky[!]; front row, second figure on left (with watch-chain) is Feodor Chaliapin.

Chaliapin was apparently a notable opera singer.

What are the other names so I can know which one is my great-grandfather? If it’s okay, once the names are transliterated, I’m not going to say which one I’m related to. I realize it was a long time ago, but you never know.

But how cool is it that he knew Maxim Gorky?

  • Farid
    13•6 months ago

    I speak Russian at a native level, but that’s an archaic pre-revolution orthography that I’m not 100% sure about. But I’m 99% sure that most of those transliterations are correct. Except Gorky. In Ukrainian Г makes a rough H sound, while in Russian it’s G, as in “good”.

    And a bonus fun fact for you, горький (gorky) means “bitter”.