Speaking in tongues. Lies like a gray gelding

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1. Why were the West afraid of Khrushchev’s “Kuzka’s mother”?
Famous phrase Khrushchev “I’ll show you Kuzka’s mother!” at the UN Assembly it was translated literally - “Kuzma’s mother”. The meaning of the phrase was completely incomprehensible and this made the threat take on a completely ominous character. Subsequently, the expression “Kuzka’s mother” was also used to refer to atomic bombs THE USSR.

2. Where did the expression “after the rain on Thursday” come from?
The expression “after the rain on Thursday” arose from distrust of Perun, the Slavic god of thunder and lightning, whose day was Thursday. Prayers to him often did not achieve their goal, so they began to talk about the impossible, that this would happen after the rain on Thursday.

3. Who first said: “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword”?
The expression “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword” does not belong to Alexander Nevsky. Its author is the screenwriter of the film of the same name, Pavlenko, who remade the phrase from the Gospel “Those who take the sword will die by the sword.”

4. Where did the expression “the game is not worth the candle” come from?
The expression “the game is not worth the candle” came from the speech of gamblers, who spoke this way about a very small win that does not pay for the cost of the candles that burned out during the game.

5. Where did the expression “Moscow doesn’t believe in tears” come from?
During the rise of the Moscow principality, large tribute was collected from other cities. Cities sent petitioners to Moscow with complaints of injustice. The king sometimes severely punished complainants to intimidate others. This is where, according to one version, the expression “Moscow does not believe in tears” came from.

6. Where did the expression “things smell like kerosene” come from?
Koltsov’s 1924 feuilleton talked about a major scam uncovered during the transfer of an oil concession in California. The most senior US officials were involved in the scam. It was here that the expression “things smell like kerosene” was used for the first time.

7. Where did the expression “there is nothing behind the soul” come from?
In the old days, it was believed that the human soul was located in the depression between the collarbones, the dimple in the neck. It was customary to keep money in the same place on the chest. Therefore, they say about a poor person that he “has nothing in his soul.”

8. Where did the expression “knuckle down” come from?
In the old days, chocks cut off from logs - blanks for wooden utensils - were called baklushi. Their manufacture was considered easy, requiring no effort or skill. Nowadays we use the expression “knuckle down” to mean idleness.

9. Where did the expression “by washing, by rolling” come from?
In old times village women After washing, they “rolled” the laundry using a special rolling pin. Well-rolled laundry turned out to be wrung out, ironed and clean, even if the wash was not of very high quality. Today, to denote achieving a goal by any means, the expression “by scraping, by skiing” is used.

10. Where did the expression “it’s in the bag” come from?
In the old days, messengers delivering mail sewed very important papers, or “deeds,” into the lining of their caps or hats so as not to attract the attention of robbers. This is where the expression “it’s in the bag” comes from.

11. Where did the expression “let's go back to our sheep” come from?
In medieval French comedy A rich clothier sues a shepherd who stole his sheep. During the meeting, the clothier forgets about the shepherd and showers reproaches on his lawyer, who did not pay him for six cubits of cloth. The judge interrupts the speech with the words: “Let's return to our sheep,” which have become winged.

12. Where does the expression “do your bit” come from?
IN Ancient Greece There was a small leta coin. In the Gospel parable, a poor widow donates her last two mites for the construction of the temple. The expression “do your bit” comes from the parable.

13. Where did the expression “Kolomenskaya mile” come from?
In the 17th century, by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the distances between Moscow and the royal summer residence in the village of Kolomenskoye were re-measured and very high milestones were installed. Since then, tall and thin people have been called “Verst Kolomenskaya”.

14. Where did the expression “chase a long ruble” come from?
In the 13th century, the currency and weight unit in Rus' was the hryvnia, divided into 4 parts (“ruble”). The especially weighty remainder of the ingot was called the “long ruble.” Associated with these words is an expression about big and easy earnings - “chasing a long ruble.”

15. Where did the expression “newspaper duck” come from?
“One scientist, having bought 20 ducks, immediately ordered one of them to be cut into small pieces, which he fed to the rest of the birds. A few minutes later he did the same with another duck, and so on, until one remained, which thus devoured 19 of its friends.” This note was published in the newspaper by the Belgian humorist Cornelissen to mock the gullibility of the public. Since then, according to one version, false news has been called “newspaper ducks.”

A question was sent to our website: Is it possible to use the words ap. Paul “I thank my God: I speak in tongues more than you all, but in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue” (Acts 14:18-19) should be understood as an indication of the need translation of divine services from Church Slavonic into Russian? In response to this question may be this article.

To understand the thought of the ap. Paul, it is necessary to consider this expression in a broader context. What does “speaking in tongues” mean? This is an indication that the apostle had the “gift of tongues.” "The gift of tongues", or glossolalia, one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (charismata), i.e. special manifestations of the power of the Holy Spirit that distinguished the Apostolic Church, which were sent down to the first Christians to strengthen faith, for the creation of the Church, for the rebirth of man and humanity. Chapters 12-14 of I Corinthians are the most important source of our knowledge about these gifts, they contain the most complete teaching about the holy gifts. The question of what glossolalia was is the most difficult to interpret. Here is what priest Mikhail of Fiveysky writes about this, who devoted a thorough study to this problem: “This question has not yet been resolved, and it seems that it will not be resolved satisfactorily, unless new documents are discovered that shed light on this item". A researcher closer to us in time, Edelshtein Yu. M., comes to the conclusion that "glossolalia did not exist in the official Church for long, there was no theoretical justification we don’t know it, senseless ecstatic “linguism” was not very approved already in early epistolography, later it was widely used by Gnostics and Montanists, evolved towards orgiasm and magic, essentially merged with pagan mantle, therefore church writers (Eusebius Pamphilus and Jerome of Stridon ) began to interpret glossolalia as possession by an evil spirit."

But in reality, in the literature, there are two approaches to explaining the essence of glossolalia: 1) it is understood as speaking in unknown languages, i.e. speaking a language that a person has not studied, 2) ecstatic states in very different manifestations.

What do we know about this gift from Holy Scripture? The apostles themselves receive the gift of “tongues” on the day of Pentecost after the descent of the Holy Spirit on them (Acts 2:3-11); John's disciples begin to speak in other tongues and prophesy in Ephesus after baptism and the laying on of hands by the Apostle Paul (Acts 19:6); in Caesarea, the Holy Spirit descended on the pagans listening to the preaching of the Apostle Paul, and they began to “speak in tongues” (Acts 10:46). I Corinthians is evidence that the gift of speaking in “other tongues” was widespread among the Christian community of Corinth. But in the writings of the apostolic men - St. Barnabas, St. Clement, St. Ignatius the God-Bearer, contemporaries of the apostles, i.e. in the era of the spread of this gift among the first Christians, there was no mention of glossolalia, no explanation of what it was. Explanations and interpretations appear in the era of the Church Fathers (perhaps the first interpreter was Irenaeus of Lyon (202), when this gift ceases to operate among Christians and takes the form of ecstatic, meaningless language among the Gnostics and Montanists," which Edelstein wrote about. John Chrysostom (347-407) said that this entire area is characterized by great ambiguity, which stems from the fact that we do not know the very facts that the apostle speaks about, and what happened in the apostolic time is no longer repeated. The works of the Fathers of the Church: Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom (Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul), Gregory the Theologian (Homily 41 on Pentecost) formulate the first look at the essence of glossolalia, i.e. understanding it as speaking in unknown tongues, but, what is even more significant, a semantic connection is drawn between Pentecost and the Babylonian pandemonium.

The Bible teaches that at first there was one language on earth, given by God Adam even before the Fall (Gen. 2:19-20). After the Babylonian pandemonium (Gen. 11:1-9) people begin to speak different languages. “...A single language - this greatest gift... - was turned by people into evil, to promote the development of the violent and lower instincts of their nature... Seeing that humanity has firmly taken this disastrous path of wickedness and does not show any intention of leaving it and repenting, "The merciful Lord himself decided, through the extraordinary action of His omnipotence, to bring people away from it and thereby save them from COMPLETE moral destruction. God... forced people to speak in different languages and thereby destroyed the means of mutual exchange of thoughts." What happens on the day of Pentecost? The ability of people to understand each other is restored, the language barriers erected by sin fall [Philologists trying to comprehend linguistic problems from an Orthodox point of view are referred to the book by Kamchatnov A. M., Nikolina N. A. “Introduction to Linguistics.” Moscow, 1999] The Holy Fathers of the Church not only pointed out the connection between these two events, thus establishing the tradition of understanding glossolalia as speaking in unknown languages, but also explained why the apostles received the “gift of tongues” before other gifts. Because they had to disperse to all countries to preach the good news about the coming of the Savior into the world, and “just as during the pandemonium one tongue was divided into many, so now many tongues are united in one person, and one and the same person, at the inspiration of St. ". The Spirit, began to speak in Persian and Roman and Indian, and in many other languages. And this gift was called the gift of tongues, because the apostles could speak in many languages - just as the Spirit gave them to preach."

So, let us repeat, the patristic tradition is to understand glossolalia as speaking in unfamiliar languages. This understanding is enshrined in church services. In the kontakion of St. At Pentecost we sing: “When the tongues came down and divided the tongues on high: when tongues of fire having distributed, we have called everything into unity: and accordingly we glorify the All-Holy Spirit." Translation: "When the Most High came down and confused languages, He divided the nations; when He distributed tongues of fire, He called everyone to unity; and we unanimously glorify the All-Holy Spirit."

Before the Ascension, our Lord Jesus Christ himself commanded his disciples to remain in Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit descended on them, and the first Christian Pentecost coincided with the Jewish Pentecost. Acts 2:5 says, “Now there were Jews in Jerusalem, devout people, from every nation under heaven.” Those. In this city, destined to become the center from where the rays of the Gospel light were supposed to illuminate the entire universe, on the occasion of the holiday, a truly multilingual crowd gathered: these were Jewish pilgrims of the Diaspora, who had lost their language and spoke the languages of the peoples in whose lands they settled, and proselytes-foreigners who accepted the Jewish faith, and, as John Chrysostom notes in “Conversations on the Acts of the Apostles,” “many of the pagans also came here.” It is known that at the time of the coming of Christ, many pagans, showing interest in the divine truth hidden in the Old Covenant, they came to Jerusalem on great holidays to worship and were even allowed into the outer courtyard of the temple. And all this linguistically motley crowd was attracted by “a sound from heaven” and gathered at the house where the descent of the Holy Spirit took place on the apostles, and, as it is written in Acts 2:6, “every one heard them speaking in his own language,” and others , mockingly said: they were drunk with sweet wine (2:13). Is there a contradiction here? I think not. Imagine: a huge crowd, general confusion, excited apostles, inspired by the Holy Spirit, speaking in languages unknown to them. Some are amazed at the mystery of God , others, who perhaps did not hear their language in this general confusion, try to explain the miracle according to their own understanding - to each according to faith. Isn’t this repeated every time a miracle happens - and through the ash of God our ideas about the laws of nature are refuted? There is no doubt, that the patristic tradition of understanding glossolalia exactly corresponds to the description in Acts, although, of course, many questions remain to which there are no answers: Did the apostles understand what they were saying by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Was it a miracle of speaking or hearing, i.e. did the apostles speak in one, their own language, and the assembled people heard them each in their own dialect? This question was already asked by St. Gregory the Theologian, but was inclined to the first interpretation. Did the glossolalia of the apostles and Corinthian Christians manifest themselves in the same forms? The patristic tradition is inclined to consider these phenomena to be of the same nature, although if one reads I Corinthians one can see some new features. The Apostle says that some are gifted with the “gift of tongues,” others with the gift of “interpretation of tongues” (I Cor. 12:10); “If anyone speaks in an unknown tongue, speak two, or many, three, and then separately, and explain one” (14:27); “Whoever speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men, but to God, because no one understands him; he speaks mysteries in the spirit” (14:2). It can be assumed that the gift of speaking an unknown language in a monolingual community becomes deprived inner meaning and requires help to understand. Perhaps, returning to the question of St. Gregory the Theologian about the miracle of speaking or hearing, the miracle of Pentecost had both forms, and later among the Corinthians it manifested itself in two ways - the gift of speaking and the gift of interpretation. The practice of several people speaking at once further complicated the situation and introduced an element of disorder into the meetings of the first Christians. If by the 3rd century. glossolalia disappears among Christians, then this most likely did not happen suddenly, not immediately, but gradually both of these gifts were obscured - the meaning of speech was depleted, and meaningless linguistic speech remained only in the heretical movements of the Gnostics and Montanists.

Let us turn to the interpretation of Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria. “Those who at the beginning believed and were baptized all received the Spirit. Since He was invisible, an external proof of His power was given; and those who received Him either spoke in different languages, or prophesied, or performed miracles. Among the Corinthians because of these gifts there were rebellions: those who received more were extolled, those who received less were jealous of them." “The Corinthians had an abundance of the gift of tongues; they were more proud of it, since it was first given to the apostles and therefore was considered more important than the others.”

So in I Corinthians. The Apostle Paul warns the Corinthians against sinful abuse of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which in its original form no longer appears today and there cannot be a direct transition to the problem of the Church Slavonic/Russian language.

It must be said that Orthodox authors approach the problem of the “gift of tongues” very carefully; later interpreters of the Epistles of St. Paul, this point is simply silent (for example, in St. Theophan the Recluse). On the contrary, an increased interest in glossolalia is observed in Protestantism, because in this direction there are strong tendencies towards the literal restoration of forms religious life and institutions of the primitive Christian Church. In 1755 Middleton's book "On the Gift of Tongues" was published in London, and since then a discussion about glossolalia has flared up, a dispute has been waged with the patristic tradition of its understanding, and an ecstatic theory has taken shape, in which the emphasis is on special condition, in which the speaker “in tongues” is located and a variety of guesses are expressed about the specific manifestation of this gift. Of course, new authors are looking for the ancient sources of the ecstatic theory and find them in Tertullian, the famous theologian of the 2nd-3rd centuries, who converted to Montanism, where, as has been mentioned more than once, the “gift of tongues” degenerated into meaningless linguistics.

Much space is devoted to the analysis of Protestant theories in the book of the priest. Mikhail Fiveysky. The variety of points of view, perhaps, comes down to three main understandings - the language of the glossolalist is: 1) outdated language- Hebrew, which fell out of use during the era of the Savior’s coming into the world, or outdated expressions Greek language; 2) “divinely inspired speech”, i.e. ecstatic, inarticulate speech, in which no human meaning was supposed; 3) hymnology - enthusiastic rhythmic recitation, this is the so-called musical-hymnological interpretation.

It is immediately noticeable that all theories reject the foundation: the connection of Pentecost with the Babylonian pandemonium - and begin to build the edifice of their points of view on particulars. Yes, in the Middle Ages there was a widespread opinion that the heavenly language of Adam was Hebrew, as the most ancient language, but even then doubts were expressed about the correctness of this position, and modern linguistics has clearly proven that there are more ancient languages. Yes, ancient tradition the pronunciation of prayer texts among many peoples assumed that the text must be pronounced out loud, and musical and rhythmic design in pre-literate eras was a feature not only of religious texts, but also of texts in general; one can say that the ancients did not know boring prose. As for ecstatic states, I will limit myself to reminding that Orthodoxy strives to keep a person in spiritual sobriety.

Addressing Russian Orthodox Christians to the authors of the XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, you are convinced that some of them did not avoid a bias towards the Protestant understanding of this phenomenon. So the priest himself. M. Fiveisky had a very broad understanding of the phenomenon of glossolalia - this is everything that is heard, but not understood, and concluded that glossolalia is diffused around us: we hear choral singing, but we cannot make out the words, a five-year-old child hears, but does not understand philosophical speech, Catholics don't understand worship services Latin. When attempts are made with reference to I Corinthians to justify the need to translate Slavic worship into Russian, perhaps we are faced with precisely this understanding of glossolalia. But let's be logical to the end - a quickly, slurred Russian text can also easily turn into a similar glossolalia. The continuators of the patristic tradition of understanding the “gift of tongues” were St. Filaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, an outstanding scientist, rector of the Moscow Academy of Sciences, Professor A.V. Gorsky, S.N. Bulgakov, who devoted space to this problem in his already accessible book"Philosophy of the name".

In conclusion, I would like to note that, regardless of the interpretation of the words of the Apostle Paul, the problem of misunderstanding of the Church Slavonic language by modern believers is more acute today than ever, and the question of a new Slavic translation of some texts is becoming louder and louder. But this is a separate, very serious topic, which, with God's help We hope to continue in the future.

Priest Michael of Thebes. Spiritual gifts in the primitive Christian Church. The experience of explaining chapters 12-14 of the first letter of St. ap. Paul to the Corinthians. Moscow, 1907 p.5.
Yu.M. Edelshtein. The problem of language in patristic monuments: History of linguistic teachings. Medieval Europe. Leningrad, 1985 page 202
Quoted from M. Fiveyskizh, page 5.
Explanatory Bible, or Commentary on all the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Petersburg, 1904-1907, T. I, p.81"
Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, Commentary on the Acts of St. the apostles, briefly selected from the interpretations of John Chrysostom and some other fathers. Skeet, without a year, p. 27.
Prayers and chants of the Orthodox prayer book (for the laity) with translation into Russian, explanations and notes by Nikolai Nakhimov. St. Petersburg, 1912, p. 123.
Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Bulgaria, Commentaries on the Epistles of St. Apostle Paul. Skeet, no year, pp. 173, 174.
S.N. Bulgakov. Philosophy of the name. Paris 1953, Moscow, 1997, pp. 36-37.

Galina Trubitsyna

19 / 07 / 2002

12 catchphrases, the meaning of which is not known to everyone

Editor's response

Catchphrases help to express thoughts more accurately and give speech more emotional coloring. They allow you to express more emotions in a few short but precise words and convey your personal attitude to what is happening.

AiF.ru resembles the meanings of some Russian phraseological units.

Quietly

Originally, this expression implied secretly digging a tunnel or secret tunnel. The word "zappa" (translated from Italian) means "earth shovel".

Borrowed from French, the word turned into the French “sap” and received the meaning of “earth, trench and submine work”, from this word the word “sapper” also arose.

In Russian, the word “sapa” and the expression “silent sapa” meant work that was carried out with extreme caution, without noise, in order to get close to the enemy unnoticed, in complete secrecy.

After widespread dissemination, the expression acquired the meaning: carefully, in deep secrecy and slowly (for example, “So he quietly drags all the food from the kitchen!”).

Can't see anything

According to one version, the word “zga” comes from the name of a part of a horse’s harness - a ring in the upper part of the arch, into which the reins were inserted so as not to dangle. When the coachman needed to unharness the horse, and it was so dark that this ring (zgi) was not visible, they said that “there is no sign of it.”

According to another version, the word “zga” comes from the Old Russian “s’tga” - “road, path, path.” In this case, the meaning of the expression is interpreted as “so dark that you can’t even see the road or path.” Today the expression “nothing is visible”, “nothing is visible” means “nothing is visible”, “impenetrable darkness”.

The blind leads the blind, but both do not see. (last)

“Darkness hangs over the earth: you can’t see it...” ( Anton Chekhov, "Mirror")

Dance from the stove

Vasily Alekseevich Sleptsov. 1870 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / Published in St. Petersburg, 1903

The expression “dance from the stove” first appeared in the novel of the Russian writer XIX century Vasily Sleptsova « Good man" The book was published in 1871. There is an episode in it when main character Seryozha Terebenev remembers how he was taught to dance, but he could not do the steps required from the dance teacher. There is a phrase in the book:

- Oh, what are you, brother! - the father says reproachfully. - Well, go back to the stove, start over.

In Russian, this expression began to be used when speaking about people for whom the habit of acting according to a fixed script replaces knowledge. A person can perform certain actions only “from the stove”, from the very beginning, from the simplest and most familiar action:

“When he (the architect) was commissioned to plan, he usually drew the hall and the hotel first; just as in the old days schoolgirls could dance only from the stove, so he artistic idea could originate and develop only from the hall to the living room.” ( Anton Chekhov,"My life").

Shabby look

During times Tsar Peter I lived Ivan Zatrapeznikov- an entrepreneur who received the Yaroslavl textile manufactory from the emperor. The factory produced a material called “pestryad”, or “pestryadina”, popularly nicknamed “trashy”, “trashy” - coarse and low-quality cloth made from hemp (hemp fiber).

Clothes were made from shabby clothes mainly by poor people who could not buy themselves something better. And such poor people looked appropriate. Since then, if a person is dressed sloppily, they say about him that he looks shabby:

“The hay girls were poorly fed, dressed in shabby clothes and given little sleep, almost exhausting continuous work». ( Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Poshekhon antiquity”)

Sharpen the laces

To sharpen your lasses means to talk idle talk, to engage in useless chatter. Lyasy (balusters) are turned, figured posts of railings at the porch.

At first, “sharpening balusters” meant conducting an elegant, fancy, ornate (like balusters) conversation. However, there were few people skilled in conducting such a conversation, and over time the expression began to mean idle chatter:

“They used to sit down in a circle, some on a bench, some simply on the ground, each with some kind of task, a spinning wheel, a comb or bobbins, and they would go and go sharpen their laces and tell tales about another, old time.” ( Dmitry Grigorovich, "Village").

Lies like a gray gelding

To lie like a gray gelding means to tell tales without being embarrassed at all. In the 19th century, an officer served in one of the regiments of the Russian army, a German by the name of von Sievers-Mehring. He liked to tell the officers funny stories and fables. The expression “lies like Sivers-Mehring” was understandable only to his colleagues. However, they began to use it throughout Russia, completely forgetting about the origins. Sayings have appeared among the people: “lazy as a gray gelding”, “stupid as a gray gelding”, although the horse breed has nothing to do with this.

Bullshit

According to one version, the expression “bullshit” comes from “lying like a gray gelding” (in fact, these two phrases are synonymous)

There is also a version that the expression “bullshit” comes from the name of one scientist - Brad Steve Cobile, who once wrote a very stupid article. His name, consonant with the words “bullshit,” was correlated with scientific nonsense.

According to another version, “bullshit” is an expression denoting a stupid statement or thought; appeared due to the beliefs of the Slavs that the gray horse (gray with an admixture of another color) was the most stupid animal. There was a sign according to which if you dream gray mare, then in reality the dreamer will be deceived.

Androns are traveling

“Androns are coming” means nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, complete nonsense.

In Russian, this phrase is used in response to someone who tells a lie, puts on inappropriate airs and brags about himself. In the 1840s, throughout almost all of Russia, andres (andron) meant a cart, various kinds of carts.

“And you don’t have to scold my house! - Am I scolding?.. Cross yourself, Petrovnushka, the androns are coming! ( Pavel Zarubin, “Dark and bright sides of Russian life”)

Live as a Biryuk

The expression “to live like a pearl” means to be a hermit and a closed person. In the southern regions of Russia, a wolf is called a biryuk. The wolf has long been considered dangerous for the economy a beast of prey. The peasants perfectly studied his habits and habits and often remembered them when speaking about the person. “Oh, you’ve grown old, brother! - Dunyashka said regretfully. “It’s become kind of gray, like biryuk.” ( Mikhail Sholokhov, "Quiet Don")

Mikhail Golubovich in the film "Biryuk". 1977

Play spillikins

Spillikins are various small household items that were used during the ancient game. Its meaning was to pull out one toy after another from a pile of toys with your fingers or a special hook, without touching or scattering the rest. The one who moves the adjacent spilliyule passes the move to the next player. The game continues until the whole pile is cleared. By the beginning of the twentieth century, spillikins became one of the most popular games in the country and were very common not only in children, but also in adults.

IN figuratively the expression “to play tricks” means to engage in trifles, nonsense, leaving aside the main and important things:

“After all, I came to the workshop to work, and not to sit idly by and play with spillikins.” ( Mikhail Novorussky"Notes of a Shlisselburger")

Pies with kittens

In Rus' they never ate cats, except in times of severe famine. During long-term sieges of cities, their inhabitants, having exhausted all food supplies, used domestic animals for food, cats were the last to go.

Thus, this expression means a catastrophic state of affairs. Usually the proverb is abbreviated and said: “These are the pies,” in other words, “those are the things.”

Leave unsalted with a slurp

Illustration for the fairy tale “Shemyakin Court”. Copper engraving, first half of the 18th century. Reproduction. Photo: RIA Novosti / Balabanov

In Rus' in the old days, salt was an expensive product. It had to be transported from afar off-road; taxes on salt were very high. When visiting, the owner salted the food himself, with his own hand. Sometimes, expressing his respect to especially dear guests, he even added salt to the food, and sometimes those who sat at the far end of the table did not get any salt at all. Hence the expression “to leave unsalted”:

“And the more she spoke, and the more sincerely she smiled, the stronger the confidence became in me that I would leave her with a slurp.” ( Anton Chekhov"Lights")

“The fox let go of his prey and went away, slurping unsalted.” ( Alexey Tolstoy"The Fox and the Rooster")

Shemyakin court

The expression “Shemyakin court” is used when they want to emphasize the injustice of any opinion, judgment or assessment. Shemyaka - real historical figure, Galician Prince Dimitry Shemyaka, famous for his cruelty, deceit and unrighteous deeds. He became famous for his tireless, persistent struggle with the great Prince Vasily the Dark, your cousin, for the Moscow throne. Today, when they want to point out the bias or injustice of some judgment, they say: “Is this criticism? Some kind of Shemyakin court.”

Editorial Faktrum publishes a collection true values Russian catchphrases and sayings that are familiar to literally everyone from the cradle. Learning about the history of the origin of these idioms is a real pleasure for all connoisseurs of our rich language!

1. Why were the West afraid of Khrushchev’s “Kuzka’s mother”?

Khrushchev’s famous phrase “I’ll show you Kuzka’s mother!” at the UN Assembly it was translated literally - “Kuzma’s mother”. The meaning of the phrase was completely incomprehensible and this made the threat take on a completely ominous character. Subsequently, the expression “Kuzka’s mother” was also used to refer to the atomic bombs of the USSR.

2. Where did the expression “after the rain on Thursday” come from?

The expression “after the rain on Thursday” arose from distrust of Perun, the Slavic god of thunder and lightning, whose day was Thursday. Prayers to him often did not achieve their goal, so they began to talk about the impossible, that this would happen after the rain on Thursday.

3. Who first said: “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword”?

The expression “Whoever comes to us with a sword will die by the sword” does not belong to Alexander Nevsky. Its author is the screenwriter of the film of the same name, Pavlenko, who remade the phrase from the Gospel “Those who take the sword will die by the sword.”

4. Where did the expression “the game is not worth the candle” come from?

The expression “the game is not worth the candle” came from the speech of gamblers, who spoke this way about a very small win that does not pay for the cost of the candles that burned out during the game.

5. Where did the expression “Moscow doesn’t believe in tears” come from?

During the rise of the Moscow principality, large tribute was collected from other cities. Cities sent petitioners to Moscow with complaints of injustice. The king sometimes severely punished complainants to intimidate others. This is where, according to one version, the expression “Moscow does not believe in tears” came from.

6. Where did the expression “things smell like kerosene” come from?

Koltsov’s 1924 feuilleton talked about a major scam uncovered during the transfer of an oil concession in California. The most senior US officials were involved in the scam. It was here that the expression “things smell like kerosene” was used for the first time.

7. Where did the expression “there is nothing behind the soul” come from?

In the old days, it was believed that the human soul was located in the depression between the collarbones, the dimple in the neck. It was customary to keep money in the same place on the chest. Therefore, they say about a poor person that he “has nothing in his soul.”

8. Where did the expression “knuckle down” come from?

In the old days, chocks cut off from logs - blanks for wooden utensils - were called baklushi. Their manufacture was considered easy, requiring no effort or skill. Nowadays we use the expression “knuckle down” to mean idleness.

9. Where did the expression “by washing, by rolling” come from?

In the old days, village women used a special rolling pin to “roll” their laundry after washing. Well-rolled laundry turned out to be wrung out, ironed and clean, even if the wash was not of very high quality. Today, to denote achieving a goal by any means, the expression “by scraping, by skiing” is used.

10. Where did the expression “it’s in the bag” come from?

In the old days, messengers delivering mail sewed very important papers, or “deeds,” into the lining of their caps or hats so as not to attract the attention of robbers. This is where the expression “it’s in the bag” comes from.

11. Where did the expression “let's go back to our sheep” come from?

In the medieval French comedy, a rich clothier sues a shepherd who stole his sheep. During the meeting, the clothier forgets about the shepherd and showers reproaches on his lawyer, who did not pay him for six cubits of cloth. The judge interrupts the speech with the words: “Let's return to our sheep,” which have become winged.

12. Where does the expression “do your bit” come from?

In Ancient Greece there was a small coin called the lepta. In the Gospel parable, a poor widow donates her last two mites for the construction of the temple. The expression “do your bit” comes from the parable.

13. Where did the expression “Kolomenskaya mile” come from?

In the 17th century, by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the distances between Moscow and the royal summer residence in the village of Kolomenskoye were re-measured and very high milestones were installed. Since then, tall and thin people have been called “Verst Kolomenskaya”.

14. Where did the expression “chase a long ruble” come from?

In the 13th century, the currency and weight unit in Rus' was the hryvnia, divided into 4 parts (“ruble”). The especially weighty remainder of the ingot was called the “long ruble.” Associated with these words is an expression about big and easy earnings - “chasing a long ruble.”

15. Where did the expression “newspaper duck” come from?

“One scientist, having bought 20 ducks, immediately ordered one of them to be cut into small pieces, which he fed to the rest of the birds. A few minutes later he did the same with another duck, and so on, until one remained, which thus devoured 19 of its friends.” This note was published in the newspaper by the Belgian humorist Cornelissen to mock the gullibility of the public. Since then, according to one version, false news has been called “newspaper ducks.”

We are publishing a collection of the true meanings of Russian catchphrases and sayings that are familiar to literally everyone from the cradle. Learning about the history of the origin of these idioms is a real pleasure for all connoisseurs of our rich language!