Šumařovo dítě (Svatopluk Čech)

Text dotazu

What Czech word is used in the poem to describe the village leader usually called "mayor" in English? Does Svatopluk Czech use "starosta" or does he use a different Czech word? The translation "mayor" is not convincing to me. Thank you!

Odpověď

You can find the Czech text of Cech's poems on the web page Ceska elektronicka knihovna (and also many other books of poetry) - http://www.ceska-poezie.cz/cek/. The poem is from the collection Lesetinsky kovar a mensi basne (1899). Cech uses the word rychtar in the poem Sumarovo dite (the third strophe from the end). Rychtar is today rather archaic word.
It comes from German and had several meanings close to one another, the basic is deputy of the authorities in the village or town, but mostly in villages; it can be used also as synonym of starosta. We found in the dictionaries three English expressions for the rychtar:
village magistrate
village mayor
reeve.

Obor

Jazyk, lingvistika a literatura

Okres

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Knihovna

Národní knihovna ČR

Datum zadání dotazu

25.06.2009 11:09