"листопад листопад" | "November November"

Photo: Danko

Що ж, як пише Наталка Білоцерківець, «листопад листопад»… J | Well, to quote Natalka Bilotserkivets, it’s “November November”… J November is lystopád in Ukrainian. But this Ukrainian word also means “leaves falling” (lýsto-pád: “leaves” being “lýstya”, “to fall” being “pádaty.”) Ukrainian poets, of course, readily make use of this peculiarity, both successfully and unsuccessfully. Actually, one can even say padolýst in Ukrainian: it means also “November” as well as “time for leaves to fall” according to one of my dictionaries.