home / Relationship/ Words with interesting etymology. On the origin of some familiar words and expressions

Words with interesting etymology. On the origin of some familiar words and expressions

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 use the word guest to call 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. In front of the royal palace of the Tuileries, magnificently dressed horsemen rode with their luxurious ladies. 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 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,” and also “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 spelling 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, 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 consume 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 it 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 vargs, 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.

What I found on different sites about Russian words. You can go to the sites themselves using the link and read other information - something that seemed uninteresting or controversial to me. In particular, there are practically no religious meanings of the words. The point of view that most words with the particle Ra mean Divine light by the name of the Sun God Ra - paradise, joy, rainbow, beautiful - for all its attractiveness, does not seem proven to me, it is doubtful that we have the same God as in Ancient Egypt....

The word “sorcerer” comes from a corruption of the Russian “kolyadun” - one who sings carols during winter Christmastide (carols), celebrated in Rus' from December 23 to 31.

From School etymological dictionary of the Russian language

ORANGE- ... literally "Chinese apple"

GOD- Indo-European, related to the ancient Indian bhada
"lord", Persian baga "lord, god". Initial value -
"giving, allocating master; share, happiness, wealth." Religious significance is secondary

CHEESECAKE- in ancient Persia, the god Vatra is the guardian of the home
hearth, 23 lunar day is His day and therefore you need to drink more milk,
there is cottage cheese and other dairy products, bake "VATRUSHKI" in which
Roast the nuts well. The indicated etymological connection is not just
coincidence, it also testifies to the cultural kinship of the Slavs and
Persians, and about their origin from the same root. Oral Avestan
legends say that a very long time ago, more than 40 thousand years ago, on
There was a civilization on the continent of Arctida in the Arctic Ocean
Aryans In ancient times this continent was called "Khair" - sometimes it
translated as "bear". As a result of some natural
cataclysm, Arctida sank to the bottom of the ocean simultaneously with
Atlantis, Pacifida and Lemuria. The saved Aryans went to
The northeast of Europe and the Cis-Urals created a state
education - northern Khairat. Some of them moved on, and eventually
why in the Volga region, on a vast territory from the Urals to the Caspian Sea, another
one Khairat, where many thousands of years later lived the prophet Zarathustra (or
Zarathushtra) - Son of the Star. The words "Khair", "aria", "Haraiti"
(apparently, "Hairaiti" is the ancient name of the Ural Mountains) have one
root. As a result of several invasions of nomadic peoples from Asia
Aryans were forced to leave their homes. They passed the Northern and
Eastern Europe (their descendants here are Slavs, Balts, Scandinavians,
Scythians who have already left the historical arena). Some reached Western and
Southern Europe, others moved through Asia Minor to Persia and India.
This was the path of our ancient relatives - the Avestan and Vedic
Aryans There was a mixing of cultures. In India, the Vedas were created by the Aryans,
those. “Knowledge” (cf. verb “to know”); in Persia for several thousand years
later the knowledge of the ancients was restored and recorded in writing
Aryans - Avesta (words with the same root - “news” and “conscience”), i.e.
sacred knowledge of cosmic laws. The language of the ancient Aryans is Sanskrit.
It served as the basis for Indo-European languages, including the language
ancient Parsis

DOCTOR- formed using suf. -ch from lie “to speak”.
Originally - “speaker, magician”.

From the book by V.D. OsipovaRussians in the mirror of their language

True– this is what it really is. Truth comes from “is”, or rather from “ist”, as this word was pronounced in ancient times.

This reminded me of the European verbs “to eat” - is, est, ist.....

Goodbye! It means “forgive me all insults, you will not see me again.” It means that this meeting was the last in this world, and therefore the custom of dying forgiveness and remission of sins comes into effect. The French and Italians in this case say “to God!” (respectively “adye” and “addio”).

Too much from “too”, that is, “with dashing”. Everything that was beyond measure was considered bad, evil, and dashing. From “dashingly” also: “surplus”, “superfluous”.

burn. Literally: “to ascend upward.” In the old days, instead of "up" they said"grief". Hence the “upper room” (the bright room upstairs).

Good. Literally: "pleasing to Horos." Words are formed in a similar way in other languages. In English, "gud" is a good consonant of "year" - god. It’s the same in German: “gut” means good and “goth” means god.

Witch. Literally: “she who knows.” The witch has access to knowledge unknown to others. From the same base “ved” comes the name of the Vedas, the sacred books of the Vedic religion.

Garnish literally means "decoration". The French "garnish" means "to decorate." It is related to the Latin “ornament” and the Ukrainian “garniy” - beautiful. One of the first to use the word “side dish” in its current meaning was N.V. Gogol. In “Dead Souls” we read: “... a side dish, a larger side dish of any kind... And add beets as an asterisk to the sturgeon.”

Month. In ancient times, the change of lunar phases was also used to count time. The Russians also called the moon a month. Having switched to solar chronology, the Slavs did not abandon the usual word “month”, but began to call it 1/12 of the year. In one of his poems M. Yu. Lermontov writes:

The moon changed six times;
The war is long over...

In this “the moon changed” instead of “a month passed” is an echo of the former, lunar calendar inherited by the Muslim world.

I also remember the English Moon Moon and month month

The origin of the word barbarian is very interesting. In Ancient Rus', the Greek letter β (beta) was read as the Russian “V” (ve). Therefore, such Greek names as Barbara are pronounced by us as Varvara, Balthazar - Balthazar. Our Basil is Basileus in ancient Greek, which means “royal.” Rebecca became Rebekah, and Benedict became Benedict. The god of wine Bacchus became Bacchus, Babilon became Babylon, Sebastopolis became Sevastopol, and Byzantium became Byzantium.

The ancient Greeks called all foreigners barbarians. This word was borrowed by the Romans, and its derivative barbaria began to mean: “rudeness,” “uneducation.” The Greek barbaros gave in Russian "barbarian": an ignorant, cruel, brutal person.

In Ancient Greece, medicine was at a very high stage of development. A lot of words created by Greek doctors thousands of years ago still exist in all languages, including Russian. For example, surgery.

For the Greeks, this word simply meant “handicraft”, “craft”, from hir - “hand” and ergon - “to do”. The word chirurgus (surgeon) in Greek meant... "hairdresser"!

Who remembers that in not so distant times, barbers not only shaved and cut their clients’ hair, but also pulled teeth, bled, applied leeches and even performed minor surgical operations, that is, they performed the duties of surgeons. Pushkin wrote in “The Captain’s Daughter”:

“I was treated by the regimental barber, because there was no other doctor in the fortress.”

From the root hir and palmistry: fortune telling along the lines of the palm.

In zoology, the name of one of the lizards is known - hirot, given to it because its paws are similar to human hands.

And anatomy is a Greek word. This means it is a "dissection".

The origin of the word diphtheria is interesting. In Ancient Greece, diphthera simply meant skin, skin taken from a killed animal, film. The skin rotted and became a breeding ground for germs. Then they began to call any sticky disease diphtheria, but this name was retained only for diphtheria, an acute infectious disease that most often affects the tonsils of the pharynx and larynx.

Toxin means poison. This word went through a complex evolution before it received its current meaning.

In ancient Greece, toxicon meant "pertaining to archery." The arrows were smeared with poisonous plant juice, and gradually this juice began to be called a toxin, that is, poison.

When firearms appeared in Greece, they forgot about the antediluvian bows, but the old meaning of the word toxin remained in the language - poison.

After the invention of the microscope, people saw that some microbes looked like rods; for example, the tuberculosis bacillus - "Koch bacillus". Here the Greek name for a staff or stick comes in handy - bacterium.

Interestingly, the Latin word bacillum also means “stick.” It was useful to designate another type of protozoan organism - bacilli.

And here are some more new words: microbe, microscope, micron, microphone and many others - formed from the Greek macro - small. And in Greece this is the name of children.

In their book “One-Story America,” Ilf and Petrov recall a trip to Greece: “We were given a five-year-old boy to guide us. The boy is called “micro” in Greek.” Micro led us, from time to time beckoning with his finger and benevolently parting his thick Algerian lips. .."

We all know the word grocery store. And a person who loves to eat well, a connoisseur of fine food, in Russian speaking - a glutton, is also called a gastronome.

This word is made up of two Greek roots: gaster - stomach and nomos - law. It turns out that a gastronome is a person who knows the “laws of the stomach,” but now we call people to whom the stomach dictates its laws.

The word is relatively new: it is not listed in Russian dictionaries of the late 18th century.

Who knows where the word katorga comes from?

The Greek word katergon meant a large rowing vessel with a triple row of oars. Later, such a vessel began to be called a galley.

In the Old Russian language there were many names for ships: plows, boats, uchans, canoes. The Novgorod charter mentions boats, rafts and katargs. In the "Russian Chronicle" according to Nikon's list we read:

“The boyars took the queen, and noble maidens, and young wives, sending many on ships and boats to the islands” (“The boyars took the queen, and noble maidens, and young wives, sending many on ships and vessels to the islands”).

The work of the rowers on these ships was very hard, hard labor! Then they started putting criminals on these katargs - ships.

A very old word nasty. It is mentioned in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign, Igor Svyatoslavich, Olgov’s grandson”:

“And Poganova Kobyakova from Lukomorye, From the iron, great Polovtsian regiments Like a whirlwind, she was torn away...”

In Latin paganus (paganus) means “villager”, “peasant”; Later they began to call the pagans this way, since the old beliefs persisted for a long time among the peasants.

Tomatoes in French are romme d'or (pom d'or) - golden apple (from the Italian pomi d'oro). But the French themselves call tomatoes tomatoes. This Aztec word came to France from South America. In the 16th century, the Aztecs, the indigenous people Mexico, were exterminated by the Spanish conquerors. That's what an ancient word is - tomatoes!

We don't say tomatoes, but tomato juice is called tomato juice

From the site Living Word

Boyar. The word boyar comes from the merger of two words: bo and ardent, where bo is an indication, and ardent is close in meaning to the word light, fiery. Boyar means he is an ardent husband.

Word marriage in the meaning of marriage and the word marriage in the meaning of flaw are homonyms, that is, words with the same sound, but in no way related to each other in meaning. The word marriage (marriage) comes from the Old Church Slavonic language, in which it meant marriage and is formed from the verb brati (take) using the suffix -k (similar to know-sign). The connection of the word marriage with this verb is confirmed by the expression take in marriage, and there is also a dialect take - get married, Ukrainian got married - got married. By the way, in those days the word brother meant to carry. There is a version that the reverse process took place - from the word marriage, the verb brother came from.

Word marriage in the meaning of flaw comes from the German word brack - lack, defect, which in turn is derived from the verb brechen - to break, break. This borrowing occurred in Peter's times, and since then there have been two different marriages in the Russian language and another reason for a joke.

Den - the lair of Ber, the spirit of the elements, whose symbol is the bear. In English, a bear is still called Bär - bear, and also in German - Bär. From the root ber originate such words as amulet, shore.

Poor- the word comes from the word trouble. The poor is not the one who has little money, but the one who is haunted by troubles.

Antonym of word - word rich- also has nothing to do with money. Rich is the one who carries God within himself.

Know, know- the word is cognate with the Sanskrit veda (usually translated as “to know”) and words with the root vid (usually translated as “see”, “know”. Compare English wit- to know, to know, to find out; witch - witch; witness - witness, literally "saw"). Both words come from the "Proto-Indo-European root" weid.

Year, year- this word, until approximately the 16th century, meant a favorable period of time, and what we now call a year was previously called summer. Hence the words chronicle, chronology. Somewhere from the 16th century, the words year and summer received their modern meaning, but at the same time, the word summer is still sometimes used to refer to the calendar year, for example, in the word chronology. Most likely, the words year and year came from the same root, but later acquired different meanings. From them come such words as pogodi, weather, suitable, acceptable, suitable.

It is noteworthy that in foreign languages the branches descended from the root year retained the meaning of something good, favorable. Compare:

good (English), gut (German), god (Swedish) - good;
God (English), Gott (German) - God.

The words jahr (German), year (English), denoting year, come from the Slavic root yar. The ancient name for spring is yara. It turns out that the Germans and the British count time, literally translated, by springs, as we used to count by summers.

It’s like, for example, “Many Summers” - so what happens: that the year and summer have changed places :))))))

Tomorrow, breakfast. The etymology of the words tomorrow and breakfast is formed in exactly the same way from the preposition for and the word morning. Tomorrow is what will happen in the morning.

Nature- this is what the god Rod created, putting part of himself into his creation. Therefore, the creation of the Rod is inextricably linked with it and is located with the Rod, and this is the essence of nature.

Modest- with edge. Kroma is a wall, barrier, frame, hence the edge. A modest person is a person who limits himself and his behavior, that is, a person with boundaries, with an edge.

Thank you- save +bo. Thank you - God bless you.

From Wikipedia

“Most of the Proto-Slavic vocabulary is original, Indo-European. However, long-term proximity to non-Slavic peoples, of course, left its mark on the vocabulary of the Proto-Slavic language.

In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. the language was influenced by Iranian languages. This is mainly cult and military vocabulary: god, rai, Svarog, Khars, axe, grave, soto, bowl, vatra (“fire”), kour, korda (“sword”), for the sake of.

In the II century. The Slavs encountered the Goths, who were heading from the southern Baltic to the middle reaches of the Dnieper. Most likely, it was then that a significant number of Germanic borrowings entered the Proto-Slavic language (St.Khyzhina, Russian hut (*hūz-) with pra-Germ. hūs; v.-sl. prince, Russian. prince (*kŭnĭng-) from Gothic. kunings; v.-sl. dish\dish, Russian. dish (*bjeud-) from Gothic. biuÞs; v.-sl. shtouzhd, Russian alien (*tjeudj-, etc.) from Gothic. Þiuda (hence the German Deutsch), Old-Sl. sword, Russian sword (*mekis) from Gothic. *mēkeis."

From the Slavs website

The Indo-European name for the bear was lost, which was preserved in Greek - άρκτος, reproduced in the modern term “Arctic”. In the Proto-Slavic language it was replaced by the taboo compound *medvědъ – “honey eater”. This designation is now common Slavic. The Indo-European name for the sacred tree among the Slavs also turned out to be forbidden. The old Indo-European root *perkuos is found in the Latin quercus and in the name of the pagan god Perun. The sacred tree itself in the common Slavic language, and then in the Slavic languages that developed from it, acquired a different form - *dǫb

......Actually, the name Arthur means bear...although there is another option - bear, or Beorn, that is, Ber. Some believe that the name of the capital of Germany, Berlin, came from this word.

And:

Idiot
the Greek word [idiot] did not originally contain even a hint of mental illness. In Ancient Greece it meant “private person,” “separate, isolated person.” It is no secret that the ancient Greeks treated public life very responsibly and called themselves “polites”. Those who avoided participating in politics (for example, did not go to vote) were called “idiotes” (that is, busy only with their own narrow personal interests). Naturally, conscious citizens did not respect “idiots,” and soon this word acquired new disparaging connotations - “limited, undeveloped, ignorant person.” And already among the Romans the Latin idiota means only “ignorant, ignorant,” from which it is two steps away from the meaning “stupid.”

Scoundrel
But this word is Polish in origin and simply means “a simple, humble person.” Thus, the famous play by A. Ostrovsky, “Simplicity is Enough for Every Wise Man,” was performed in Polish theaters under the title “Notes of a Scoundrel.” Accordingly, all non-gentry belonged to the “vile people”.

Rogue
Rogue, rogue - words that came into our speech from Germany. The German schelmen meant "swindler, deceiver." Most often, this was the name given to a fraudster posing as another person. In G. Heine's poem "Shelm von Berger" this role is played by the Bergen executioner, who came to a social masquerade pretending to be a noble person. The Duchess with whom he danced caught the deceiver by tearing off his mask.

Mymra“Mymra” is a Komi-Permyak word and it is translated as “gloomy”. Once in Russian speech, it began to mean, first of all, an unsociable homebody (in Dahl’s dictionary it is written: “mymrit” - sitting at home all the time.”) Gradually, “mymra” began to be called simply an unsociable, boring, gray and gloomy person.

Bastard “Svolochati” is the same thing in Old Russian as “svolochati”. Therefore, bastard was originally called all kinds of garbage that was raked into a heap. This meaning (among others) is also preserved by Dahl: “Bastard is everything that has been dragged or dragged into one place: weeds, grass and roots, rubbish dragged by a harrow from arable land.” Over time, this word began to define ANY crowd gathered in one place. And only then they began to refer to all sorts of despicable people - drunks, thieves, tramps and other asocial elements.

Scoundrel
The fact that this is a person unfit for something is, in general, understandable... But in the 19th century, when conscription was introduced in Russia, this word was not an insult. This was the name given to people unfit for military service. That is, if you haven’t served in the army, that means you’re a scoundrel!

Word dude , despite its widespread use, has not yet received a qualified etymology in the scientific literature. On the contrary, the word dude , attested at the beginning of the century in the thieves' argot in the meaning of "prostitute", was at one time considered by A.P. Barannikov, who analyzed it as a derivative of Tsig. damn"guy", i.e. "thief's girlfriend"

How did the words come about?

The origin of language is no less an interesting mystery than the appearance of Homo sapiens himself. Moreover, what is surprising is not the fact that some simple forms of communication appeared at the level of individual sounds notifying about something, but modern language, or rather languages.

In this article we will look at the main theories of the origin of language.

Theories of the emergence of language

Evolution theory

At first glance, the story of the emergence of the word as a person develops, his communication and social skills looks very plausible. That is why many linguistic researchers defend it. On the other hand, if you look at modern languages and their ancient “ancestors”, it becomes clear that over time the language did not become more complex (which would be logical based on the theory of evolution), but became significantly simpler. And this already suggests that the approach is erroneous. In addition, scientists do not have a single version of what the proto-language looked like - that very first, simple, symbolic one, from which the further development of primary verbal communication skills began.

Derived from the sounds of the animal world

Proponents of this approach believe that as man develops, he becomes more attentive to the world around him. In particular, he began to adopt from animals the sounds with which they communicated with each other. Next, the person gradually improved the set of sounds he had, putting them into words and assigning meanings. However, biologists categorically disagree with this approach - they are convinced that the sounds of the animal world are necessary solely to convey emotions, but not any concepts, judgments, or conclusions. Therefore, the language of fauna representatives could not become the basis for the development of human language.

Theory of divine origin

This theory is based on the biblical vision of the emergence of the world. Having created man in his own image and likeness, God gave people, among other things, the opportunity to communicate with each other through language. This version, although it has a right to exist, is still critically perceived by the scientific world, which is prone to atheism.

Sudden appearance of tongue

This version tends to view language as a skill that a person has always had, but for some reason was discovered by him only after a certain time. However, if we rely on such a view, the following questions remain open: who exactly “downloaded” such a skill into a person; why people began to communicate with each other through language only after many centuries of evolution; why is the language of animals different from the language of humans - why was not a single language initially created for all living beings on Earth?

From the above it follows that the origin of the word remains a mystery to this day. Nevertheless, linguists from different countries are doing everything possible to find out about the origin of words in their own languages (including Russian). But this is a much more feasible task.

Etymology of the Russian word

The Russian language belongs to the Indo-European family, the Slavic group of languages. It contains both native Russian words (formed directly in the language at one or another stage of development) and borrowed words (from Greek, Turkic, Arabic and other languages), which came into the Russian language due to cultural, economic, political contacts of Russian people with other peoples.

In particular, the Russian language was replenished with many foreign words under Peter I thanks to the reforms he carried out, the development of navigation in Russia, and also in the 18th-19th centuries due to close contacts between Russia and France. Another important period of enrichment of the Russian language with new words occurs in the 20th-21st centuries (after the collapse of the USSR as a result of establishing ties with Europe and America).

The science of etymology studies the origin of words. As an example, let's tell you how the words "orange", "doctor" and "nonsense" came about:

Orange. This citrus fruit was brought to Europe from China. The name was borrowed from the Dutch language, in which the fruit was designated as “appelsien” (“appel” - apple and “sien” - Chinese) - that is, “Chinese apple”. Later, the juicy orange fruit appeared in Russia. And in Europe the name changed to “orange”.
Doctor. In the old days, healers who treated people, in addition to various medical devices and drugs, used spells that were cast over the patient in order to ward off illness from him. In the Old Church Slavonic language the word “vrati” was used - “to speak, to speak.” It was from him that the original Russian word “doctor” came.
Nonsense. This word, which today means something meaningless and empty, previously had a different meaning. So, in the 17th century in France, a doctor named Gali Mathieu was well known - he was famous for his wonderful sense of humor. Believing that laughter promotes a speedy recovery, he tried in every possible way to make his patients laugh with witty jokes. Afterwards, he even began sending encouraging, humorous notes to patients directly by mail.

Zakharov Vladimir

The Russian language is the soul of Russia, its shrine. Our destiny is in the words we speak. That is why it is necessary to emphasize the historical processes taking place in it; based on the similarities between the Old Church Slavonic and Russian languages, using material from historical grammar to illustrate linguistic phenomena. The enrichment of the spiritual world of students is facilitated by both a comprehensive analysis of the text, which includes key concepts of Orthodox culture: home, temple, family, duty, honor, love, humility, beauty, and work on the etymology of a single word.

Download:

Preview:

Fascinating etymology or secrets of Russian words

Student's work

GBPOU RO PU No. 36 Zakharov Vladimir

Our orthography, being almost consistently etymological, provides the richest food for this. It forces you to decompose words into their component parts and look for related forms for them Sherba L.V.

Introduction

1.Science etymology

Etymology - (Greek ἐ τ ῠ μολογ ί α "true meaning of the word")

The subject of etymology as a branch of linguistics is the study of the sources and process of formation of the vocabulary of a language andreconstruction vocabulary of the language of the most ancient period (usually preliterate).

Semantics, as a branch of linguistics, answers the question of how a person, knowing the words and grammatical rules of any natural language, is able to convey with their help a wide variety of information about the world (including his own inner world), even if he encounters them for the first time with such a task, and to understand what information about the world contains any statement addressed to him, even if he hears it for the first time.

IN vocabulary Each language has a significant fund of words, the connection of which form with meaning is incomprehensible to native speakers, since the structure of the word cannot be explained on the basis of the word formation models existing in the language. Historical changes in words obscure the original form and meaning of a word, andiconic the nature of the word determines the difficulty of reconstructing the primary motivation, i.e. connection between the primary form and meaning of a word. The purpose of the etymological analysis of a word is to determine when, in what language, in whatword-formation models on the basis of what linguistic material, in what form and with what meaning the word arose, as well as what historical changes in its primary form and meaning determined the form and meaning known to the researcher.

Semantics emerged as an independent linguistic discipline relatively recently, at the end of the 19th century; the term “semantics” itself to denote a branch of science was first introduced in 1883 by the French linguist M. Breal, who was interested in the historical development of linguistic meanings. Until the end of the 1950s, the term “semasiology” was also widely used along with it, now preserved only as a not very common name for one of the branches of semantics. However, questions related to the management of semantics were raised and, one way or another, resolved in the oldest linguistic traditions known to us. After all, one of the main reasons that forces us to pay attention to language is a lack of understanding of what the oral or written statement (text) addressed to us or some part of it means. Therefore, in the study of language, the interpretation of individual signs or entire texts - one of the most important activities in the field of semantics - has long had an important place. Thus, in China, even in ancient times, dictionaries were created that contained interpretations of hieroglyphs. In Europe, ancient and medieval philologists compiled glosses, i.e. interpretation of incomprehensible words in written monuments. The truly rapid development of linguistic semantics began in the 1960s; Currently, it is one of the central sections of the science of language.

In the European scientific tradition, the question of the relationship between words and “things”, the objects to which they referred, was first posed by ancient Greek philosophers, but to this day various aspects of this relationship continue to be clarified. Let us consider the relationship of the word to the “thing” more carefully.

2.Origin of words

Asphalt. I wonder what this Greek word meant before there were paved sidewalks and highways. Let's open the ancient Greek dictionary. First syllable A – denial. Noun sfalma - fall, misfortune, failure. So the underlying meaning is bad. The prefix A turns the word into its opposite, giving it a good quality. Asfaleya means: confidence, reliability, safety. Exactly with that word asphaltos was named in Ancient Greece by the resin of coniferous plants. The name comes from the resin asphalt - tarred road.

Birch. From the word white in ancient times the words “birch”, “linen”, “squirrel” originated. Birch is a tree with white bark; white squirrel - a type of squirrel of a very rare and expensive breed, named after the color of its fur; “linen from white” of the type “junk from old” originally meant undyed white linen, then linen made from this linen, then linen in general.

Nonsense. When the first shipbuilders arrived in Russia under Peter I, they spoke mainly in German, accompanying their words with intense gestures, they explained the structure of the masts, their installation, purpose, while saying hier und da, which in German means here and there . In Russian pronunciation and awareness this has turned into nonsense , which means something obscure and unnecessary.

Shabby dress.Everyday, homely, everyday. After a meal in the last century, cheap fabric was called - after the name of Zatrapeznov, in whose factory it was produced.

Clumsy . In some Russian writers you can find the word clumsy

Okay, neat: “Okay, clumsy words come by themselves” (A. Kuprin). Writers use it from popular vernacular. It comes from the ancient word man - order, beauty.

Hence the sticky and clumsy – handsome, stately; clumsy - awkward, ungraceful.

It is forbidden. What is not – it’s clear, it’s important to establish what it is lzya . It once sounded lz and was the dative case of a noun lie - Liberty. Traces of the word's existence lie we see in our modern benefit, benefit ; it no longer occurs separately.

Education. They believe that this word is a copy of the German - a picture, an image, and the whole word means enlightenment. Word education can be found in Russian church books already in the 17th century, and German influences could hardly have penetrated into them. More likely, a direct connection with Old Church Slavonicto form - to create,compose, from Slavicimage - likeness.

Forgive. The etymology of this word may seem surprising. Old Russian simple, corresponding to our simple, it meant straight, unbent. I'm sorry therefore, it mattered to straighten, and then to allow the guilty person, who had bent in an apologetic bow, to straighten up. The cry of “Forgive me!” therefore meant: “Let me raise my guilty head, get up from my knees...”. To forgive means to liberate, to make free.

Rainbow. Word rainbow recorded in Russian language dictionaries only starting from the 18th century. This word is East Slavic in origin, derived from the adjective glad meaning cheerful. First the word rainbow referred to something cheerful, and later to something shiny, sparkling. Word meaning connection rainbow meaning cheerful is also confirmed by the fact that in some regional dialects rainbow called veselka, veselukha.

River. One of the most archaic, ancient words of our language. It is related to the ancient Indian rayas - stream, current, with the Celtic renos - river, from which the geographical name Rhine arose. Probably in the mists of time river it meant a stormy stream, rapids.

Child. Such a good, sweet word, but in origin it is associated with a disgusting slave . In Old Russian timidly meant little slave, child of a slave. But a slave, or rob, then meant an orphan. Gradually, the robe acquired the meaning of just a child, and it turned into a child under the influence of assimilation.

Day. Once existed days – collision. This is precisely how this word was originally understood, as the meeting of day and night, their totality.

Drawing. This word refers to the number of native Russians. It is an old derivative of the verb draw, which in the Proto-Slavic language had the meaning of cutting, chopping something. That is, initially drawing - this is cutting through, slicing, notching, as well as a forest clearing.

In the familiar sense: “an image of some objects on paper, a plan of something” the word drawing has been used in Russian for a long time. At least since the 16th century.

Conclusion

Etymological analysis allows you to instill interest in the Russian language through entertaining exercises, developing your linguistic sense, expanding your horizons and vocabulary. Mechanical memorization of words and text without understanding and comprehension is the most difficult and uninteresting form of acquiring knowledge.

The formation of coherent speech begins with work on the word; etymological analysis has an impact on spelling literacy.

Over time, everything secret becomes clear, and the origin of Russian words gradually becomes accessible not only to the priesthood, but also to all those who begin to take an interest in their history. The depth and simplicity of the meaning of Russian words is amazing. We are accustomed to our words as something ordinary, natural and have completely stopped noticing the true meaning inherent in them.

Or maybe it’s not hidden at all, it lies on the surface, it’s just as if dust is lying on our consciousness, we don’t see what is obvious, and when suddenly something blows this dust away from our consciousness, then such amazing things are revealed as recently the meaning of the word “ Dinosaur».

This is how various dictionaries interpret this word “ An extinct reptile of the Mesozoic era that reached enormous sizes" Or Ushakov’s dictionary makes an attempt to understand where this word comes from. This is what they propose to believe - (from Greek. den- long ago and saura- lizard (paleon.)). An extinct reptile of enormous size.

Compare with what came to my mind and tell me whose version is more plausible?
Dinosaur– a wonderful saurus – a wonderful beast! And somehow it got by without the Latin alphabet. Why am I sure that my version is correct, because traces of humans and dinosaurs were found long ago in the same archaeological layer, this suggests that our ancestors saw dinosaurs and lived with them side by side. Accordingly, they could well call it that.

Read the origin of Russian words and be amazed

Word	Meaning
Rich	- one in whom there is a lot of God. I used to always be surprised that those who have a lot of money are called “rich” from the word “God”. But there is undoubtedly a connection between God and wealth, in the modern understanding. Those who have a lot of God in them, those who live according to his laws - they really do not need anything. Don't confuse them only with those people who go to church. Going to church and living according to God’s laws are, as they say in Odessa, two big differences”;
Poor	- those in whom there is little God will face trouble, which means they are poor;
Bogatyr	- everyone who listens to Mikhail Zadornov remembers that a hero is someone who pokes fun at God. “To poke” only today carries a negative meaning, previously its meaning was “to carry.”

This is where the words psalter come from - carries psalms, monastery - a place where monks serve.

The prefix “so” generally plays a huge role in the word formation of Russian words. Co is a designation for something together, that’s how it was born

Sun God Ra and the Slavs

With the word "Ar"We figured out that this is the earth, but there is an equally magical syllable - the word " Ra" From school years we were told that in Egypt there was such a sun god, Ra.

It turns out that not only in Egypt. In scientific circles, although with difficulty, it is almost universally recognized that “Ra” means sunlight and the Slavs, no less than the Egyptians, revered the Sun God, or more precisely, the Sun God, that is, the Sun is one of the names of God, who was revered and which the Slavs worshiped.

The word “Ra” permeates Russia in many very important words for us, the meaning of which we do not hear in everyday life. Read now with new knowledge the long-known words:

What about the word Ra do not remember the origin of the word Russia. It turns out that the Volga River, which starts from the Valdai and Central Russian Uplands in the North and descends into the Caspian Sea in the South of Russia, was originally called Ra! A huge river practically divides the entire European part of Russia in half. It is no wonder that the Russians have a huge layer of history associated with this river.

According to information from Wikipedia, the first known name of the Volga sounds like “Ra,” Herodotus wrote about this. The habitat (note, again “ar”), that is, the nearby lands around the river were called Ra-seya, that is, the radiance of light, the radiance of ra, the solar land.
About the fact that "ra" ig ra What plays a huge role in our lives is how many significant words this syllable has, and in all these words the meaning of this syllable is clearly visible - light.
For example,
Faith- believe the light. Rather, even in this context, “ra” means the Almighty, that is, I believe in God. Remember what the bible says “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed and say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you" (Mt 17:20).

Despite the extremely negative attitude of many Slavophiles towards the Bible, I do not hesitate to quote from, because everywhere you can find the reasonable and eternal. And I don’t think it’s constructive to deny everything indiscriminately.
Let's continue

Culture	– a sack is something voluminous where you can put something. If it is “cult” formed, then it is affirmed “t”, we get “cult”. If we have collected it and confirmed it with the primary fire of creation, then we get “culture”. The cult of Ra, the cult of the sun and real culture really bring light to the consciousness of people;
Temple	– storage of light;
Sedition	– mola – rumor to ra, i.e. turning to God, talking with God;
Mantra	- “mana” or “manas” in Sanskrit, mind, consciousness, that is, repetition of the mantra brightens the mind. There is another translation of this word, also associated with Sanskrit origin, where the word “mantra” is divided into “mana” and “tra” - tool, liberation, control. That is, a mantra is a tool with the help of which consciousness and mind are liberated;

Let's remember the lighting devices, surprisingly, there are plenty of " ra»
Chandelier, sconce, ramp, headlight. Whether it's a coincidence or not, it's a fact!

A less obvious light is visible in the words literature, literacy, satire, truth, era, paradise, aura, chakra, Kama Sutra.

Alexey from July 28, 2015 11:15 from July 28, 2015 11:29 Alexey from July 28, 2015 12:48 from July 28, 2015 21:25 Alexey from July 28, 2015 21:37 from July 28, 2015 21:40 Alexey from July 28, 2015 21:50 Dmitry from October 23, 2015 23:52 Valentina from November 7, 2015 23:42 Russian order. from November 8, 2015 00:19 from November 8, 2015 08:29 Nikolay from November 20, 2015 20:50 Andrey from January 15, 2016 15:00 from January 15, 2016 15:02 Andrey from January 15, 2016 18:28 Andrey from January 15, 2016 18:35 Andrey from January 16, 2016 11:58 Woodpecker-Gnawed-Duplo-In-the-Galaxy from October 1, 2016 00:05 from October 1, 2016 07:13 Mikhail from October 24, 2016 13:40 from October 24, 2016 21:46 Putilov from October 25, 2016 07:48 Etymologist from October 27, 2016 18:51 Alexey from October 28, 2016 10:14 from October 28, 2016 22:20 Georgy Novorossiysk from December 8, 2016 15:50 Georgy Novorossiysk from December 8, 2016 15:57 from 8 December 2016 20:41 Dmitry from December 9, 2016 07:44 from December 9, 2016 09:21 Dmitry from December 9, 2016 14:16 Dmitry from December 9, 2016 14:20 Dmitry from December 9, 2016 14:24 Dmitry from December 9, 2016 14 :28 from December 9, 2016 14:43 Georgy Novorossiysk from December 11, 2016 11:50 from December 11, 2016 14:55 Dmitry from December 12, 2016 07:20 Rostislav from December 15, 2016 13:29 rafail from December 28, 2016 16:08 Putilov from December 29, 2016 07:12 from December 29, 2016 09:28 rafail from December 29, 2016 20:16 rafail from December 29, 2016 20:21 rafail from December 29, 2016 20:25 Evgeniy from January 26, 2017 19:49 Ragaved from May 16 2017 01:24 Andrey Vorsov from May 18, 2017 06:29 Pavel from June 2, 2017 10:55 from June 2, 2017 11:32 Mikhail from June 2, 2017 11:43 Alexey from June 2, 2017 18:55