A mystery word in A Drama in Livonia

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Tad Davis

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Apr 27, 2026, 9:40:43 AMApr 27
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I’ve run across an odd word in A Drama in Livonia. When the servant Trankel forgets to start the samovar in the morning, he’s sent to the police station to be beaten, and told to bring back a receipt so his master can pay the appropriate fee for the “service.” (That’s how it was done back then, Verne assures us.)

"Tu n’oublieras pas de rapporter le régat,” says his master. Don’t forget to bring back the. . .  [receipt].

I can’t find le régat anywhere. It doesn’t seem to be French, and it’s not an obvious mistranscription of Russian. In context it clearly means “receipt,” but the closest Russian word I can find with that meaning is raschet, and it’s hard to see, even misreading the Cyrillic, how that would turn into regat. (Verne did apparently misread the Cyrillic strug as struz, so it’s possible, going in the other direction, regat should be rezat, for whatever that’s worth. Rezat’ in Russian means to cut, stab, or slice—not quite what we have in mind here.)

But my French is hardly extensive at this point and my Russian is microscopic. Am I missing something?

Tad Davis



Chris Moser

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Apr 27, 2026, 9:49:37 AMApr 27
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If you ask Google .. its an old French term for a necktie characterized by a knot and two hanging flaps

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Tad Davis

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Apr 27, 2026, 12:12:54 PMApr 27
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Somehow that one slipped past me. 
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Tad Davis

On Apr 27, 2026, at 9:49 AM, Chris Moser <crmo...@gmail.com> wrote:



Christian Sánchez

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Apr 27, 2026, 1:02:16 PMApr 27
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The MS clearly says: reçu.

 https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10558639w/f66.item.zoom

Best regards,

Christian Sánchez
Rosario, Argentina

Tad Davis

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Apr 27, 2026, 2:30:38 PMApr 27
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Thank you! I looked at the link you provided. Mystery solved. “Receipt” it is. So the error occurred either in the typesetting or in the transcription of the text I was working from. 
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Tad Davis

On Apr 27, 2026, at 1:02 PM, Christian Sánchez <chvsa...@gmail.com> wrote:


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William Butcher

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Apr 27, 2026, 9:38:19 PMApr 27
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Checking the various editions, including the  serial, should be the first step, then  checking the manuscript(s). For proper names, there are often mis-transcriptions.

bill
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Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 2:30 AM
To: jules-ve...@googlegroups.com <jules-ve...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [JVF] A mystery word in A Drama in Livonia
 
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volker.dehs

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Apr 28, 2026, 7:09:17 PMApr 28
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So I did, but it seems that my precedent posting has been lost in space.
I can confirm that the three Hetzel editions present "régat" (maintained in later Hetzel reprints!), a misinterpretation of the word corrected in the manuscript by Verne, also in the same paragraph some lines later, but in the following occurrences of the word there is always "recu". It seems clear that this is an error of the typesetting, ignored by Verne in correcting his proofs.
Best, Volker

William Butcher

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Apr 28, 2026, 7:40:14 PMApr 28
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Of course poor translators shouldn't have to do all this basic research work: it should be done by those producing editions but I'm afraid editors have been very remiss in this respect to date.

Bill 
From: William Butcher <wbutch...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 9:38 AM

Tad Davis

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Apr 28, 2026, 9:43:59 PMApr 28
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My gratitude to this community is boundless. 

Tad 
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Tad Davis

On Apr 28, 2026, at 7:40 PM, William Butcher <wbutch...@gmail.com> wrote:



Tad Davis

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Apr 29, 2026, 4:58:45 PMApr 29
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The manuscripts site came in handy again today. Moving on to chapter 6, I found the chapter title “Slave pour Slave”, which was odd, because that was also the title of chapter 2. Not to mention which it had nothing to do with the action of the chapter. Checking the manuscript revealed that the title is actually “Slaves et Germains”, or Slavs and Germans. Which is exactly what the chapter is about. 

Tad
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Tad Davis

On Apr 28, 2026, at 9:43 PM, Tad Davis <tad.dav...@gmail.com> wrote:

My gratitude to this community is boundless. 
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