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In Подросток, Глава первая (VIII) by Dostoyevski I read:

Но тут все жили вместе, в одном деревянном флигеле, в переулке, в Семеновском полку.

The context: we are in Saint Petersburg. How should I understand "в Семеновском полку"? From the context I guess that it does not mean "in the Semyonovsky regiment" (it does not make much sense), moreover I know that Семёновский плац is the old name of Пионерская площадь, so my guess is that it denotes a place. Is Семеновский полк the name of a street (the name of the переулок) and the word улица is missing? Or is Семеновский полк the name of a district and the name of the переулок is not given?

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  • They lived here, though I'm not sure how it's related to the Russian language. Are you being confused by the fact they are shortening слобода полка to just полк? If yes, please update your question and mention this. Thank you!
    – Quassnoi ♦
    Commented Oct 6 at 0:04
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    I've ticked the question up, because it is a valid question. The questioner is asking: is this the name of a street? or else why does it mean Semyonovsky Regiment?
    – pompey1969
    Commented Oct 6 at 2:59
  • @Quassnoi I edited my question. I have been honest, that is I edited as I could ask it before reading your comment: I considered that the word улица was missing and not the word слобода. Please tell me if you are satisfied with the edit. Could you extend your comment in an answer? Also, it would be nice to give the full alternative: I always have some doubts with the case of the приложение (for instance, I know that we have на озере Байкал, here it is the nominative, but for в слободе + Семёновский полк I have some doubts - you used the genitive while I considered to use locative).
    – Bruno
    Commented Oct 6 at 14:23

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В Семеновском полку here is short for в слободе Семёновского полка "in the Semyonovsky regiment district". This is a historical district of St. Petersburg, now commonly known as Семенцы.

Слобода, in medieval Russia, was a sort of settlement around a city, town, military base or similar, populated by people who provided vital services to the facility (sold food and others goods, washed clothes, took out trash etc.). Later, it came to mean just "quarter, neighborhood".

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