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Mariano Payeras, a Spanish priest, wrote in an 1822 diary entry:

As a last courtesy our officers said goodbye to all the Russians who saluted us with four cannon shots, hat waving, and gestures, crying out to us three times Vrra, vrra, vrra, which means the same as our "Adios" [goodbye] according to the interpreter.

What Russian word is represented by "vrra"?

Aaron Brick
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    I suspect that this is a typo. It was supposed to be "Urra" ("Hurrah"), not "Vrra". Someone at some point mistook U for V. – AnT stands with Russia Feb 11 '17 at 23:35
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    @AnT, the liturgical language of Catholics was and is Latin, which did not distinguish between the glyphs U and V; Payeras frequently used Latin phrases and terms in his writing. – Aaron Brick Feb 18 '17 at 17:45

2 Answers2

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The salutation Ура! Ура! Ура! repeated three times (троекратное ура) is a usual greeting in the army used during parades, official meetings and performed by a chorus of military men. While being spoken the reverberation of voices makes it as if several sounds of р-р were pronounced. The interjection corresponds to the English "Hooray! (Hurrah)" expressing joy.

Yellow Sky
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V.V.
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Hurrah!

From Russian Wikipedia:

Ура́ — восклицательное междометие, употребляющееся в качестве торжествующего восклицания, выражающего восторг, радость, общее воодушевление, а также в качестве боевого клича. Кроме русского, существует и в других языках (нем. hurra, англ. hurrah (или huzzah, hooah), фр. hurrah и мн. др.) На письме чаще всего выделяется восклицательным знаком.

hinotf
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