Могар

[autnagrag]

Hello.

In the Willets translation of In the First Circle, I found:

“It probably isn’t millet but magara.”
“Magara? Are you crazy? Just let them try magara on us, and see what we’d do to them!”
“What’s the food like in transit prisons nowadays?”

Web search (or forum search) for magara or магара has not helped. The context is food. Could margarine be intended?

Thanks.

 

[nizzebro]

Probably this one:
Могар — Википедия
=
Foxtail millet - Wikipedia

P.S. At the end of the Russian wiki article, there are excerpts from other camp stories there.

 

[autnagrag]

Thank you for your useful reply. As I think about this, to copy edit a text with transliterated words from a language that uses a different alphabet or system of writing is daunting indeed. What if mogara was intended, and editing failed?

I looked at the Russian article, but my skills were not great when they peaked, in 1970 or so. To my amazement, I picked out "Сварил бы каши из магара — ведро!"

Is this telling us that magara/магара is a bucket?

 

[nizzebro]

"Сварил бы каши из магара — ведро!"

Is this telling us that magara/магара is a bucket?

'I'd make a whole bucket of that magar (porrige)'
The authors spell it with 'a' (and one of them seems to be using a feminine form: магара), while wiki does with 'o'; I guess it's no big deal, especially as not so many people are familiar today with such sort of meal (including myself) - fortunately or not.