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?
Maybe not ENTIRELY helpful, but I got this with Google translate:
I can confirm:
Chaliapin:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feodor_Chaliapin(there are recordings for him on YouTube!)
Bunin:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_BuninThe Wiki for Bunin seems to have another photo from the same set:
Identified as members of the writers group “Sreda”, 1902.
L. Andreev:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonid_Andreyev(looks more like the guy above him though)
Pyatnitsky:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitrofan_PyatnitskyThe last name Google Translate did not pick up is Чирико which translates as Chirico. The photo doesn’t line up for this guy, but the era and group of people would:~~https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_de_Chirico~~
Sergigig found a much more likely candidate based on the photo:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Chirikov
Скиталецъ or “Wanderer” was his pen name. Stepan Gavrilovich Petrov.
https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Скиталец_(писатель)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Skitalets
Has the same photo as the Bunin wiki.
I can’t get anything on “Telesheg” or “Teleshev” or the one that translates out as “Found”.Edit from Sprink’s comment below, “Found”, or Найдёнов, is Naydyonov, the pen name of Sergey Alexandrovich Alexeyev:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Naydyonov
Sergigig also found Teleshov:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Teleshov
I think that’s everyone now?
More on the literary group Sreda with a membership list(!)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sreda
Alternate photos:
Naydyonov https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergey_Naydyonov
Skitalets https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepan_Skitalets
~~Tereshev (there’s like 5 military people) https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Телешев~~
Nevermind, he’s Teleshov https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Teleshov
Chirikov - might be this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeny_Chirikov
Yeah, your guy for Chirikov looks way more likely than the one I found.
Teleshov makes more sense given the writers in the room.
Пятницкiй, Скиталецъ, М. Горький, Найденовъ, Л. Андреев, Шаляпинъ, Бунинъ, Телешевъ, Чирико
Бунин is a famous writer and poet
Both Бунин and Горький are part of the school literature curriculum, although I don’t recall any Бунин’s writings but thats on me
Thank you, but the problem is I can’t read those words. What are they with a Latin alphabet without translation? Google Translate translates the words into English.
Theyre names so the latin alphabet form would be the translation, more or less.
Пятницкiй, Скиталецъ, М. Горький, Найденовъ, Л. Андреев, Шаляпинъ, Бунинъ, Телешевъ, Чирико
Would be…
Pyatnitsky, Skitalets, M. Horky (possibly gorky?), Naydenov, L. Andreev, Shalyapin, Bunin, Teleshev, Chiriko.
(Note, im a native english speaker studing to speak Ukrainian)
Thank you, that’s what I was hoping for!
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”.
Thanks!
Also, definitely Gorky. He’s the most famous.
You can use ChatGPT for that! Here’s what it spit out when I asked it to romanize the names and write them inline.
Пятницкiй (Pyatnitsky), Скиталецъ (Skitalets), М. Горький (M. Gorky), Найденовъ (Naydenov), Л. Андреев (L. Andreev), Шаляпинъ (Shalyapin), Бунинъ (Bunin), Телешевъ (Teleshev), Чирико (Chiriko)
E: Apparently, it can also read the names on the picture! Just copy and paste it into the chat.
