Jargon::Matroska (v.1.1)
Jargon::Matroska (v.1.1)
Matroska is a new A/V container format (What's Matroska?). The word, Matroska, was derived by "anglifying" the russian word матрешка (also, but less commonly, spelt матрёшка), which, when written in the Latin alphabet using traditional russian transliteration, is matreshka (in English, also matrioshka or matryoshka).
Matroska can be pronounced in a few ways:
![[mæ̀trɔ́skə, mæ̀tróuskə]](matroska_IPA1.png)
![[mətrʲóʃkə]](matroska_IPA2.png)
The Russian word Matrioshka has feminine gender. It is the diminutive form of Matrona or Matriona, a woman's name. Therefore, Matroska, should be a feminine noun.
Matrioshka are a set of Russian nesting dolls which symbolize the Extensible Binary Meta Language (EBML). EBML has a unique XML-like structure that has been developed to be the foundation for this A/V container format. To be clear, the name of the file format is Matroska, not matrioshka.
The "anglification" of the original Russian word is meant help those who are unfamiliar with the Russian phonetics, reading, and pronunciation of Matrioshka. Matroska provides an somewhat accurate representation of the original pronunciation while making it easier to remember and pronounce.
Keeping in mind the average American, a Matroska developer (robUx4) suggested that simplifying the name would help users who feel the original name is difficult:
“Given the way Matroska is architecture I thought the Russian dolls would be a good symbol for the format. And so I asked around for the name in Russian. [...] the German name is Matrioschka or something like that. Since some people thought that the Russian name and the German name would be too hard for Joe Average, we came up with a more simple one. Which actually is our creation, like the format”
It was pure chance that matroska (in Russian, матроска) in and of itself is a valid word. The meaning has nothing to do with the nesting dolls, matreshka (matrioshka).
The Russin word Matroska means a sailor's suit [2], which is quite amusing to those who understand Russian to a sufficiently.
Even to non-Russian speakers, the meaning of Matroska causes giggle or two, but, there is more to it than that. Traditional Russian matroska usually comes with a blue-white, horizontal-striped undershirt, called tel'nyashka, and it's tightly associated with drunk bums and general alcoholics. The shirt can be seen in various movies, TV series, etc.
| Word | in English | in Russian |
|---|---|---|
| matrioshka | a Russian doll | a Russian doll |
| matroska | A/V file format | (a drunk's) shirt |
It is rumored that the first Russian nesting doll matrioshka was born in 1890, and based on Japanese folk-crafts such as Hakone-Zaiku.
It is said that the Japanese nesting dolls, which depicted a monk called Fukuruma, inspired the creation of the first matrioshka. However, there is no record of Fukuruma in Japan. It is possible that the original name of these Japanese dolls was not Fuku Ruma, but Fuku Jin, since Fuku Jin (a god of happiness) is a common Japanese word.
As the Japanese myth of Shichi Fuku Jin (the Seven Gods of Happiness) says, there is a set of seven Japanese dolls in their likeness.
[1] As an English word, ro in Matroska may be pronounced as in ro in "piroshki," ka in Matroska as in ka in "balalaika."
[2] It also means "sailor's wife," but this is not the colloquial definition of the word.
[3] See The very beginning of Russian nesting dolls by Russian-Crafts.com and Shichifukujin and Matryoshika; unexpected relation between Hakone and Russia by Tourist Department Tourist Promotion Section, Hakone Town Office, Japan.