Артур Дойл - Лучшие расследования Шерлока Холмса / The Best of Sherlock Holmes

cairns and tors – cairn is a heap of stones piled up as a memorial or as a landmark. Tor is a natural stone, f. i., granite outcropping that can reach size of a hill. Tors can be of different shape (from craggy to egg-like) depending on weather and windy conditions of the region.

Swan – Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828–1914) was a British physicist and chemist, an inventor of an incandescent light bulb (he and Thomas Edison invented it independently). Here “Swan” means electricity lights.

Edison – Thomas Alva Edison (1847–1931) was an American inventor and businessman. Among many other devices he invented a long-lasting electric light bulb. Here “Edison” means electricity lights.

Crenellatedmeans “having battlements, stony ‘teeth’ on a wall or tower top.”

A minstrels’ galleryis a sort of inner balcony situated in the great hall of a castle or manor house. It was the place where minstrels (and other musicians later on) used to perform, hidden from the eyes of the guests below. The minstrel’s gallery is mentioned to underline the mediaeval origins of the building.

Copsesare bunches of trees, gardened via method of coppice, that is, cutting trees repeatedly to the basic stool, whence many new sprouts emerge, making a copse denser.

scullery-maidwas an assistant to a kitchen maid. Her duties were to clean the scullery (dishes etc) as well as stoves, sinks, and the kitchen floor, and to assist the cook. As the work was really hard, scullery-maids were usually young girls.

ruse= trickery, deception; originally it was a hunting term that meant a roundabout path taken by fleeing game (from ruser ( Old French ))

Undulatingmeans terrain having a wavy surface.

Rollersare parallel wavy gentle hills and slopes; similar to undulating, but more arranged.

surge – terrain with rougher waves of hills and pits

yonder= being at a distance within view or at a place or in a direction known or indicated; over there.

By George – the phrase is a mild oath or exclamation that dates from the early 1600s. The word “George” here is a substitute for “God,” as are words like “golly,” “ginger,” “gosh,” and so on in other similar euphemistic oaths.

Neolithic man – no date. – Although Neolithic humans did inhabit the moors, Dartmoor stone ruins date back to the Bronze Age (2,300 to 700 B.C.).

Cyclopides – Cyclopide ( Latin ) is a skipper butterfly, known for its quick darting movements. Isn’t known to be found in Dartmoor.

Mare’s-tailis a creeping perennial herb found in shallow waters and mud flats. It roots underwater, but most of its leaves are above the water surface. It is not very high and has a multitude of small, spiky leaves along the stem.

Lepidoptera ( Latin ) means moths and butterflies, generally.

And yet the course of true love does not run quite as smoothly as one would under the circumstances expect. – The paraphrase of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”: “The course of true love never did run smooth.”

Spoil-sportis one who ruins a pleasure.

At one’s wit’s endmeans clueless, not knowing what else to think.

worldly positionmeans “social status” ( archaic )

Lattice windowis a type of window with a framework into which (coloured) pieces of glass are fitted.

scaffold – here: mechanized gallows with a stage and a trapdoor, used for common capital punishment in the UK

hue and cry – in common law, it is a process by which the bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime. Simply it means that anyone who knows about an escapee should note the authorities or provide an arrest themselves.

Guttering candleis a nearly burnt out candle with its wick almost flowing in a pool of wax.

Felonyis a type of crime for which the punishment in federal law may be death or imprisonment for more than one year. The name originates from an act on the part of a feudal vassal involving the forfeiture of his fee.

Coombe Traceyis a fictional name that contains a name of one of hamlets in Devon, Coombe , which comes from cwm ( Welsh ) meaning a type of valley. Tracey probably comes from real old town Bovey Tracey, situated on edge of Dartmoor, at the river Bovey, and founded by a Tracy. Town’s slogan is, “The Gateway to the Moor,” so it is an obscure reference to our story.

Écartéis a two-player card game originating from France, the word literally meaning “discarded.” It is a trick-taking game, similar to whist, but with a special and eponymous discarding phase.

Remington typewriterwas invented in 1867 by C. Sholes, C. Glidden, and S. Lewis. It was the first one that allowed to type notably faster that to write by hand, although not the first typewriter. Became commercialized by “E. Remington & Sons” since 1873, and introduced the QWERTY layout, as well as “Shift” button for switching upper– and lower-case letters (1878 model).

clean breast – to make a clean breast means to confess. Note that “breast” there is the seat of one’s emotions and secrets, one’s “heart.” To disclose the facts was to clean one’s heart of impurity.

The law is upon his side – in Victorian Britain a married woman had no means to defend herself against her cruel husband. She couldn’t even obtain a divorce without proof of both the extreme cruelty and adultery. A husband was entitled to get his wife back by force if she left him.

Confound them!= shame on them!, ruin them!

(Devon) County Constabularywas the Home Office (a Ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for immigration, security, and law and order) police force for the county of Devon until 1966.

Frankland v . Regina means a case of action “Frankland against the UK.” V. stands for “versus” (Latin word for “against”). Regina means “queen” ( Latin ), here: Queen Victoria who was to represent the UK as a monarch.