DU language geniuses: what language is this?

[elehhhhna]

JFK investigation newly releassed photos refer to a handwrittten doc in an "unknown language". Can anybody identify it...translate a bit, even?


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6993841

[lonestarnot]

1. Russian? He was fluent wasn't he?

[izquierdista]

4. Yes

The letter dated 16 May (V) '63 starts out "Dear Marina, Home once again, everything as usual.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

2. There appear to be at least 8 separate documents in an unknown language

Could they be in some kind of code? If so and if U.S. authorities were able to decrypt them, I guess they're not going to tell.

[alfredo]

3. Is there a link to the specific document? Oswald did live in Russia.

[elehhhhna]

6. here. good luck!!!

http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/JFKDP/browse/?start=160

[alfredo]

8. That particular doc isn't as easy to see as the others. Wish he would have typed.

[Warpy]

9. Looks like cursive Russian to me

"Moscow" in Russian is one of the few legible words.

[alfredo]

11. Marina was Russian, so chances are good that it is Russian.

[Canuckistanian]

14. I can make out "Dear Marina" in Russian

"Dorogaya Marina"

[alfredo]

5. Here's a Cryllic alphabeth

[nickinSTL]

7. I think it's Russian

handwritten Russian, which I can't transliterate (and I don't speak Russian, so unless there were a lot of cognate words I wouldn't know what it said, anyway).

It's also really hard to tell because the pic isn't very clear.

[horseshoecrab]

17. Can't tell either but

you're right. It is handwritten cyrillic - probably Russian.

The salutation says "Dear (or dearest?) Marina." I plugged "Dearest Marina" at this site:
http://swobodin.fedora-tn.org/wp-content/lab/lat2cyr.php

and it looks like a match to the salutation of the letter.

I don't know Russian but had a roommate once who spoke and wrote it fluently, so have seen written Russian a lot.

Perhaps unt simply had all of this dumped on them, much of it unlabeled, and so have now labeled this as"unknown language" until they figure it all out.


horseshoecrab

[alfredo]

10. Go to the Veteran thread and seek out the ASA guys there. There might be

a Russian Lingie there.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6981620

[Snazzy]

12. looks like romance language to me--Italian?

Hard to read handwriting and the crappy scan, but "se va mardi" on first line? Someone coming Tuesday?

[Snazzy]

15. oh different docs

http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth49791/m1/1/sizes/xl/
http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth49807/m1/1/sizes/xl/

Agree 2nd looks like Cyrillic. Also different handwriting.

20 "handwritten documents" in unknown language--maybe more of a honest laziness on part of archive: http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/JFKDP/browse/?start=140

[Canuckistanian]

13. It's obviously cursive Cyrillic

I can read and write Russian, but I can't see the details.

Also, many other languages in the the old USSR used Cyrillic, even though they're nothing like Russian.

[MineralMan]

16. It's Russian. That's what Russian handwriting looks like.

The photo's too bad to read, though. If there's a better copy, it would be easy enough to translate.

It's funny that nobody recognized it. It's far from an "unknown language."