A selection of Russian words with an interesting history of origin.

Pharmacy

According to one version, the word “pharmacy” comes from the Greek word “barn”, “shelter”, “warehouse”, “storage” or “shop”, according to another version - from the word “coffin”, “grave” or “crypt” . Later the word passed into Latin and acquired the meaning “wine warehouse.” The modern meaning of the word “pharmacy” was formed only in medieval Latin.

Orange

Until the 16th century, Russians and Europeans did not know about the existence of this citrus. Portuguese sailors brought these fruits from China and began trading them with their neighbors. Oranges came to Russia from Holland. The Dutch word for apple is appel, and the Chinese word for apple is sien. Borrowed from the Dutch language, the word "appelsien" is a literal translation of the French phrase "Pomme de Chine" - "apple from China."

Bohemia

The word is of French origin. At the end of the 20th century in Paris, representatives of creative professions lived in the Latin Quarter. The bourgeoisie called the local inhabitants “gypsies.” Journalist Henri Murger lived on the top floor of one of the houses in the Latin Quarter. One day, in one of the tabloid magazines, he was offered to write a series of stories about the residents of the Latin Quarter. These essays were published in 1945, and they were called "Scenes from the Life of the Gypsies." “Gypsy” in French means “bohemia.” Murger has since been forgotten, but the word “bohemian” still exists today.

Doctor

The word “doctor” is originally Slavic, it is derived from the word “vrati”, which means “to speak”, “to conspire”. From the same word comes “to lie,” which for our ancestors also meant “to speak.” In the Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian languages, the original meaning of the word “doctor” - “sorcerer”, “sorcerer” - has been preserved to this day.

Hooligan

This word is of English origin. It is known that the surname Houlihan was once borne by a famous London brawler who caused a lot of trouble for city residents and the police. The surname has become a household word, in all countries characterizing a person who violates public order.

Hard labor

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”, “chelny”. The Novgorod charter mentions boats, rafts and katargs. In the “Russian Chronicle” of Nikon’s list we read: “The boyars took the queen, and noble maidens, and young wives, sending many on ships and catargs to the islands” (“The boyars took the queen, and noble maidens, and young wives, sent many on ships and ships to the islands"). The work of the rowers on these ships was very hard, so they began to put criminals in hard labor. In 1696, creating the Russian fleet, Peter I began to build large convict ships in Russia. These ships were also called galleys. Criminals and fugitives were put on them as oarsmen, chained to the oars. Pushkin’s “History of Peter” contains the decrees of the tsar, where the phrases are often found: “The first time through the gauntlet, the second - the whip and the galleys,” “send to the galleys.” Nordstet's pre-revolutionary German-French dictionary directly states: “Galley is hard labor.” Since then, the word “hard labor” has been preserved in the modern sense, although they were no longer exiled to the galleys, but to Siberia, to hard labor.

Silhouette

In France, during the reign of Louis XV, the royal court lived in unprecedented luxury. Because of this, the treasury quickly became empty, and then the king appointed a new minister of finance, Etienne Silhouette, a conscientious and incorruptible official who reduced pensions and abolished tax privileges. At first everyone liked it very much, but over time the young reformer became the subject of general ridicule. The genre of art that emerged at that time - a one-color profile image on a light background - was named by Parisian wits after the Silhouette and interpreted it as art for the greedy and poor.

Surgeon

The word comes from the vocabulary of ancient Greek doctors. Among the Greeks it simply meant “handicraft”, “craft”, from hir - “hand” - and ergon - “to do”. The word “surgeon” from Greek is translated not only as “doctor”, but also as “hairdresser”. In Russia in the 19th century, 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.

Quickie

Initially, this word was common, and it meant “easy income beyond the usual.” You can read about the origin of the word in the dictionary of Professor D. N. Ushakov: “Haltura, from the Greek “halkos” - copper coin.” Later the word acquires additional meaning. V. I. Dahl’s dictionary gives a more precise definition of the Russian interpretation: “hackwork, grabber, bribe-taker, khaltyga, flighty, fickle person. Hackwork, grabber (grab), profit, free food, accumulated money.” In our time, derivatives have appeared: “hackwork”, “hackwork”.

In her “Memoirs” about the acting life of the 90s of the century before last, N. Smirnova writes that in Moscow, among actors, Strastnaya Square was called “hack work”, since actors were “caught” there:

“It happened that he was immediately given a role and he read it for the first time on the way to the theater. The word “hackwork” has since come into use and is still in the acting lexicon.”

Tobacco

The word “tobacco” originally entered European languages from Haiti. In the Arawakan language, tabak is a plant of the nightshade family, from which a smoking mixture was made. It would seem that this is the meaning in which the word is still used today. However, for a time, “tobacco” had a completely different meaning. The word acquired additional meaning in French thanks to the expression “to pass through tobacco” - “passer a tabac” - and remained from the time of the persecution of smokers in France. The French still have a verb “tabasser”, which means “to beat”. And among the military, “tabac” means “battle” or “deed” in the same sense as our “deal was near Poltava.”

Alexey Nikolaevich Tolstoy wrote the story “The Manuscript Found Under the Bed.” The hero of this story, Sashka Epanchin, remembering 1918 in France: “In their police stations, the policemen - azhans - the first thing they do is hit you in the ribs and head with their boots, they call this ‘putting you through tobacco’.”

Rogue

In his transformative activities, Peter I had to face the privileged noble class, which did not want to part with its usual way of life, and perceived the tsar’s reforms sharply negatively.

Peter I introduced a law in 1715 according to which nobles for crimes were deprived of their nobility, their “privileges,” one of which was that nobles could not be subjected to corporal punishment, in other words, flogging. According to this law, the nobles were “defamed”, that is, they were deprived of their noble dignity, they were “dishonored”.

In the language of the Normans, “skelmen” (skelmen) meant “worthy of death,” “suicide bomber.” Among the Germans, this word turned into “shelem”, which means “rogue”, “swindler”, and in this meaning it entered the Russian language.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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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.

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

Railway station

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

Hooligan

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

Orange

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

Doctor

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

Scammer

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

Insect

The origin of the word animal is quite obvious: from belly - “life”. But how to explain the strange name of the insect?

To answer this question, you do not need to be an entomologist, that is, a scientist who studies insects, or a linguist. It’s enough to remember what these same insects look like. Do you remember? Animals with “notches” on their bodies are insects. By the way, pure tracing paper from the French insect - from the Latin insectum “notched, with notches (animal).”

Here we will answer another simple question, why insects are called boogers. Yes, because the antennae of insects resemble goat horns. You can't call them goats - they are too small, but boogers - just right. Remember, from Chukovsky: “Little-legged goat-bug”...

Heaven

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

Slates

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

The other day

Now the word the other day is almost synonymous with the word just now and means “recently, one of these days, but I don’t remember which days.”

However, the other day comes from the Old Russian phrase onom dni (“on that day,” that is, “on that day”), which was used as a completely accurate indication of specific days that were already discussed. Something like this: on the second and third of February, someone met someone in a nearby forest, and on those same days, that is, the other day, that is, the other day, such and such happened in Paris...

In general, with the invention and spread of calendars and chronometers, all these beautiful words really became very outdated and lost their true meaning. And their use is hardly justified now. If only for a catchphrase.

Nonsense

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

The doctor immortalized his name, but nowadays this concept has a completely different meaning.

How did native Russian words arise?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The most interesting stories of the origin of various words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bohemia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tragedy

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

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