List of obscene expressions. What did Russian swear words originally mean?
Psychologists believe that foul language is an excellent way to relieve stress and restore energy. Some historians consider Russian swearing to be a consequence of the destruction of taboos. In the meantime, while experts are engaged in professional disputes, the people “don’t swear, they speak it.” Today we are talking about the origin of Russian swearing.
There is an opinion that in pre-Tatar Rus' they did not know “strong words”, and when swearing, they compared each other to various domestic animals. However, linguists and philologists do not agree with this statement. Archaeologists claim that the Russian mat was first mentioned in a birch bark document from the beginning of the 12th century. It is true that archaeologists will not make public what exactly was written in that document. Let's try to understand the intricacies of profanity, which is an integral part of the Russian language.
As a rule, when speaking about mat and its origin, linguists and philologists distinguish three main derivative words. These derivatives include the name of the male genital organ, the name of the female genital organ, and the name of what happens under a successful combination of circumstances between the male and female genital organs. Some linguists, in addition to the anatomical and physiological derivatives, add a social derivative, namely, a word that is used to call a woman of easy virtue. Of course, there are other obscene roots, but these four are the most productive and effective among the people.
Delight, surprise, agreement and more
Perhaps the most frequently used word among profanity, the word that is most often written on fences throughout Russia, denotes the male genital organ. Linguists have never agreed on where this word came from. Some experts attribute Old Church Slavonic roots to the word, arguing that in ancient times it meant “to hide” and sounded like “to hove.” And the word “forge” in the imperative mood sounded like “kuy.” Another theory attributes the word to Proto-Indo-European roots. In which the root "hu" meant "shoot".Today it is extremely difficult to talk about the credibility of each of the theories. What can be stated unequivocally is that this word is very ancient, no matter how people with diosyncratic obscene vocabulary would like it. It is also worth noting that “this very word” of three letters is the most productive root that forms new words in the Russian language. This word can express doubt, surprise, indignation, delight, refusal, threat, agreement, despondency, encouragement, etc., etc. The Wikipedia article of the same name alone lists more than seven dozen idioms and words that are derived from this root.
Theft, fighting and death
The word denoting female genital organs in Russian obscene vocabulary is less productive than the word - representative of the stronger sex. Nevertheless, this word has given the Russian language quite a lot of expressions that perfectly reflect the harshness of Russian reality. Thus, words with the same root from this well-known word often mean: lie, mislead, beat, steal, talk incessantly. Set expressions, as a rule, denote a course of events that does not unfold according to plan, an educational process, a fight, a beating, failure, and even a breakdown or death.Some particularly ardent linguists attribute the origin of this word to Sanskrit. However, this theory does not stand up to even the most humane criticism. The most convincing theory, researchers believe, is the origin of Proto-Indo-European languages. There, according to scientists, the words with the same root as the second most popular word in Russian language meant “saddle”, “what they sit on”, “garden” and “nest”. It is also worth noting that this word can have both a strictly negative and positive connotation.
About sexual intercourse and not only about it
The word that today in obscene vocabulary denotes sexual intercourse comes from the Proto-Indo-European language (jebh-/oibh- or *ojebh) and in its pure form means “to perform a sexual act.” In the Russian language, this word has given rise to a huge number of very popular idioms. One of the most popular is the phrase “fuck your mother.” Linguists claim that the ancient Slavs used this expression in the context of “Yes, I am fit to be your father!” Other expressions with this verb are also known today, meaning to mislead, express indifference, or make claims.Devaluation of the mat
To be fair, it is worth noting that many Russian writers were distinguished by their ability to insert a “strong word” into their speech. There was swearing even in some poems. Of course, we are not talking about fairy tales or love lyrics, but about friendly epigrams and satirical works. And it is worth noting that the great Pushkin masters swear words organically and skillfully:Be quiet, godfather; and you, like me, are sinners,
And you will offend everyone with words;
You see a straw in someone else's pussy,
And you don’t even see a log!
(“From the All-Night Vigil...”)
The trouble with the modern Russian language is that today, due to various circumstances, there is a devaluation of obscenities. It is used so widely that the expression of expressions and the very essence of swearing are lost. As a result, this impoverishes the Russian language and, oddly enough, the culture of speech. The words spoken by another famous poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky, are suitable for today’s situation.
In 2013, on March 19, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a bill banning obscene language in the media. Those media outlets that still risk using this or that “strong” word will have to pay a fine of about 200 thousand rubles. It is noteworthy that ardent supporters of this bill were deputies from the United Russia faction, who commented on their actions as a desire to protect the country’s population from the immoral information environment. However, most Russians believe that fighting with swearing is useless. Neither campaigning nor fines will help with this. The main thing is internal culture and education.
RUSSIAN MAT
Every person in Russia, from early childhood, begins to hear words that they call obscene, obscene, obscene. Even if a child grows up in a family where swear words are not used, he still hears it on the street, becomes interested in the meaning of these words, and pretty soon his peers explain the swear words and expressions to him. In Russia, attempts have been made repeatedly to combat the use of obscene words and fines have been introduced for swearing in public places, but to no avail. There is an opinion that swearing in Russia flourishes due to the low cultural level of the population, but I can name many names of highly cultured people of the past and present, who belonged and belong to the most highly intelligent and cultural elite and at the same time - great swearers in everyday life and not They avoid swearing in their works. I do not justify them and do not encourage everyone to use swear words. God forbid! I am categorically against swearing in public places, against the use of obscene words in works of art, and especially on television. However, swearing exists, lives and is not going to die, no matter how much we protest against its use. And there is no need to be hypocrites and close your eyes, we need to study this phenomenon both from the psychological side and from the point of view of linguistics.
I started collecting, studying and interpreting swear words as a student in the sixties. The defense of my Ph.D. thesis took place in such secrecy, as if it were about the latest nuclear research, and immediately after the defense, the dissertation was sent to special library depositories. Later, in the seventies, when I was preparing my doctoral dissertation, I needed to clarify some words, and I was unable to obtain my own dissertation from the Lenin Library without special permission from the authorities. This was the case quite recently, when, as in the famous joke, everyone pretended that they knew diamat, although no one knew it, but everyone knew mate, but they pretended that they did not know it.
Currently, every second writer uses obscene words in his works, we hear swear words from the television screen, but still for several years not a single publishing house to which I offered to publish a scientific explanatory dictionary of swear words decided to publish it. And only abridged and adapted for a wide range of readers, the dictionary saw the light of day.
To illustrate the words in this dictionary, I widely used folklore: obscene jokes, ditties that have long lived among the people, were often used, but were published in recent years, as well as quotes from the works of classics of Russian literature from Alexander Pushkin to Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Many quotes are taken from the poems of Sergei Yesenin, Alexander Galich, Alexander Tvardovsky, Vladimir Vysotsky and other poets. Of course, I could not do without the works of Ivan Barkov, without “Russian Treasured Tales” by A. I. Afanasyev, without folk obscene songs, poems and poems, without modern writers such as Yuz Aleshkovsky and Eduard Limonov. A treasure trove for researchers of Russian swearing is the cycle of hooligan novels by Pyotr Aleshkin, which are almost entirely written in obscene words. I could illustrate this dictionary only with quotations from his works.
The dictionary is intended for a wide range of readers: for those interested in swear words, for literary editors, for translators from Russian, etc.
In this dictionary, I did not indicate in what environment the word functions: whether it refers to criminal slang, youth slang or the slang of sexual minorities, because the boundaries between them are quite fluid. There are no words that are used in one environment. I also indicated only the obscene meaning of the word, leaving other, ordinary meanings outside of it.
And one last thing. You are holding in your hands the explanatory dictionary “Russian swearing”! Remember that it contains only swearing, obscene, obscene words. You won't meet anyone else!
Professor Tatyana Akhmetova.
From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (RU) by the author TSB From the book Winged Words author Maksimov Sergey Vasilievich From the book A Million Dishes for Family Dinners. Best Recipes author Agapova O. Yu. From the book Russian Literature Today. New guide author Chuprinin Sergey Ivanovich From the book Russian Mat [Explanatory Dictionary] author Russian folklore From the book Rock Encyclopedia. Popular music in Leningrad-Petersburg, 1965–2005. Volume 3 author Burlaka Andrey Petrovich From the book Encyclopedia of Dr. Myasnikov about the most important things author Myasnikov Alexander Leonidovich From the author's book From the author's book From the author's book From the author's book From the author's book From the author's bookRUSSIAN HOUSE “A magazine for those who still love Russia.” Published monthly since 1997. Founder - Russian Culture Foundation with the support of the Moscow Patriarchate. Volume - 64 pages with illustrations. Circulation in 1998 - 30,000 copies. Takes a moderate nationalist position;
From the author's bookRUSSIAN MAT Every person in Russia from early childhood begins to hear words that they call obscene, obscene, obscene. Even if a child grows up in a family where they do not use swear words, he still hears it on the street, becomes interested in the meaning of these words and
From the author's book From the author's book7.8. Russian character Once a writer from Russia came to New York and participated in one of the many programs on local television. Of course, the presenter asked him about the mysterious Russian soul and Russian character. The writer illustrated this as follows:
Russian obscenities is a system of words that have a negative connotation (curses, name-calling) that are not accepted by the norms of public morality. In other words, swearing is profanity. Where did Russian swearing come from?
Origin of the word "checkmate"
There is a version that the word “checkmate” itself has the meaning of “voice”. But a larger number of researchers are confident that “mat” comes from “mother” and is an abbreviated expression for “swearing,” “sending to mother.”
Origin of Russian swearing
Where did swearing come from in the Russian language?
- Firstly, some of the swear words were borrowed from other languages (for example, Latin). There were versions that swearing also came into the Russian language from Tatar (during the Mongol-Tatar invasion). But these assumptions were refuted.
- Secondly, most swear words and curses came from the Proto-Indo-European language, as well as Old Slavic. Thus, swearing in the Russian language is still “one’s own”, from the ancestors.
There are also certain versions of the origin of where swear words came from in the Russian language. Here are some of them:
- Connected to the earth.
- Related to parents.
- Associated with the subsidence of the earth, earthquakes.
There is an opinion that the pagan Slavs used many swear words in their rites and rituals to protect themselves from evil forces. This point of view is quite viable. The pagans also used swearing in wedding and agricultural rites. But their swearing did not have any great meaning, especially abusive language.
Lexical composition of Russian swearing
Researchers have noticed that the number of swear words is high. But, if you are more careful, you will notice: the root of the words is often common, only the ending changes or prefixes and suffixes are added. Most words in Russian obscenities are in one way or another connected with the sexual sphere, genitals. It is important that these words have no neutral analogues in the literature. More often they are simply replaced with words with the same meaning, but in Latin. The uniqueness of Russian swearing is its richness and diversity. This can be said about the Russian language in general.
Russian swearing in a historical aspect
Since Christianity was adopted in Rus', decrees have appeared regulating the use of swear words. This, of course, was an initiative on the part of the church. In general, in Christianity, swearing is a sin. But the curse managed to penetrate so deeply into all segments of the population that the measures taken were completely ineffective.
Twelfth-century charters contain swear words in the form of rhymes. Swearing was used in various notes, ditties, and letters. Of course, many words that have now become obscene previously had a softer meaning. According to fifteenth-century sources, there were a large number of swear words, which were even used to call rivers and villages.
After a couple of centuries, swearing became very widespread. Mat finally became “obscene” in the eighteenth century. This is due to the fact that during this period there was a separation of the literary language from the spoken language. In the Soviet Union, the fight against swearing was carried out very stubbornly. This was expressed in penalties for foul language in public places. However, this was rarely carried out in practice.
Today in Russia they are also fighting against swearing, especially on television and in the media.
Sidorov G.A. about the origin of Russian swearing.
Origin of Russian swearing. Magazine Life is Interesting.
Hello comrades. You know, I noticed long ago that if you use swear words correctly, your speech is transformed. It becomes elegant and interesting. And most importantly, what strong emotions can be conveyed with just one Russian swear word. A unique thing - Russian swearing.
But, unfortunately, most people do not know how to use it. Sculpts it through every word. What do I suggest? I suggest you get acquainted with the works of many classics who used absurd verbs in their works.
You have heard and read many of them. Personally, I enjoyed re-reading it and rediscovering something for myself.
Perhaps I’m not the only one who will be interested.
Yesenin S. A. - “Don’t strain, dear, and don’t gasp”
Don’t grieve, dear, and don’t gasp,
Hold life like a horse by the bridle,
Tell everyone and everyone to go to hell
So that they don't send you to pussy!
Yesenin S. A. - “The wind blows from the south and the moon has risen”
The wind blows from the south
And the moon rose
What are you doing, whore?
Didn't come at night?
You didn't come at night
Didn't show up during the day.
Do you think we're jerking off?
No! We eat others!
Yesenin S. A. “Sing, sing. On the damn guitar"
Sing, sing. On the damn guitar
Your fingers dance in a semicircle.
I would choke in this frenzy,
My last, only friend.
Don't look at her wrists
And silk flowing from her shoulders.
I was looking for happiness in this woman,
And I accidentally found death.
I didn't know that love is an infection
I didn't know that love was a plague.
Came up with a narrowed eye
The bully was driven crazy.
Sing, my friend. Remind me again
Our former violent early.
Let her kiss each other,
Young, beautiful trash.
Oh, wait. I don't scold her.
Oh, wait. I don't curse her.
Let me play about myself
To this bass string.
The pink dome of my days is flowing.
In the heart of dreams there are golden sums.
I touched a lot of girls
He pressed a lot of women in the corner.
Yes! there is a bitter truth of the earth,
I spied with a childish eye:
Males lick in line
Bitch leaking juice.
So why should I be jealous of her?
So why should I be sick like that?
Our life is a sheet and a bed.
Our life is a kiss and a whirlwind.
Sing, sing! On a fatal scale
These hands are a fatal disaster.
Just you know, fuck them...
I will never die, my friend.
Yesenin S. A. - “Rash, harmonica. Boredom... Boredom"
Rash, harmonica. Boredom... Boredom...
The accordionist's fingers flow like a wave.
Drink with me, you lousy bitch
Drink with me.
They loved you, they abused you -
Unbearable.
Why are you looking at those blue splashes like that?
Or do you want a punch in the face?
I'd like to have you stuffed in the garden,
Scare the crows.
Tormented me to the bone
From all sides.
Rash, harmonica. Rash, my frequent one.
Drink, otter, drink.
I’d rather have that busty one over there -
She's dumber.
I'm not the first among women...
Quite a few of you
But with someone like you, with a bitch
Only for the first time.
The freer, the louder,
Here and there.
I won't commit suicide
Go to hell.
To your pack of dogs
It's time to catch a cold.
Darling, I'm crying
Sorry Sorry...
Mayakovsky V.V. - “To you”
To you, who live behind the orgy orgy,
having a bathroom and a warm closet!
Shame on you about those presented to George
read from newspaper columns?
Do you know, many mediocre,
those who think it’s better to get drunk how -
maybe now the leg bomb
tore Petrov's lieutenant away?..
If he is brought to slaughter,
suddenly I saw, wounded,
how you have a lip smeared in a cutlet
lustfully humming the Northerner!
Is it for you, who love women and dishes,
give your life for pleasure?!
I'd rather be at the bar whores
serve pineapple water!
(Something reminds me of the plot of the poem. For example, the modern world and its foundations)
Mayakovsky V.V. “Do you like roses? And I shit on them"
Do you love roses?
and I shit on them!
the country needs steam locomotives,
we need metal!
comrade!
don't groan,
don't gasp!
don't pull the reins!
since I fulfilled the plan,
send everyone
in the pussy
did not fulfill -
myself
go
on
dick.
(currently relevant today)
Mayakovsky V.V. - “Hymn of Onanists”
We,
onanists,
Guys
broadshoulders!
Us
you can't lure
meaty tit!
Not
seduce us
cunt
spit!
Cumshot
right,
work left!!!
(Yes, this is the anthem of the pikabushniki XD, sorry guys, this is Winrar :))
Mayakovsky V.V. - “Who are the whores”
Not those
whores
what bread
for the sake of
front
and behind
give us
fuck,
God forgive them!
And those whores -
lying,
money
sucking,
eat
not giving -
whores
existing,
their mother!
Mayakovsky V.V. - “I’m lying on someone else’s wife”
Lie
to someone else's
wife,
ceiling
sticks
fuck you,
but we don't complain -
making communists
out of spite
bourgeois
Europe!
Let the dick
my
like a mast
puffs up!
I don't care,
who is under me -
minister's wife
or the cleaning lady!
Mayakovsky V.V. - “Hey, onanists”
Hey onanists,
shout "Hurray!" -
fucking machines
established,
at your service
any hole
right up to
to the keyhole
wells!!!
Lermontov M. Yu. - “To Tizenhausen”
Don't drive your eyes so languidly,
Don't twirl your round ass,
Voluptuousness and vice
Don't joke waywardly.
Don't go to someone else's bed
And don’t let me near yours,
Not jokingly, not really
Don't shake gentle hands.
Know, our lovely Chukhonian,
Youth doesn't shine for long!
Know: when the hand of God
Will break out over you
Everyone you are today
You look at your feet with prayer,
Sweet moisture of a kiss
They won't take away your sadness,
At least by the tip of the dick then
You would give your life.
Lermontov M. Yu. - “Oh, how sweet your goddess”
Impromptu
Oh how sweet your goddess is.
The Frenchman is trailing after her,
She has a face like a melon
But the ass is like a watermelon.
Goethe Johann - “What a Stork Can Do”
Found a place for a nest
Our stork!.. This bird is
Thunderstorm of frogs from the pond -
It nests in the belfry!
They chatter there all day long,
The people are literally groaning, -
But no one - neither old nor young -
He won't touch his nest!
You may ask why such an honor
Did the bird win? -
She's a bastard! - shit on the church!
A commendable habit!
Nekrasov N. A. - “Finally from Koenigsberg”
Finally from Konigsberg
I got closer to the country
Where they don't like Gutenberg
And they find a taste in shit.
I drank Russian infusion,
I heard "motherfucking"
And they went before me
Write Russian faces.
Pushkin A. S. - “Anne Wulf”
Alas! in vain to the proud maiden
I offered my love!
Neither our life nor our blood
Her soul will not be touched by the solid.
I'll just be full of tears,
Even if sadness breaks my heart.
She's pissed enough for a sliver,
But he won’t let you smell it either.
Pushkin A. S. - “I wanted to refresh my soul”
I wanted to refresh my soul,
Live a seasoned life
In sweet oblivion near friends
Of my past youth.
____
I was traveling to distant lands;
It was not noisy whores that I craved,
I was not looking for gold, not for honor,
In the dust among spears and swords.
Pushkin A. S. - “Once a violinist came to the castrato”
Once a violinist came to the castrato,
He was a poor man, and he was a rich man.
“Look,” said the foolish singer,
My diamonds, emeralds -
I sorted them out of boredom.
A! By the way, brother,” he continued, “
When you're bored,
What are you doing, please tell me.”
The poor guy responded indifferently:
- I? I scratch my mude.
Pushkin A. S. - “The Cart of Life”
In the morning we get into the cart,
We're happy to break our heads
And, despising laziness and bliss,
We shout: let's go! Her mother!
_________________________
Be quiet, godfather; and you, like me, are sinners,
And you will offend everyone with words;
You see a straw in someone else's pussy,
And you don’t even see a log!
(“From the All-Night Vigil...”)
________________________
And finally.
“I live in Paris like a dandy,
I have up to a hundred women.
My dick is like a plot in a legend,
It goes from mouth to mouth.”
V.V. Mayakovsky
Everyone knows what Russian swearing is. Someone will be able to reproduce the Cossack swear word by heart, while others will have to turn to the famous “Dictionary of Russian Swearing” by Alexei Plutser-Sarno to clarify the meaning. However, for many, the history of the emergence of Russian swearing remains a mystery behind seven seals. How swearing is connected to Indo-European mythology, who is meant by “mother” in the swear language and why only men used to communicate in it - in the T&P material.
“The mythological aspect of Russian expressive phraseology”
B.A. Uspensky
Works by B.A. Uspensky, shedding light on the origin of Russian swearing, have become classic. Exploring this topic, Uspensky mentions its extreme taboo nature, in connection with which in the literary tradition only “Church Slavonicisms such as copulate, penis, reproductive organ, aphedron, seat” can be considered permissible. Unlike many Western European languages, other “folk” obscene vocabulary in the Russian language is actually taboo. That is why swear words were removed from Dahl’s dictionary, the Russian edition of Vasmer’s “Etymological Dictionary”, and Afanasyev’s fairy tales; even in academic collections of Pushkin’s works, obscene expressions in works of art and letters are replaced with ellipses; “Barkov’s Shadow”, known for its abundance of swear words (for example: Already the night with the *** [lustful] moon / Already the *** [fallen woman] was in the downy bed / Falling asleep with the monk) was not published at all in many collections essays. Such a taboo of swearing, affecting even professional philologists, is connected, according to Uspensky, with “the chastity of censors or editors,” and Dostoevsky even speaks of the chastity of the entire Russian people, justifying the abundance of swear words in the Russian language by the fact that, in essence, they are not always mean something bad.
Images of peasants from the 12th–14th centuries: a peasant at work; resting peasant; games
Indeed, swearing can serve as a friendly greeting, approval, and expression of love. If it is so polysemantic, then the question arises: where did swearing come from, what are its historical roots? Uspensky's theory suggests that swearing once had cult functions. To prove this, we can cite examples of swear words and expressions from Russian pagan wedding or agricultural rituals, in which swearing could be associated with fertility cults. It is interesting that the Russian philologist Boris Bogaevsky compares Russian swearing with the Greek foul language of farmers. The Christian tradition prohibits swearing in rituals and everyday life, citing the fact that “shameful barking” defiles the soul, and that “Hellenic...words” [verbib] is a demonic game. The ban on Russian “shamoslovya,” that is, obscene language, was directly related to the struggle of Orthodoxy against the pagan cults in which it was used. The meaning of the ban becomes especially clear in view of the fact that swearing “in some cases turns out to be functionally equivalent to prayer.” In pagan thinking, it was possible to find a treasure, get rid of illness or the machinations of the brownie and goblin with the help of swearing. Therefore, in Slavic dual faith one could often find two parallel options: either read a prayer in front of the attacking devil, or swear at him. Finding the roots of Russian swearing in pagan ritual spells and curses, Uspensky connects the so-called main formula of Russian swearing (“*** your mother”) with the archaic cult of the earth.
Only one person will be elected once a day in obscenity, -
The mother of cheese the earth will shake,
The Most Holy Theotokos will be removed from the throne
In connection with the dual-faith Slavic ideas about the “three mothers” - the earth mother, the Mother of God and the native - swearing, aimed at insulting the addressee’s mother, simultaneously conjures sacred mothers, desecrating the maternal principle itself. In this one can find echoes of pagan metaphors about the pregnancy of the earth and copulation with it; at the same time, this can explain the belief that the earth opens up under a swearing word or that swearing can disturb the ancestors (lying in the ground).
Having clarified the object of the obscene formula, Uspensky moves on to the subject: analyzing the forms of the expression “*** your mother,” he comes to the conclusion that previously the phrase was not impersonal. The desecration was carried out by a dog, as evidenced by older and more complete references to the swear formula: for example, “So that the dog takes your mother.” The dog has been the subject of action in this formula since at least the 15th century in many Slavic languages; Thus, “dog barking,” as swearing was called from ancient times, is associated with the mythology of the dog, “given by the dog.” The uncleanness of a dog is an ancient category that predates Slavic mythology, but is also reflected in later Christian ideas (for example, in the stories about the Pseglavians or the transfiguration of the Cynocephalus Christopher). The dog was compared to a Gentile, since both have no soul, both behave inappropriately; It was for the same reason that confessors were not allowed to keep dogs. From an etymological point of view, the dog is also unclean - Uspensky connects the lexeme “dog” with other words of Indo-European languages, including the Russian word “***” [female genital organ].
Thus, Uspensky suggests that the images of the desecrating dog and the earth mother in the phrase “f***ing dog” go back to the mythological marriage of the thunderer and the earth mother. The sacred marriage, during which the earth is fertilized, is desecrated in this formula by the travesty replacement of the Thunderer with a dog, his mythological rival. Therefore, an obscene phrase becomes a blasphemous spell, desecrating the divine cosmogony. In a later folk tradition, this myth is reduced, and the earth mother becomes the mother of the interlocutor, and the mythological dog becomes an ordinary dog, and then the phrase is completely depersonalized (the verb “***” [to engage in sexual relations] can correspond to any singular person) .
At a deep (initial) level, the obscene expression is apparently correlated with the myth of the sacred marriage of heaven and earth - a marriage that results in the fertilization of the earth. At this level, the god of the sky, or the thunderer, should be understood as the subject of action in obscene terms, and mother earth as the object. This explains the connection between swearing and the idea of fertilization, which manifests itself in particular in ritual wedding and agrarian foul language.
“About swearing, emotions and facts”
A.A. Belyakov
A.A. Belyakov, referring to the legends of Russian folklore, traces the origin of swearing to the myth of the “Slavic Oedipus”: once a man killed his father and desecrated his mother. Then he gave the “obscene formula” to his descendants - in order to use it to bring curses of the ancestors on opponents or to call on the ancestors for help. Belyakov agrees that the deeper roots of this legend are in early pagan cults associated with the veneration of “the mother of damp earth and the idea of fertilization.”
“Obscene joke as a modeling system”
I.G. Yakovenko
I.G. Yakovenko, in his article on swearing, notes that traditional culture, patriarchal in nature, tends to profane the role of women. It is this motive that we see in obscene formulas - they are almost always associated with crude images of violence against women. Yakovenko contrasts the “sign of the highest danger” (“…” [female genital organ], the feminine principle) with the male phallus, the “protector sign,” citing as an example many obscene expressions. As it turns out, there are much fewer women’s obscene formulas than men’s; Moreover, the female paradigm is tinged with something wretched, false, related to misfortune, theft, lies (“..." [end], "..." [steal], "..." [liar]), while the male The swearing paradigm refers to taboo or danger. The harmful nature of a woman, perceived through the female symbol, the vagina, is emphasized in numerous proverbs and sayings, fairy tales and legends: we can recall those cited by V.Ya. Proppom's idea of a "toothy vulva" with which the male hero had to fight.
Russian swearing is a form of existence of pagan consciousness in a monotheistic culture
Subsequently, the tradition of speaking obscene language passed from pagan cults into Russian buffoonery, which the state actively fought against starting from the 17th century. From the almost extinct buffoons, however, the tradition passed on to lubok, tavern songs, parsley theater, to fair barkers and so on. The taboo vocabulary of the patriarchal and pagan period of Russian culture continued to live in slightly different forms.
“Russian swearing as a male obscene code: the problem of origin and evolution of status”
V.Yu. Mikhailin
In the work of V.Yu. Mikhailina’s tradition of linking the genesis of Russian swearing to fertility cults is disputed; Despite the fact that Mikhailin largely agrees with Uspensky, he offers a significant refinement of his theory and examines the history of swearing from pagan cults to modern hazing. The connection between the theory of the “main myth” of Toporov and Ivanov with the mythological enemy of the Thunderer, the dog, does not suit him: “I will allow myself one single question. For what reason is the eternal opponent of the Thunderer, whose traditional iconography presupposes, first of all, not canine, but serpentine hypostases, in this context, takes the form of a dog, and takes it invariably and formulaically?”
Fertile land, according to the author, could not be associated with the masculine principle in the archaic: it is a purely female territory. On the contrary, the purely male territory was considered to be that which had to do with hunting and war, a marginal space in which a good husband and family man is ready to shed blood and rob, and a decent young man, who does not dare to look up at the neighbor’s girl, rapes the enemy’s daughters.
Mikhailin suggests that in such territories, swearing was once associated with the magical practices of male military alliances identifying themselves with “dogs.” That is why swearing was also called “dog barking”: symbolically, warriors were the embodiment of wolves or dogs. This can also explain the fact that until recently, swearing was predominantly a male language code.
In Indo-European culture, every man underwent initiation, one way or another accompanied by a period that can be designated as the “dog” stage. The “dog” warrior, living outside the home zone, in marginal territory, exists outside the culture of the hearth and agriculture. He is not full-fledged, not mature, has “combat rage”, part of which can be called the use of unacceptable swear words at home. “Wolves” and “dogs” have no place on human territory, for which their mere presence can be fraught with desecration: the corresponding norms and forms of behavior are strictly taboo, and their carriers, without undergoing purification rites and thereby turning from “wolves” back into people do not have basic civil rights. They, by definition, are carriers of the chthonic principle, they are magically dead and as such simply “do not exist.”
Thus, the formula “*** your mother” in male “dog” unions was a spell that magically destroyed the opponent. Such a spell symbolically compared the opponent to the son of a chthonic being, identified his mother with a bitch, and brought him into extremely marginal, non-human territory where such coitus could occur. Consequently, all swear words imply dog genitals and animal coitus, which has nothing in common with human coitus, occurring in the home space and framed by ritual tradition and other signs of culture.
Subsequently, the purely male nature of swearing in Russia is transferred to a more general context. Since the revolutionary events of 1917, the language paradigm has undergone great changes. Swearing, along with Newspeak, becomes one of the means of communication of the patriarchal (albeit outwardly anti-sexist) elite. The Soviet camps also played a role, as did the increased interest in the exploitation of women’s labor, including in army structures, where swearing directly inherited the communication function of archaic male unions. Therefore, soon the taboo of swearing in a female or mixed environment ceased to be strong, and then became a thing of the past. The male obscene code has become universal.
