Origin of words. Book of · fictional

Origin of words. Book of · fictional · creatures

27.02.2024 Carpentry

How did native Russian words arise?

Have you ever wondered how many words from any phrase we utter belong to the language of which we are all native speakers? And does something foreign always sound so obvious that it hurts the ear with its dissonance? Let's talk about the origin of words in the Russian language as if we were getting to know them for the first time - and in fact, in fact, this is the case.

Among archaeological researchers, it has long been accepted as an axiom that our Slavic ancestors, in countless genera, covered the area of their settlement from the Pacific coast to the very north of Italy. Of course, the dialects of that time were countless, but the basis, without a doubt, was laid not in the modern Cyrillic alphabet, but in the original Slavic - ancient Aryan writing.

The Old Church Slavonic language was never primitive, but it always reflected the essence, without indulgence in grandiosity. The use of words was reduced to twelve components of the full and free transmission of any information, feelings, sensations:

Name of elements of the human (animal) body, internal organs, structural features: hump, liver, leg;
Temporal indicators, with units of time intervals: morning, week, year, spring;
Natural and natural phenomena, various natural objects: drifting snow, wind, waterfall;
Name of plants: zucchini, sunflower, birch;
Fauna: bear, gudgeon, wolf;
Household items: axe, yoke, bench;
Concepts embedded in imaginative thinking: life, decency, glory;
Verb concepts: know, protect, lie;
Characterizing concepts: old, greedy, sick;
Words indicating place and time: here, at a distance, side;
Prepositions: from, on, about;
Conjunctions: and, a, but.

In any language, be it ancient Germanic or Vedic Slavic, the Word initially had an essence extracted from the image it created. That is, the original meaning of any word was created on the basis of well-known concepts:

aster = Ast (star) + Ra (sun god) = Star of the sun god Ra;
Kara = Ka (spirit of death) + Ra = deceased divine principle (in man).

However, with the acquisition of new concepts, new images also came. As a rule, these images brought with them ready-made names.

For example, the word “cream” is “cr? me“- it was in this form that it came to us from France, and meant a mass of whipped cream with some kind of fruit syrup... or shoe polish of a thick, uniform consistency.

Another condition for borrowing involves the convenient replacement of a multi-word concept with a single-word one.

Imagine the familiar and simple word “case”, which came to us from the German language (Futteral) and is translated as “case with lining”. In literal Slavic it would sound like “storage box.” Of course, in this situation, it is much more convenient and meaningful to pronounce “case”. The same goes for “glass” - “bocal” from French is a tall vessel for wine in the shape of a shot glass.

The influence of fashion trends on the preferential use of more euphonious words cannot be denied. After all, “bartender” somehow sounds more respectable than just “bartender,” and the “piercing” procedure itself seems something different and more modern than a banal “piercing.”

But a much stronger influence than even the trend of foreignness was exerted on the original Russian by its closest ancestor, the Church Slavonic language, which came into everyday life in the 9th century as a model of writing in Rus'. Its echoes reach the ears of modern man, characterizing his affiliation with the following characteristics:

letter combinations: “le”, “la”, “re”, “ra” in a prefix or root, where in the current sound we pronounce: “ere”, “olo”, “oro”. For example: head - head, pred - before;
the letter combination “zhd”, later replaced by “zh”. For example: alien - alien;
the primary sound “sch”, then identified with “ch”: power - to be able;
The primary letter is “e” where we can use “o”: once - once.

It is worth mentioning that the closest related Slavic languages to us left a noticeable imprint in the mixture of words, often replacing the Old Russian originals: pumpkin for tavern, shirt for shirt.

In addition to the facts already mentioned, the 8th century, with its active trade and military movements, had a huge influence on the original Russian language. Thus, the first language reforms turned out to be for the entire ancient Slavic people:

Scandinavians (Swedes, Norwegians);
Finns, Ugrians;
Germans (Danes, Dutch);
Turkic tribes (Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians);
Greeks;
Germans;
Romans (as speakers of Latin).

Interesting fact. The word “money”, derived from “tenge”, came to us from the Turkic language. More precisely, this is another alteration from one of the large Turkic tribes, the Khazars, where “tamga” meant a brand. Surprisingly, among the Arabs (“danek”), the Persians (“dangh”), the Indians (“tanga”), and even the Greeks (“danaka”), this word clearly echoes the consonance. In Rus', from the founding of Moscow coinage, money received the unenviable status of “half a coin”, that is? kopecks, which was equal to two hundredths of a ruble.

Here's an interesting fact about the origin of the word "sandwich". Many people know that the root of this double name (“Butter” is butter, and “Brot” is bread) originates in the German language, and in writing it was used only with the final “t”. However, few people know that the discoverer of the bread and butter we know is the great astronomer N. Copernicus. He was the first to come up with a means to stop the terrible loss of life due to numerous diseases caused by the war between the Teutonic Order and his native Poland. The fact is that careless peasants who supplied bread to the defenders of the Olsztyn fortress, due to their disregard for basic cleanliness, brought bread so dirty that it was literally covered with a layer of rubbish. Copernicus, who took the plight of the soldiers very closely, proposed making the dirt more visible by covering it with a light film of cow butter. This made it possible to better remove dirt (unfortunately, along with oil).

After the death of the famous scientist, one German pharmacist Buttenadt, with all his might, grabbed hold of a valuable idea and made it so that in a short time all European residents learned about the classic sandwich.

By the way, it is not difficult to recognize words that have come to us from distant countries by looking at certain model elements:

from Greece - these are the prefixes: “a”, “anti”, “archi”, “pan”;
from Latin-speaking Rome - prefixes: “de”, “counter”, “trans”, “ultra”, “inter” and suffixes: “ism”, “ist”, “or”, “tor”;
Also, Greek and Latin languages together gave the Slavs the initial sound “e”. So, “selfish” is not our word;
the sound “f” did not exist in the original Russian, and the letter itself, as a designation of sound, appeared much later than the words themselves came into use;
It would never have occurred to the folk shapers of the rules of Russian phonetics to begin a word with the sound “a,” so every single “attack” and “angel” is of foreign origin;
Russian word formation was disgusted by two- and three-vowel melodiousness. Consecutive vowels, no matter how many there are, immediately indicate that the word is foreign;
The words of the Turkic dialect are easily recognizable: beard, quinoa, string. They have a significant consonant alternation of vowels.

Foreign words are especially distinguished by their invariability in numbers and cases, as well as their “genderlessness,” as in the word “coffee.”

The most interesting stories of the origin of various words

There was no situation in France, or in all of Europe, more luxurious and life more free than at the court of Louis XV. The nobles and those especially close to the king seemed to be competing to see who could impress the spoiled ruler the most. The tables were set with pure gold or silver, and masterpieces were visible from the walls and picture frames. It is no wonder that with such a shining shell, its core - that is, the financial basis of the state, the treasury - soon turned out to be completely ruined.

Once, apparently having come to his senses, Louis acted really wisely. Of all those vying for the position of financial controller, he chose the most inconspicuous and youngest specialist, who had not gained any fame for himself other than rare incorruptibility.

The new comptroller fully justified the trust shown to him by the king, but at the same time gained such notoriety among the courtiers that the name of Etienne Silhouette soon became a household name for the derivative of wretched economy and rare stinginess. Most likely, it would not have survived to this day if it had not been for the newest direction of modernist art that appeared just at that time - a contrasting drawing in a two-color solution, where only the painted outline of the object appeared against a minor background. The Parisian nobility, accustomed to bright, exaggerated colors, greeted the new artistic genre with contemptuous ridicule, and the unfortunate Silhouette itself, with its economy, became the personification of this trend.

Every person has experienced a crushing fiasco at least once in their life - be it in an exam, on a first date, or in a work environment. Synonyms for this word are only the sad concepts of failure, defeat, failure. And all this despite the fact that the “fiasco” is nothing more than a simple bottle, albeit a large bottle, but this cannot be blamed on it.

This story happened in Italy, in the 19th century, with one very famous theatrical comic actor Bianconelli. The fact is that he valued his role as “unique” very much and always tried to amaze the viewer, performing entire performances on stage with the help of just one object. Each time these were different objects and success invariably accompanied unprecedented improvisations, until, to his misfortune, Bianconelli chose an ordinary wine bottle as his assistant.

The skit began as usual, but as the play progressed, the actor realized with horror that the audience did not react to a single joke; Even the gallery was silent. He tried to improvise, but again encountered the icy hostility of the audience. Desperate to evoke even the slightest amount of emotion, the actor angrily threw the bottle on the stage and shouted: “Go to hell, fiasco!”

It is not surprising that after such a resounding destruction of Bianconelli’s reputation, the whole world learned about the “fiasco.”

Bohemia

Representatives of modern bohemia are always controversial and very popular personalities, since only a few get to the top of this pedestal. However, a little more than a century and a half ago, belonging to the elite was formed by other values, and all these writers, artists, poets lived in extreme squalor and in conditions of real poverty. Paris, having the misfortune of being partially buried in slums, found the bulk of its free creative pariah in the Latin Quarter. There, in one of the oldest houses, right under the roof, in the attic, lived friends E. Pothier and A. Murger. Later, Pothier would become famous as the author of the famous “Internationale,” but for now he was a poor and virtually unemployed friend of a struggling journalist. Murger worked on an essay he had been commissioned to write, one might say about himself - about the residents of the Latin Quarter in Paris. All the city aristocrats called the inhabitants of the quarter very insultingly “gypsies.” This gave the title to the essay, published in March 1845: “Scenes from the life of the Gypsies.” Translated from refined French, “gypsy” is bohemian. So figure out after this whether to offend modern representatives of art, or better to say in Russian: creators, sculptors, actors, painters, architects?

The word that came to us from Greece (katergon) was not the name of a closed government building, but a rowing vessel with three rows of oars. To modern people, such ships are known as galleys - this is a later name for hard labor. Three rows of oars required, respectively, three rows of oarsmen, and work on ships of this type was considered a punishment, it was so hard. Forming his famous fleet in 1696, Tsar Peter I ordered the construction of as many penal colonies as possible, based on their power and crude simplicity. At the same time, it was decided to put criminals behind the oars, so as not to pollute the prisons with rabble and benefit from them. Of course, the criminal people were chained to their new instrument of punishment - the oar - with heavy shackle chains.

And this procedure of sentencing a rower to eternal service was called - “send to hard labor.”

Students of Russian seminaries, who among their first tormentors saw Latin as a compulsory subject, considered it a completely worthless subject. They began to study it with gnashing of teeth, often not understanding either the meaning of what they read or a reasonable explanation for the expenditure of so much effort. Particularly difficult for the students was the so-called gerund - a certain basis of Latin literacy, completely alien to Russian perception. The abundance of types and nuances of using this monstrous speech form brought poor seminarians to the infirmary.

In retaliation, the slightly distorted pronunciation of the word became a common name for all sorts of meaningless nonsense - “nonsense”

To begin with, a bikini is not a swimsuit; Bikini is an island that is part of the Marshall Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. And it is unknown, due to what whim, the Frenchman Leu Réard wanted his piquant invention to bear just such a name - maybe because the island was small, and the textile creation produced could hardly be called large. However, the fact remains that an unknown engineer, engaged in cutting and sewing in moments of relaxation, suddenly amazed the world with an unprecedented and scandalous masterpiece. The swimsuit, divided into “top” and “bottom,” so stunned the public that a severe ban was immediately imposed on it. Wearing a bikini in a public place was punishable as immoral behavior and disorderly conduct.

However, the original product found its connoisseur - among cinema stars. After just a few appearances on photographs and the big screen, the most famous women of the time, the public commuted the sentence and the bikini quickly began to gain popularity.

Portuguese sailors, apparently, could not even imagine that by unloading boxes of aromatic citrus fruit in European ports, they would endow this part of the land with an entire era of admiration for a foreign delicacy. In the meantime, until the 16th century, Europeans, like the Russian people, had not even heard of the strange fruit. Wonderful Chinese apples - by analogy with the famous fruit, they began to be called that - were quickly appreciated for their taste and became a more noble and aristocratic replacement for ordinary apples.

And the Russians accepted the orange boom from Holland. And they also called them Chinese apples. And so it went, from the Dutch language - “appel” (apple), “sien” (Chinese). Appelsien.

There is an interesting, but unconfirmed version that this word, with an undeservedly distorted meaning, comes from the name of the famous German doctor Christian Loder. Moreover, he was not distinguished by either laziness of character or any other offensive vice, but, on the contrary, he contributed to the opening of the first clinic of synthesized mineral waters in Russia. With a special recommendation to the patients of the hospital, the doctor indicated the need for a quick walk for three hours. Of course, such an innovation could not but cause ridicule among the uninitiated, who contemptuously said that again, around the hospital, people were “chasing lazy people.”

However, there is another version of the origin of this word, and it is more supported by scientists. The fact is that “lodder” translated from German means “scoundrel, worthless person.” So deal with them.

School was not always a place of learning. Moreover, the word “scole” itself, translated from Greek, meant “time spent in idleness.” In the 1st century BC. e. in Greece they built the likes of small arenas, composed entirely of benches arranged in a semicircle. These were places of public cultural recreation, where the Greeks, in the shade of trees, indulged in dreams and made appointments. However, these same tempting islands of peace were very attractive to local luminaries of eloquence, exercising their oratorical abilities in the circle of spectators. There were more and more listeners, but there was no peace at all. This prompted the Greeks to take decisive action to isolate learned men from other people. Thus, educational institutions were created where speakers could strain their skills in front of each other as much as they wanted without disturbing public order. And the scientists at home remained “chipped off.”

Tragedy

Few will be able to relate to the word "tragedy" in the usual sense, having learned that the true meaning of this word is... "goat song." A song dedicated to the animal was sung, in no other way than in a parade procession, accompanied by dancing and all sorts of wit. The intended recipients of the chants, who were supposed to attribute all this confusion to their own account, were none other than the god Dionysius with his minions, the goat-legged Pans (Satyrs). It was in order to glorify their sharpness, daring and cheerful disposition that a long tragodia with many couplets was invented. One cannot help but pay tribute to the fact that the word has undergone many semantic changes before coming to us in the meaning in which we understand it today.

Is it possible to imagine a popsicle as a pie? But the American Christian Nelson called his invention exactly that when, in 1920, the first popsicle saw the light. The history of the invention of the most delicious ice cream in the world began with the suffering written on the face of a little boy who, standing in front of a store window, could not decide what he wanted more - ice cream or chocolate. Nelson wondered whether it was possible to successfully combine both types of product and, as a result of his experiments, the world learned about cold milk ice cream covered with a crust of crispy chocolate. And this masterpiece was called: “Eskimo pie.”

We don't often think about how the words we use originated and how their meanings may have changed over time. Meanwhile, words are quite living beings. New words appear literally every day. Some do not linger in the language, while others remain. Words, like people, have their own history, their own destiny. They may have relatives, a rich pedigree, and, on the contrary, be orphans. A word can tell us about its nationality, its parents, its origin. An interesting science - etymology - studies the history of vocabulary and the origin of words.

Railway station

The word comes from the name of the place "Vauxhall" - a small park and entertainment center near London. The Russian Tsar, who visited this place, fell in love with it - especially the railway. Subsequently, he commissioned British engineers to build a small railway from St. Petersburg to his country residence. One of the stations on this section of the railway was called "Vokzal", and this name later became the Russian word for any railway station.

Hooligan

The word bully is of English origin. According to one version, the surname Houlihan was once borne by a famous London brawler who caused a lot of trouble for city residents and the police. The surname has become a common noun, and the word is international, characterizing a person who grossly violates public order.

Orange

Until the 16th century, Europeans had no idea about oranges at all. Russians - even more so. Oranges don't grow here! And then Portuguese sailors brought these orange delicious balls from China. And they began to trade them with their neighbors. The Dutch word for apple is appel, and the Chinese word for apple is sien. The word appelsien, borrowed from the Dutch language, is a translation of the French phrase Pomme de Chine - “apple from China”.

Doctor

It is known that in the old days they treated with various conspiracies and spells. The ancient healer said something like this to the patient: “Go away, disease, into the quicksand, into the dense forests...” And muttered various words over the sick person. The word doctor is originally Slavic and is derived from the word “vrati”, which means “to speak”, “to talk”. Interestingly, “to lie” comes from the same word, which for our ancestors also meant “to speak.” It turns out that in ancient times doctors lied? Yes, but this word initially did not contain a negative meaning.

Scammer

Ancient Rus' did not know the Turkic word “pocket”, because money was then carried in special wallets - pouches. From the word “moshna” and produced “swindler” - a specialist in thefts from the moshon.

Restaurant

The word "restaurant" means "strengthening" in French. This name was given to one of the Parisian taverns by its visitors in the 18th century after the owner of the establishment, Boulanger, introduced nutritious meat broth into the number of dishes offered.

Shit

The word “shit” comes from the Proto-Slavic “govno”, which means “cow” and was originally associated only with cow “patties”. “Beef” means “cattle”, hence “beef”, “beef”. By the way, from the same Indo-European root is the English name for a cow - cow, as well as for the shepherd of these cows - cowboy. That is, the expression “fucking cowboy” is not accidental, it contains a deep family connection.

Heaven

One version is that the Russian word "heaven" comes from "ne, no" and "besa, demons" - literally a place free of evil/demons. However, another interpretation is probably closer to the truth. Most Slavic languages have words similar to "sky", and they most likely originate from the Latin word for "cloud" (nebula).

Slates

In the Soviet Union, a famous manufacturer of rubber slippers was the Polymer plant in the city of Slantsy, Leningrad region. Many buyers believed that the word “Shales” embossed on the soles was the name of the shoes. Then the word entered the active vocabulary and became a synonym for the word “slippers.”

Nonsense

At the end of the 17th century, French physician Gali Mathieu treated his patients with jokes. He gained such popularity that he did not have time for all the visits and sent his healing puns by mail. This is how the word “nonsense” arose, which at that time meant a healing joke, a pun. The doctor immortalized his name, but nowadays this concept has a completely different meaning.

When we speak our own language, we rarely think about how the words we use originated and how their meanings may have changed over time. Etymology is the name given to the science of the history of vocabulary and the origin of words.

New words appear literally every day. Some do not linger in the language, while others remain. Words, like people, have their own history, their own destiny. They may have relatives, a rich pedigree, and, on the contrary, be orphans. A word can tell us about its nationality, about its parents, about its origin... So, another “portion” of words with a history of origin.

Money

If today, when we say the word “money,” we first of all think of Western currencies, then money in Rus' definitely had eastern roots. This word could have entered the Russian language in two different ways. From Iranian traders and travelers, who then had silver coins called “tenge” (Middle Persian dāng “coin”) in use, or from the Tatar-Mongols, who a little later conquered the territory of present-day Russia for a long time.

Moreover, the source of this root in the Turkic languages, which includes the Mongol-Tatar dialect, could be three different things. Firstly, the supreme heavenly deity of the Turkic-Mongolian pantheon is Tengri. Secondly, the monetary collection from trade transactions is tamga (originally “stamp”, “seal”). By the way, our customs office also came from there. And thirdly, the Turkic coin tängä, the name of which, using a suffix, was formed from the word “tän”, meaning squirrel. In this case, we can draw an analogy with the Old Russian word “kuna” (marten), which was used to call 1/22 hryvnia. This reflects the functioning of furs as money in the early stages of social development.

Young woman

It would seem that everything is very simple: a girl is from a virgin. But if you dig deeper, it turns out that the Proto-Slavic *děva originates in the Proto-Indo-European word *dhē(i̯), which means “to suck, to feed with the help of the breast.” In this, by the way, she is close to children (children), who come from the same root. This is where the Old Russian verb “to reach” comes from - “to breastfeed.”

Boy

It's not so simple with guys either. This word most likely came from the Proto-Slavic *parę - a diminutive nickname from parobъkъ (here you can remember the Ukrainian lad), going back to “rob” (boy).

The original root here is *orbę, which also gave "child" and "slave", which developed from one of the meanings of the word "rob" - "orphan", since, according to some sources, it was originally orphans who did the most difficult housework.

Dinner

Russian words denoting meals have a fairly transparent logic of formation. Breakfast comes from the combination “for the morning,” denoting a period of time - “during the morning.”

Lunch was formed from the ancient prefix *ob- and the root *ed- and meant, in general... “to overeat.” And indeed, according to the rules of normal nutrition in our latitudes, lunch should be the largest meal.

It may seem that dinner is when all the things have ALREADY been done and you can start eating. Dahl hints to us about this in his dictionary, but still the word “dinner” comes from the Old Russian “ug”, that is, “south”. And all because they sat down to dinner when the sun moved from east to south.

Pillow

Scientists have been struggling with this word for several centuries. Dahl suggests that the pillow is something that is placed UNDER THE EAR. Vasmer, Shansky and Chernykh are sure that this is something that is filled with something (down, feathers, cotton wool and even holofiber, damn it). There are also less serious, but more emotional versions of the origin of this word: 1) what they cry into when they need to pour out their SOUL, and 2) what they STUFF with

Fool

They say that fools in their most common meaning today were born thanks to Archpriest Avvakum. So in the 17th century, in his writings, he called rhetoricians, philosophers, logicians and other “champions of demonic wisdom,” comparing them with buffoons.

However, the root from which this word comes was already ready to take on the corresponding meaning. Philologists believe that “fool” came from the Proto-Indo-European *dur (bite, sting) and at first meant “bitten”, “stung”, then transformed into “mad, crazy, sick” (from the bite) and only then turned into “bad, stupid." By the way, the ritual of initiation into buffoons also has something to do with this. According to one version, the candidate for jester had to survive a viper bite before starting his professional activity.

Bee

Who would have thought that a bee and a bull are relatives? And if from a biological point of view they are very far from each other, then philologically they are brother and sister.

The fact is that they come from the same Proto-Slavic root, which denoted a sound of a certain character. Hence, by the way, the outdated word “buchat” (buzz, buzz) and bug. The bee itself in Old Russian was written like this - bee, but after the fall of the reduced ones and the stunning of B before Ch, it acquired its current appearance.

Reports and messages on the Russian language

On topic: ETYMOLOGY

Words, like people, have their own history, their own destiny. They may have relatives, a rich pedigree, and, on the contrary, be orphans. A word can tell us about its nationality, its parents, its origin.

Etymology- a branch of the science of language that studies the origin of words. Etymology also studies all the changes that occur in the life of words. And changes in language occur constantly: new words appear, new meanings for long-familiar words, and sometimes it even happens that a word suddenly changes its sound. For example, the words “bee”, “bull” and “bug”, it turns out, come from the same word “buchat”. Now this word has left the language, forgotten by everyone, but once it was familiar to everyone and was used in the meaning of “buzz”, “buzz”. And today it would not occur to anyone to call a bull, a bee and a bug as relative words, although etymologically this is so.

Some words changed not their sound, but their meaning. For example, today we call a guest a person who came to visit us, but in ancient times this was the name given to a visiting merchant (it was Tsar Saltan who called such guests to him in A. Pushkin’s fairy tale).

Once upon a time the word dashing meant “bad”, “evil”, but today it is used in almost the opposite meaning - “daring”, “brave”.

One more example. Today, the word infection has 2 meanings: it means a curse word, and is also used to mean “the source of an infectious disease.” But at the end of the 18th century, the word infection was used to mean “charm”, “attractiveness”.

In a word, this science is very interesting - etymology! And it often happens that the story of the origin of a word turns out to be more fascinating than another detective story.

You will learn about the origin of some words, as well as stable phrases (they are called phraseological units) in our language by reading the following pages.

Palm

Our ancestors once sounded the word palm completely differently: dolon. And the meaning of the word was this: the side of the hand facing the valley (that is, down, towards the ground). Over time, a rearrangement of sounds occurred in the word dolon, and it began to sound differently: lodon. And then (under the influence of the dominant Akanya in the literary language) the unstressed vowel o in the word turned into a: palm. This is how the modern spelling and pronunciation of this familiar word came about.

However, related words still live in the language in their original form: dolina (lowland), podol (bottom of clothing), Podolsk (city in the lowland of the river).

Umbrella

Everyone knows and understands this word - it would seem that it is the most ordinary. But it also has an interesting story.

It came to us from Holland, having traveled across 2 seas, along with the umbrella itself, which in Dutch is called “zonnedek”, which means “tire” or “cover from the sun”. But the word “zonnedek” turned out to be extremely inconvenient and unusual for our pronunciation. Therefore, they began to remake it in the Russian way: they began to pronounce it according to the model of the words bow and kantik that already existed in the language.

So from the zonnedecks we got an umbrella. The resulting word even began to lead its own independent life. When they want to talk about a large umbrella, they change it again according to the model: bow - bow, edging - edging, umbrella - umbrella. The result was the word umbrella, as you can see, even less similar to the word zonnedek, borrowed from the Dutch.

Carousel

Of course, you have ridden on wooden horses or in carousel boats more than once, but you probably haven’t wondered why, in addition to ordinary seats, there are wooden horses and boats on the carousel? And it was not by chance that the boats and horses got on the carousel.

Several centuries ago, during the Middle Ages, there were magnificent knightly festivals - tournaments. Armed knights, clad in iron, riding on powerful horses, entered into single combat with each other. Often such knightly fights ended in death, but they did not see anything special in this, and did not even consider such an outcome a crime. The French king Henry II once also decided to take part in a knightly tournament and compete with the famous knight Montgomery in strength and dexterity. This tournament took place in 1559, and King Henry II was mortally wounded. Since then, knightly tournaments have been banned. Instead, they began to organize ceremonial races in a circle. Such races were called "carousel" (from the Italian words carola - round dance and sella - saddle), which literally means "round dance in the saddle."

The most brilliant carousels were staged in Paris during the reign of King Louis XIV. Magnificently dressed horsemen with their luxurious ladies rode in front of the royal Tuileries Palace. They divided into parties, came together and left, forming beautiful figures.

During the French Revolution of 1789, carousels were invented that were more accessible to the common people - revolving structures with horses and boats. The carousel has survived in this form to this day.

Pull the gimp

When we do something very slowly, they say about us: “It’s a drag.” This expression comes from the recent past, when in Rus' metal thread was used for embroidery in needlework. It took a lot of work for the craftsmen to pull such a thread from a hot wire. This thread was called "gimp". Embroidering with it was also very difficult, slow and painstaking work. It was then that the expression “pull the gimp” was born. Now no one knows what the gimp looked like, and needlewomen have not embroidered in this way for a long time, but the expression in the language has been preserved.

Easier than steamed turnips

Turnip- the most ancient vegetable in Rus'. Our ancestors loved raw, boiled and steamed turnips. The turnip dish was quick and very easy to prepare. Since then, the expression simpler than steamed turnips has come into being. This is what they say about something that is easy to do.

Register Izhitsa

Izhitsa- the ancient name of the last letter of the ancient Slavic alphabet.

How is this letter connected with the threat of punishment? After all, registering an Izhitsa means “to teach a lesson, to punish”, as well as “to make a reprimand to someone.”

This expression arose in the old school environment, in Bursak everyday life. But the thing is that in the ancient Slavic alphabet there were 3 very insidious letters: fita, yat and izhitsa - they became symbols of the difficulty of writing. These letters were written in several words (or several dozen words), which had to be remembered, memorized, memorized. “Fita makes our stomachs ache,” said students in the old days who were mastering the intricacies of literacy. At that time, Fita was the name given to a school literate person, a nerd who through incredible efforts had mastered complex skills. And about lazy people they said this: “Fita and Izhitsa - the whip is approaching the lazy one.” To register Izhitsa literally meant “to flog with rods for not learning.”

It is curious that in its external image the Izhitsa resembled an inverted whip or a bunch of rods. This is, in all likelihood, where the humorous and ironic prescribing of Izhitsa arose.

Over time, this expression went beyond school jargon and acquired a more general meaning: “to severely punish someone, to teach someone a lesson.” Now it is usually used as an expression of threat and is synonymous with phraseological units: show where crayfish spend the winter; show Kuzka's mother.

There is no truth in my feet

“Sit down, because there is no truth at your feet,” - this is what the Russian people have long said.

There are different versions of the origin of this expression. An expert in the folk language and an interpreter of Russian catchphrases, S. Maksimov connects the phrase truth in feet with the medieval Russian judicial custom, which was called pravezh. Pravezh is not even a trial, but rather a reprisal against the debtor, in which he was beaten on his bare feet and heels or forced to stand in the snow without boots or bast shoes. It was at that time that sayings such as looking for the truth in your feet appeared; the soul has sinned, but the feet are to blame; give time, don't knock me down and some others.

Over time, the truth became a thing of the past, but the memory of it remained in popular speech, in its living use, and the expression in the feet of no truth even became humorous. Indeed, in the old days, a man who came into the house and stood, shifting from foot to foot, did not know where to start, resembled a debtor on the right. That’s when a humorous saying came to the rescue, inviting the guest to sit down and start a leisurely conversation: sit down, there is no truth in your legs, that is, “there is no need to stand on ceremony, let’s sit side by side and talk smoothly.” Many expressions familiar to us are actually associated with ancient and long-forgotten customs, beliefs and rituals.

Cow and loaf

In ancient times, a word for people was not just a designation of objects and concepts - it was a symbol. People were sure that the word had magical powers, that they could prevent evil and summon good luck. Do you want to know why, for example, we don’t call cow meat by the word Korovina? Where did the word beef even come from? And what does the word beef have in common with the word loaf?

In the language of the ancient Indo-Europeans, there was one word to designate any livestock - beef. And the word cow had the meaning of “horned beef.” And in those ancient times, people raised cows not for meat and milk, but for sacrifices to their gods. And only when people began to eat cow's milk, they replaced the real animal in the rituals of sacrifice with a horned figure baked from dough - a cow. It was believed that such a sacrifice should bring happiness and prosperity, so they sentenced like this:

Like on our name days
We baked a loaf!
That's how tall it is!
That's how tall it is!
Loaf, loaf,
Choose whoever you want!

Now it’s hard to believe that the words cow and loaf are somehow connected with each other. But in fact, the word loaf was formed from the word cow.

Mittens, gloves, mittens

It is believed that of all the words listed, the most ancient is mittens. The antiquity of this word is indicated by its distribution in all or almost all Slavic languages - in Polish, Slovak, Czech, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian.

The word mitten is made up of 2 roots: the first root is easy to define - this is hand, the second is known in our verb vit. It turns out that a mitten means “wrapping the hand.” It is interesting that in many Slavic languages there is a word nogavitsa - the name for special clothing on the leg, that is, “wrapping the leg.” In the Slovak language, nogavics are “trousers, trousers,” Poles and Czechs call nogavics “pants legs,” in the Slovenian language, nogavits are “stockings or socks.” And in the monuments of ancient Russian writing, both words are often found - legs and mittens.

But with the word gloves the story is different. At first, the language used the phrase ring or finger mittens (this name can be found in the Smolensk charter of 1229). Over time, the phrase was replaced by the single word gloves, but the old root finger, that is, “finger,” is clearly visible everywhere. Gloves are mittens with fingers (with fingers).

But there is even more than one version regarding the origin of the word mittens. For example, M. Vasmer believed that the word mittens and the word varega, known in Russian dialects, were formed from the combination Varangian mittens. Another version (enshrined in the Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language edited by N. Shansky) says that the words varega and mittens are derived from the Old Russian verbs variti and varovati, used in the meaning of “guard, protect.” But there is also an even simpler explanation for the origin of these words. If we look at the wide range of names of mittens known in regional Russian dialects, then among these names, it turns out, there are many words associated with the processes of processing wool and making mittens. These are the names: faggots, braids, felted mittens, katanki (rolled mittens). This also includes varegs, mittens, formed by the name of the process - to cook (that is, to boil). The fact is that finished knitted wool products were brewed in boiling water to make them stronger and warmer. It turns out that mittens are “boiled mittens.” In Dahl's dictionary the following saying is given: “Need has made the mitten akin to the warga.” What does it mean? It turns out that special names for upper mittens and lower mittens were once widespread in the Russian language. Of course, most often such names are found in the North, the Urals and Siberia - where 2 pairs of mittens are often worn at once. There are such local names: tops, tops, bottoms. And in some areas, mittens are called upper leather or cloth mittens, and vargas, mittens, are lower, knitted ones. Hence, apparently, the expression recorded by Dahl.

Red

In the famous saying, the hut is not red in its corners, but red in its pies; the adjective red means “good, pleasant.” And such outdated expressions as red bird, red beast mean “the best bird” or “the best animal,” that is, “the best and most expensive bird or animal preferred by hunters.” Dahl wrote in his dictionary: “Red game, tall, all types of snipe, also roe deer, swan, capercaillie and others; red game is a bear, wolf, fox, lynx and others.”

In modern Russian, much evidence has been preserved about the ancient meaning of the word red. First of all, this is, of course, a constant epithet in folk poetic speech: the maiden is beautiful, the songs are red. Red here means "beautiful, lovely, pleasant." In N. Nekrasov's poem "Peasant Children" there are lines in which the word red is used in this meaning:

Play, children, grow up in freedom,
That's why you were given a wonderful childhood.

In the ancient names, red gate, red corner, the adjective red means “decorated” and “honorary, ceremonial.” The same meaning is contained in the proper names Krasnoye Selo and Red Square.

The meanings “best, pleasant”, “beautiful, decorated” were the very first meanings of the adjective red.

A completely different word was used to denote color - red. This was the case in Old Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian. And only from the 18th century a new, color meaning of the adjective red appeared in Russian dictionaries. It became its main meaning. The ancient, primary meaning is preserved only in stable expressions and phrases.

In the 19th century, the adjective red acquired another meaning - “revolutionary”. The name Red Banner spread into European languages during the 1848 revolution. Soon the word became firmly established in this meaning in the Russian language.

Now, in modern Russian, the adjective red is not only a very expressive, but also a polysemantic word.

Pigalitsa

What does the word pigalitsa mean? This word has 2 meanings. Pigalitsa is the name given to a small bird, lapwing. But a person of small stature, inconspicuous, is also often called a pigalite. Scientists believe that this is an onomatopoeic word - that is, it arose in the language as an onomatopoeia to the cry of a lapwing. And the lapwing screams like this: pi-gi, ki-gi!

"Reports and messages on the Russian language" V.A. Krutetskaya. Additional materials, useful information, interesting facts. Elementary School.

When we speak a language, we rarely think about how the words we use came to be and how their meanings may have changed over time. Etymology is the name given to the science of the history of vocabulary and the origin of words.

Railway station

Hooligan

The word bully is of English origin. It is believed that the surname Houlihan was once borne by a famous London brawler who caused a lot of trouble for city residents and the police. The surname has become a common noun, and the word is international, characterizing a person who grossly violates public order.

Shit

Orange

Until the 16th century, Europeans had no idea about oranges at all. Russians - even more so. Oranges don't grow here! And then Portuguese sailors brought these tasty orange balls from eastern countries. And they began to trade them with their neighbors. They, of course, asked: “Where do the apples come from?” - because we haven’t heard of oranges, but the shape of this fruit is similar to an apple. The traders answered honestly: “The apples are from China, Chinese!” The Dutch word for apple is appel and the Chinese word is sien.

Doctor

In the old days they treated with incantations, spells, and various whisperings. An ancient doctor or healer would say something like this to the patient: “Go away, disease, into the quicksand, into the dense forests...” And muttered various words over the sick person. Do you know what muttering or chatter was called until the beginning of the 19th century? Muttering and chatter were then called lies. To mumble meant “to lie.” He who trumpets is a trumpeter, who weaves is a weaver, and who lies is a doctor.

Scammer

In Rus', swindlers were not called deceivers or thieves. This was the name of the craftsmen who made the purse, i.e. wallets.

Restaurant

Heaven

Slates

Nonsense

At the end of the last century, the French doctor Gali Mathieu treated his patients with jokes.
He gained such popularity that he did not have time for all the visits and sent his healing puns by mail.
This is how the word “nonsense” arose, which at that time meant a healing joke, a pun.
The doctor immortalized his name, but nowadays this concept has a completely different meaning.