Sometimes in English, there are very unusual words that are very difficult to translate into Russian. Here, for example, is the word oblong. As an adjective, it translates as “elongated, oblong,” but in the book, both uses are nouns. Often oblong refers to a face – that is, close to an oval, but oblong is a broader concept that describes any figure having an elongated appearance. My mom bought an oblong tablecloth for her new table.
As a noun, it is also used, and quite frequently (though less so than as an adjective). As a noun, oblong means “a rectangular object or flat figure with unequal adjacent sides.” Rulers are considered elongated items (oblongs). Laptops, tablets, and flat-screen TVs are oblongs of different sizes. A rectangle can be defined as oblong; however, not all elongated figures are rectangles. The same face, for example. Additionally, in mathematics, an oblong number is what in Russian is called a rectangular number (the product of two consecutive numbers. For example, 12). In general, it’s utterly baffling.
The word has been alive since the 15th century, by the way. So, in my book, it appears twice, and both times as nouns. In the first case, Nabokov translated it as “corner,” and in the second – “a small oblong of smooth silver” as “a little piece.”
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 