great thread
lets keep it going
(I don't know if this is the place to post this; the monitors can move it to a more appropriate thread.)
The names of meals may have been discussed elsewhere on the Forum already, but just to bring to your attention a certain inaccuracy which has crept into some of the translated accounts which have been appearing in print recently.
Zavtrak — from the Russian word,
zavtra, "tomorrow" — in the context of the Imperial family’s daily schedule does
not mean "breakfast", as it does in modern Russian usage.
At that time at Court
zavtrak was lunch, and it was served at one in the afternoon.
It could be a simple family meal, or a more formal luncheon on the occasion of a Romanov celebration or a visit of foreign royalty or important dignitaries.
See A. A.Volkov’s memoirs:
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/volkov/8.htmlChapter 8
He writes that the Emperor "received reports from 10 o’clock until
luncheon, which was served at 1 PM."
In the original Russian, Volkov had written "zavtrak".
That explains why the members of the Imperial family often record rising in the morning, attending to various tasks, or accomplishing certain errands, etc., and only then they mention having “zavtrak”. If
zavtrak is translated as breakfast in these instances, it makes no sense.
