The Russian term "common" was formed from the Old Slavonic word call- "call". In the first grammar of the 17th century, Meletius Smotrytsky designated "nominal, ordinary, ordinary" nouns. The word "naritati" in turn came from "ritzat" - to speak, and this word was formed from the ancient Slavic word "speech". Very often in old scrolls there is a phrase "I river", i.e. "I speak". Common nouns are generalized names of homogeneous objects. For example: student, teacher, ghost, entity, flower, tree etc.

The word "own" comes from the Old Slavonic property, which means "one's own", "personal", "belonging to oneself", as well as "feature, person". A proper name is a second name given to an object to distinguish it from another similar object.

1. August is the eighth month of the Gregorian calendar. It got its real name in honor of the Roman emperor Octavian Augustus (63 BC - 14 AD), after whom the Roman Senate named the month, especially happy in the life of the emperor (Cleopatra died this month).

2. Accordion- music. the instrument was named after the Slavic storyteller Bayan (Boyan).

3. Boycott- on behalf of the manager of an Irish principality, Charles Boycott, who was distinguished by particular severity; for this, everyone turned away from him.

4. Bolivar- wide-brimmed hat of the XIX century. Named in honor of Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), leader of the struggle for the independence of the Spanish colonies in South. America. Liberated Venezuela from Spanish domination, Nov. Granada. “Having put on a wide bolivar, Onegin goes to the boulevard ...”(A.S. Pushkin, "Eugene Onegin").

5. Whatman- the type of paper is named after the English industrialist of the 18th century. J. Whatman.

6. Watt- a unit of power, named after the Scotch-Irish inventor-mechanic James Watt (Watt), the creator of the universal steam engine.

7. riding breeches- Trousers of a special cut were named after the French cavalry general Halifet.

8. Guillotine- On January 21, 1790, the French doctor J. Guillotin presented his main invention - the guillotine - a tool for execution (beheading convicts), introduced during the French Revolution.

25. Pullman - (Pullman), George, inventor of sleeping cars, 1831-1897, founder of the Carriage Society in Chicago. Pullman built wagons that starred in westerns and were considered palaces on wheels. The very word "Pullman" ("Pullman"), thanks to this, acquired its meaning - the car is extremely comfortable.

26.X-ray - a common spelling in Russian of the name of the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, who discovered X-rays.

27. Saxophone- the Belgian master Sachs gave the name to the popular wind instrument.

28. french- military jacket in the waist, with four large pockets on the chest and on the sides and a tab at the back. This jacket was worn by John Denton French, who commanded the British Expeditionary Forces in France during the First World War.

29. Celsius- degrees Celsius is named after the Swedish scientist Anders Celsius, who in 1742 proposed a new scale for measuring temperature.

There are words that we use automatically in our speech, without thinking about the fact that some of them owe their origin to specific people. Of course, everyone knows that the months July and August named after emperors, lettuce Russian salad bears the name of its creator. Here, to that category of words, some units of measurement can also be attributed, for example: volt, ampere etc.

There are many such words. For example, a shirt hoody is most directly related to the great writer - in many photographs, Lev Nikolaevich is depicted in a tight shirt loose. Many of his followers, who called themselves the writer's students and called themselves Tolstoyians, wishing to emphasize their closeness to him, often appeared in shirts similar to those worn by Leo Tolstoy. So the loose shirt became known as sweatshirt.

Word hooligan- of English origin. It is believed that the surname Houlihan was once worn by the famous London brawler, who brought a lot of trouble to the inhabitants of the city and the police. The Oxford Dictionary dates the frequent appearance of this Mr's name in police reports to 1898. The surname has become a household name, and the word is international, characterizing a person who grossly violates public order.

But what, according to some sources, is the history of the origin of the word academy. The philosopher Plato often expounded his teachings in a shady grove near Athens. According to legend, the Attic hero Akadem was buried in this grove. Therefore, the grove was called the Academy. Word first academy became the name of the school of Plato, and later - a certain type of educational institution and community of scientists.

Interesting origin of the word boycott. In the 19th century, an English earl hired a steward named Charles Cunningham Boycott for his estate in Ireland. Boycott was a harsh man, often punishing peasants and farmers, which aroused hatred on their part. People who heard about his cruelty refused to have anything to do with him, avoided communication with him. Since then, the punishment of a person by complete isolation has been called boycott.

Word mausoleum also has its own history. In 352 BC In the city of Halicarnassus (Asia Minor), King Mausolus died. According to the custom of those times, the corpse of the king was burned, and the ashes were placed in a funeral urn. According to one of the legends that have come down to us, his widow Artemisia decided to build a huge tomb and thereby perpetuate the memory of her husband, whom she loved very much. Well-known masters were involved in the construction and decoration of the structure, including the court sculptor of Alexander the Great Leohar. The tomb was as high as a ten-story building. At the top stood a gigantic statue of the Mausoleum. The tomb of Halicarnassus was named mausoleum and ranked among the seven ancient wonders of the world. ( From various etymological dictionaries and reference books).

Sometimes items get their names from the place where they were taken from: coffee(from the name of the country Kaffa, located in Africa), peach(from the name Persia - modern Iran), orange(The Dutch word appelsien literally translates as "Chinese apple"). Word pants comes from the name of the Dutch city of Bruges.

One of the ancient legends tells about the handsome young man Narcissus, who was so in love with himself that he did not notice anyone or anything around, but all the time looked at his reflection in the water. The gods, angry, turned him into a plant. White flower daffodil leans to one side and seems to be looking down at his reflection with a yellow eye. Such plant names are also associated with ancient mythology, such as cypress and hyacinth.

Once, the son of King Keos and friend of Apollo, Cypress accidentally killed a deer while hunting - his favorite and the favorite of all the inhabitants. The inconsolable young man asked Apollo to give him eternal sadness, and God turned him into a slender tree cypress(since then, the Greeks began to hang a cypress branch at the door of the house where the deceased is). Beautiful (usually bright red) flower hyacinth named after the son of the king of Sparta, Hyacinth, who died during a discus throwing competition. Flower of sorrow hyacinth grew from the blood of Hyacinth.

One of the Slavic alphabets is called Cyrillic(by the name of one of its creators - Cyril); many names of literary movements go back to proper names: Byron - Byronism, Karamzin - Karamzinism, Petrarch - petrarchism... Adventure-rich wanderings or woeful wanderings we call odyssey(Odysseus - the mythical king of Ithaca, the hero of the Trojan War), the adventures of a hero-traveler, devoid of human society - robinsonade(Robinson is the hero of Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe").

Quite often, common nouns go back to the names of famous scientists and inventors. Here are some: ampere(after the French physicist Ampère), watt(named after the English physicist Watt), volt(named after the Italian physicist Volta) ... The French cavalry general Galliffet invented trousers of a special cut - riding breeches, Scottish chemist Mackintosh - waterproof raincoat mac.. Colt, Maxim, Mauser, Nagant famous inventors of weapons. The Belgian master Sachs gave the name to the popular wind instrument - saxophone.

Many of these words are familiar to us from childhood. Let's take a closer look at historical figures whose names have become common nouns.

Maecenas

Gaius Maecenas was a statesman in the Roman Empire. Friendly relations with the emperor allowed the Maecenas to openly express his position on most issues. Often it differed from the opinion of the head of state.

In fact, Gaius Zilnius was the Minister of Culture. He spent most of his time supporting talented people: scientists, artists, poets. He gave Horace a whole estate, and Virgil was able to return the illegally seized housing. The death of Maecenas was a serious loss for the inhabitants of Rome.

Lovelace

Sir Robert Lovelace is a skilled lover from the book "Clarissa", the author of which was S. Richardson. The novel was published during the dawn of the Enlightenment. The heroine of the story is a sixteen-year-old girl of noble birth, who they want to marry to a wealthy, but unloved man.

Lovelace steals Clarissa and settles with her in a brothel, where the prostitutes hired by him play the role of noble cousins ​​of a young man. Clarissa, no matter how hard the kidnapper tries, does not return his feelings. Then he deprives her of innocence by giving her sleeping pills. Even after this, the girl refuses to marry a man and dies.

And at the end of the story, Lovelace dies in a duel.

Boycott

This form of rebellion was named after the British retired officer Charles Boycott. He was the manager of an estate in Ireland, which belonged to a noble lord.

The crop failure provoked famine. Many Irish residents decided to leave the region, then the trade union organization demanded reform. It was supposed to allow the purchase of plots of land and establish an adequate rent for the use of these plots.

Boycott started laying off workers. Then the Irish Land League did everything possible to prevent him from hiring people. In addition, Boycott and his family became "untouchable". Neighbors did not communicate with them, postmen did not deliver correspondence, and shopkeepers did not sell food. In 1880 Captain Bycott was forced to leave Ireland and then Great Britain.

Shrew

According to Greek mythology, Megara is the goddess of revenge. With her Fury sisters, she was reborn from the blood of Uranus. Megaera lives in Hades, where she punishes people for murder and adultery.

Mr. Hooligan lived in Britain in the 19th century. The police listed him as a thief and troublemaker. However, not only Patrick Hooligan had a difficult temper, but also all his relatives.

The family allegedly owned an inn. It was said that the guests of the Hooligans were killed and robbed. There were also rumors that this family was the owners of a private school, the pupils of which were treated cruelly.

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Common noun in Russian and foreign literature

If you have not read, for example, Shakespeare's tragedy "Othello" or Cervantes' novel "Don Quixote", then you will perceive the words of Othello, Don Quixote in the same way as the word Eleazar, about which you know nothing. In order to find out the meaning of the word, you need to refer to the explanatory dictionary. But some words may not be in the dictionary. How to be? In this case, you need to turn to the original source, that is, read the work in which the character is constantly “registered”. After reading and understanding the system of images of this work, you will not only know what content is embedded in the word, not only use it correctly, but also skillfully use the character’s own name in the meaning of a common noun. Of the many plays by the English playwright W. Shakespeare, Othello and The Tragic Story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark are especially popular. From. The names of Othello and Iago became winged in the first play, and Hamlet in the second. We call the word Othello a jealous person (because the hero of Shakespeare's tragedy, the Venetian Moor Othello, was morbidly jealous and out of jealousy strangled his wife Desdemona); with the word Iago we call the scoundrel-slanderer (because the officer Iago, taking advantage of Othello's gullibility, slandered Desdemona, which led to her death); Hamlet - a person who always doubts everything (remember Hamlet's monologue, which begins with the words: "To be or not to be? - that is the question...").

Don Juan (from the comedy of the French playwright Jean Molière "Don Juan") and Don Quixote (from the novel by the Spanish writer Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra "The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of Lamanchesky") are not alike. The first is a man who spent his life in love adventures. Fans of such adventures are called Don Juan. The second is a disinterested, funny dreamer who wastes his strength in the struggle with “imaginary obstacles, does not consider that this struggle is useless, and causes only ridicule from everyone. Such visionary dreamers, far from real life, are called donquixotes. Rocinante - the name of the old emaciated horse of Don Quixote - has also become a household name: the exhausted old nag is jokingly called rocinante. Anecdotal stories about the German baron Munchausen and his incredible travels and adventures have been known for a long time. They were collected and in 1785 published in Oxford by R.E. Raspe translated into English under the title "Stories of Baron Munchausen about his wonderful travels and campaign in Russia." A person who shamelessly lies and boasts, like Munchausen, is called Munchausen.

Often there will be common nouns formed from the personal names of characters in literary works. To get to know them, try to determine what meaning the following proper names received by going into the category of common nouns: Harpagon, Quasimodo, Lovelace, Mephistopheles, Robinson, Rocambol, Tartuffe, Tartarin, Faust, Childe Harold, Scheherazade.

Russian classical literature is also rich in characters whose names (more precisely, surnames) began to be used as common nouns. Remember the actors of the comedy D.I. Fonvizin "Undergrowth" Prostakov, Mitrofanushka, Skotinin, Vralman. Who do we call Mitrofan? Mitrofan, or Mitrofanushka, is the name of a stupid half-educated youth. The ignorant coachman, who becomes Mitrofan's teacher, is the best suited for the "speaking" surname Vralman, which unambiguously characterizes its owner. Vralman means "braggart, liar, liar." In the comedy by A.S. Griboyedov “Woe from Wit” there are a number of surnames that have become common nouns, not to mention expressions that have turned into proverbs and sayings. Yes, and the meanings of surnames are well known to you. Recall: Famusov is "an arrogant bureaucrat-careerist, servile to those who are above him; the puffer is a rude martinet, recognizing nothing but service. Molchalin is an obsequious, hypocritical person, afraid - “to strike his opinion, and an unprincipled careerist; Repetilov is a talker who does not have his own thoughts and repeats other people's words. Researchers have calculated that of all the proper names of Gogol's characters, at least eleven have become common nouns. These are Manilov, Korobochka, Nozdrev, Plyushkin, Sobakevich, Khlestakov, Chichikov, Derzhimorda, Disrespect-Trough, Poprishchin and Tryapichkin are less known. It can be said about the dagger that this word was used to refer to a person with rude police inclinations. What is remarkable about Disrespect-Trough? About him N.V. Gogol says nothing. He only mentions this surname. And yet, it began to be used as a synonym for a rude, uncultured person. The word poprishchin is a maniac expressing crazy ideas, and the word tryapichkin is an unprincipled journalist-talker.

A person can also be characterized by such names as Gloomy-Grumbling, Balalaykin, Oblomov, Kit Kitych (Tit Titych), Pechorin, Rudin, Bazarov and others. These proper names have become common nouns, although they are sometimes written with a capital letter.

"Gogol does not write, but draws," said Belinsky. Indeed, the portraits and characters of his heroes seem to be drawn or, better to say, molded. The penetrating look of the writer allowed him to expose a whole negative cabinet of curiosities. A prominent place in it is occupied by a gallery of images of landowners. In "Dead Souls" Gogol created typical portraits of landowners, reflecting the characteristic features of an entire estate, revealed the spiritual impoverishment and moral degeneration of this class, although the writer himself did not think to draw such decisive conclusions.

In the image of the courteous, sweet-spoken Manilov, mismanaged, wasteful landowners are shown. Everything went by itself, fell into decay, the peasants got drunk and deceived the master. The owner's mind is occupied with an empty, unrealizable dream. It is not for nothing that the expression "Manilov's dreams" has become established in the sense of useless, lifeless fantasies. His speech is eloquent. Meanwhile, in two years Manilov read only 14 pages of a single book. Using the expression of Belinsky, we can say that Manilov is Oblomov's "elder brother", in which this landowner's laziness has reached an extreme degree.

Sobakevich appears completely different. This is a strong owner, who releases peasants for quitrent and earnings for his own benefit. This is the owner-fist. He is ready to sell everything, to rip off a hundred rubles even for dead souls. The whole atmosphere of his house, manners, appearance speak of the moral savagery of this gentleman. He is rude and cynic, does not even respect the people of his circle. Yes, it is difficult to imagine such a nobleman as a "white bone" and a "father of the peasants." From a social point of view, he is a past phenomenon, for he is an ardent enemy of all progress. With such "masters of life", of course, it was impossible to lead the country out of economic backwardness, although for the peasants Sobakevich is better than Plyushkin.

To match the possessive nature of Sobakevich and the "club-headed" Korobochka, who is slowly gaining money and is afraid to sell the "dead souls" cheaply.

The limit of human fall is Plyushkin. Although there are many images of misers in literature, this one is so strong that the word "plushkinism" as a synonym for extreme and senseless stinginess has firmly established itself. He became "a hole in humanity." The peasants are brought to such impoverishment that they flee from him in dozens and die in hundreds, and he claims that the people have acquired the habit of "cracking" from idleness. He himself also lives from hand to mouth, dresses like a beggar (Chichikov did not even recognize him as a gentleman, but thought he was a woman). His whole life passes in peeping out what can be hidden, in spying on the housekeeper, in quarrels with her, and at this time the good rots and dies. Plyushkin's soul turned to stone, his feelings dulled. Disgust seizes the reader when thinking about this man.

The perfect opposite of Plushkin is Nozdrev. This one is ready to change everything, lose, skip, does not miss the opportunity to defame, deceive another, take away from him what he liked. He is also dishonest in cards, because cheating is in his blood. True, and the beat happened for it. His energy is amazing. But all of it is wasted on trifles and to the detriment of people. He is ready to take on the most fantastic undertaking. His boasting goes beyond measure. The language itself lies for no reason or benefit. His name has become a household name for an impudent liar, reveler and buzzer.

In the second volume of "Dead Souls" Gogol enriched his collection of "dead souls" of landowners. We see Pyotr Petrovich Petukh, whose whole life goes from one meal to another, so he has absolutely no time to be bored. All thoughts are directed to how it would be tastier to cook food. His estate is mortgaged, but his grief is not enough. We also meet Khlobuev, completely unadapted to life, who ruined his family, sells the estate, but immediately gives dinner with the money received.

The image of Costanjoglo stands apart. Undoubtedly, there were such exceptions in Russia. There were active, enterprising nobles who, along with the wool from the peasants, did not even skin them. But they were not typical. The landowners' farms were ruined, plushkins, manilovs and nostrils were more characteristic. That is why Gogol did not succeed in the type of a good landowner.

After analyzing the images of the feudal lords in the poem, we can say that the system is vicious, in which sobakeviches, boxes, manilovs, plushkins and the like are the masters of life, control the fate of people, live national wealth.

The landlords are long gone, but Gogol's poem does not die. The images he created became the property of Russian literature, and the names of these heroes became common nouns. It was not for nothing that Herzen said about his types that "we met them at every step" and with the help of Gogol "we finally saw them without embellishment."

This is not a rule, but in life it often happens that cruel and heartless people who insult and humiliate the dignity of others end up looking weaker and more insignificant than their victims. Even Democritus once said that “the one who commits injustice is more unfortunate than the one who suffers unjustly.”

The same impression of spiritual miserliness and fragility from the offenders of the petty official Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin remains with us after reading Gogol's story "The Overcoat", from which, according to Dostoevsky's figurative expression, all Russian literature came out.

“No, I can’t take it anymore! What are they doing to me!.. They don’t understand, they don’t see, they don’t listen to me…” Many of the great writers responded to this prayer of the hero of Gogol’s story, comprehended and developed the image of the “little man” in their own way in their work. This image, discovered by Pushkin, after the appearance of the “Overcoat” became one of the central ones in the literature of the 40s. The theme opened the way for the depiction of the “followers” ​​of Akaky Akakievich in the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nekrasov, Ostrovsky, Tolstoy, Bunin, Chekhov, Andreev. Many of them tried to see in the "little man" their little hero, "their brother" with his inherent feelings of kindness, gratitude and nobility.

What is a "little man"? What is the meaning of "small"? This person is small precisely in social terms, since he occupies one of the lower rungs of the hierarchical ladder. His place in society is little or not noticeable. This person is “small” also because the world of his spiritual life and human claims is also narrowed to the extreme, impoverished, furnished with all sorts of prohibitions and taboos. For him, for example, there are no historical and philosophical problems. He lives in a narrow and closed circle of his vital interests.

Gogol characterizes the protagonist of his story as a poor, ordinary, insignificant and inconspicuous person. In life, he was assigned the insignificant role of a copyist of departmental documents. Brought up in an atmosphere of unquestioning obedience and execution of orders from his superiors, Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin was not used to reflecting on the content and meaning of his work. That is why, when he is offered tasks that require the manifestation of elementary ingenuity, he begins to worry, worry, and in the end comes to the conclusion: “No, it’s better to let me rewrite something.”

The spiritual life of Bashmachkin is in tune with his inner aspirations. Collecting money for the purchase of an overcoat becomes for him the goal and meaning of life, filling it with the happiness of waiting for the fulfillment of a cherished desire. The theft of an overcoat acquired through such great deprivation and suffering becomes a disaster for him. Those around him only laughed at his misfortune, but no one helped him. The “significant person” yelled at him so much that the poor fellow lost consciousness. Almost no one noticed the death of Akaky Akakievich, which followed shortly after his illness.

Despite the “uniqueness” of the image of Bashmachkin created by Gogol, he does not look lonely in the mind of the reader, and we imagine that there were a great many of the same small, humiliated people who shared the fate of Akaky Akakievich. In this generalization of the image of the “little man”, the genius of the writer, who satirically presented society itself, which generates arbitrariness and violence, was reflected. In this environment, the cruelty and indifference of people to each other is increasing more and more. Gogol was one of the first who spoke openly and loudly about the tragedy of the “little man”, respect for which depended not on his spiritual qualities, not on education and intelligence, but on his position in society. The writer compassionately showed the injustice and despotism of society towards the “little man” and for the first time urged him to pay attention to these inconspicuous, pitiful and ridiculous, as it seemed at first glance, people.

“There can be no close relationship between us. Judging by the buttons of your uniform, you must serve in another department.” So, according to the buttons of a uniform, according to other external signs, the attitude towards a person is determined immediately and forever. This is how the human personality is “trampled”. She loses her dignity, because a person not only evaluates others by wealth and nobility, but also himself.

Gogol urged society to look at the "little man" with understanding and pity. “Mother, save your poor son!” - the author will write. Indeed, some offenders of Akaky Akakievich suddenly understood this and began to experience pangs of conscience. One young employee, who decided, like everyone else, to play a trick on Bashmachkin, stopped, struck by his words: “Leave me, why are you offending me?” And the young man shuddered when he saw “how much inhumanity there is in man, how much ferocious rudeness is hidden...”.

Calling for justice, the author raises the question of the need to punish the inhumanity of society. As revenge and compensation for the humiliation and insults suffered during his lifetime, Akaky Akakievich, who rose from the grave in the epilogue, is a passer-by and takes away their overcoats and fur coats. He calms down only when he takes away the overcoat from the "significant person" who played a tragic role in the life of a small official.

The meaning of the fantastic episode of the resurrection of Akaky Akakievich and his meeting with a “significant person” is that even in the life of the most seemingly insignificant person there are moments when he can become a person in the highest sense of the word. Tearing off the overcoat from a high-ranking person, Bashmachkin becomes in his own eyes and in the eyes of millions of people like him, humiliated and insulted people, a hero, able to stand up for himself and respond to the inhumanity and injustice of the world around him. In this form, the revenge of the “little man” on bureaucratic Petersburg was expressed.

The talented depiction in poetry, literature, as well as in other forms of art, of the life of the “little man” revealed to a wide range of readers and viewers that uncomplicated, but close to them, truth that the life and “windings” of the souls of “ordinary people” are no less more interesting than the lives of prominent personalities. Penetrating into this life, Gogol and his followers, in turn, discovered for themselves new facets of the human character and the spiritual world of man. The democratization of the artist's approach to the depicted reality led to the fact that the characters he created in critical moments of their lives could become on a par with the most significant personalities.

In his story, Gogol concentrated his main attention on the fate of the personality of the “little man”, but this was done with such skill and penetration that, empathizing with Bashmachkin, the reader involuntarily thinks about his attitude to the whole world around him, and first of all about a sense of dignity. and respect that every person should arouse for himself, regardless of his social and financial situation, but only taking into account his personal qualities and merits.

The poem "Vasily Terkin" was written by A.T. Tvardovsky based on the personal experience of the author - a participant in the Great Patriotic War. In terms of genre, this is a free narrative-chronicle (“A book about a fighter, without beginning, without end ...”), which covers the entire history of the war - from the tragic retreat to the Victory. The chapters of the poem highlight different facets and aspects of the events of the war: “On a halt”, “Before the battle”, “Crossing”, “Accordion”, “On the offensive”, “On the Dnieper”, etc. The core of the poem is the image of the protagonist - Private Vasily Terkin. He has no real prototype. This is a collective image that combines the main typical features of the spiritual appearance and character of an "ordinary" Russian soldier.

Terkin - who is he? Let's be frank:

Just a guy himself He is ordinary.

However, the guy at least where,

Guy like that

In each company there is always

Yes, and in every platoon ...

The image of Terkin has folklore roots, it is “a hero, a fathom in his shoulders”, “a merry fellow”, “an experienced person”. Behind the illusion of rusticity, jokes, mischief, there is a moral sensitivity and an inherent sense of filial duty to the Motherland, the ability to accomplish a feat without phrase and pose.

The feat of a soldier in the war is shown by Tvardovsky as everyday and hard military labor - a battle, a transition to new positions, an overnight stay in a trench or right on the ground, "shielding from black death only with his own back." And the hero who accomplishes this feat is an ordinary, simple soldier:

A man of simple leaven, That in battle is not a stranger to fear ... Now serious, now amusing, ... He goes - a saint and a sinner ...

In the image of Terkin, Tvardovsky emphasizes the best qualities of the Russian character - courage, perseverance, resourcefulness, optimism and great devotion to his native land.

Our mother earth is ours. In days of trouble and in days of victories You are not brighter and more beautiful, And there is no more desirable heart ...

It is in the defense of the Motherland, life on earth that the justice of the people's Patriotic War lies ("The battle is on, holy and right, a mortal battle is not for the sake of glory, for the sake of life on earth ...").

In Terkin, every front-line soldier recognized himself. The hero has become a household name.

Common surnames. Stories of people we no longer remember, but whose names we still pronounce

The word "hooligan" was once the surname of an Irish family who lived in the London Borough of Southwark. Its members were distinguished by a violent temper: rowdy, participated in pogroms and robberies. A gang of Hooligans is mentioned in police reports in 1894 and newspaper chronicles in London at the end of the 19th century. Some sources mention the head of the gang - a young Irishman Patrick Hooligan: he worked as a bouncer, and in his spare time, together with his brothers, robbed and beat people on the streets.

Hooligan Photo: Yury Melnikov

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the image of the Hooligans acquired humorous shades: in England a cheerful song was composed about the Irish family, in the USA a family representative became the hero of newspaper comics, which were published in the New York Journal from 1900 to 1932, and then the film. The image of the "happy hooligan" has become the most popular work of the artist Frederic Burr Opper.

In 1904, Arthur Conan Doyle (The Six Napoleons) used the phrase "hooligan actions" in his story. The Hooligan family is long gone, and the word has firmly entered the lexicon of many languages ​​​​of the world.[

Pizza "Margherita"

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Her Majesty Margherita of Savoy, wife of King Umberto I of Italy, took an active part in the cultural life of Italy and supported charitable institutions in every possible way - especially the Red Cross. With its help, exhibitions were opened and new names sounded. But her own name soon began to sound in an unexpected context. This is the story passed from mouth to mouth.

In 1889, King Umberto and his wife, while relaxing in their summer residence near Naples, suddenly expressed a desire to try what the people eat. And the most common food for the poor was pizza. The court cook owned the secrets of a more refined cuisine, but he was powerless here - he had to urgently attract a magician from outside.

It turned out to be the owner of the best pizzeria in Naples, Rafaelo Esposito. He came to the royal couple with three pizzas: two traditional ones and a third made especially for the occasion - with red cherry tomatoes, green basil and white mozzarella, which matched the colors of the Italian flag. The Queen liked this pizza the most and was named after Her Majesty.

brutus

An ironic nickname for treacherous friends. Often used as part of the expression: "And you, Brutus!" It came from the name of the Roman senator Mark Junius Brutus Caepion, who, being close and friend of Caesar, took part in a conspiracy against him and participated in the murder. When the attack began, Caesar tried to resist, but when he saw Brutus, according to legend, he said: “And you, Brutus!”, fell silent and no longer resisted. This story became famous thanks to Shakespeare and his tragedy "Julius Caesar" - the name Brutus began to be perceived as a synonym for betrayal and deceit of loved ones.

Uncle Sam

The image of Uncle Sam is associated with both the US government and the United States as a whole. He is portrayed either as a kind merry fellow, or as an evil old man, depending on his attitude towards America.

The prototype of this image, according to legend, was the meat supplier Samuel Wilson, who brought beef to American soldiers at the base during the Anglo-American War of 1812-1815. He signed the barrels of meat U.S., referring to the United States. Once, when the Irish watchman was asked what these letters meant, he deciphered by the name of the supplier: Uncle Sam. The soldiers liked this answer very much and at first it became an army joke, and then, thanks to the newspapers, it spread both in the USA and in the world.

Especially famous is the image of Uncle Sam, depicted on a campaign poster. “I need you in the U.S. Army,” the angry man says, pointing his finger at the viewer. The image was created by artist James Montgomery Flagg in 1917 and was used to recruit recruits during the First and Second World Wars. Subsequently, the author admitted that he drew Uncle Sam from himself. In 1961, the US Congress passed a resolution officially recognizing Samuel Wilson as the prototype of Uncle Sam.

Grog

This drink, like its name, appeared in the 18th century thanks to the British admiral Edward Vernon, whom the sailors behind his eyes called Old Grog (Old Grog) because of his cloak made of thick material - fai (English grogram). In those days, the daily diet of sailors of the British Royal Navy included a portion of undiluted rum - half a pint, which is a little less than 300 ml. Rum was used as a preventative against scurvy and other diseases, and also served as an alternative to water supplies that quickly deteriorated at sea.

Edward Vernon

However, Admiral Vernon considered the legal half-pint too large a portion, especially since the British were losing the war with the Spaniards. In 1740, Old Grog decided to put an end to drunkenness and debauchery on board and ordered half-diluted rum to be served to sailors with the addition of heated or cold water and squeezed lemon juice. The drink was nicknamed "grog", or "rum on three waters." At first, the sailors were unhappy with the changes, but it soon became clear that the "grog" helps prevent scurvy, which was scientifically proven by the Scottish physician James Lind in 1947. Shortly thereafter, Edward Vernon's drink officially entered the diet of all sailors in the British Royal Navy.

Chauvinism

The word "chauvinism" comes from the name of the Napoleonic soldier Nicolas Chauvin, who especially zealously served Napoleon and France and had a habit of expressing his patriotism in pathos of the common people. He became the subject of the 1821 play The Farmer Soldier, the 1831 vaudeville The Tricolor Cockade, and the engravings of the draftsman Charlet. And in the 1840s, the word "chauvinism" was already firmly established as a common noun. In 1945, the geographer, traveler and playwright Jacques Arago, the author of the article “Chauvinism”, wrote about him this way: “Nicolas Chauvin, the one to whom the French language owes the appearance of the word in the title of this article, was born in Rochefort. At the age of 18, he became a soldier and since then participated in all campaigns. 17 times he was wounded, and wounded only in the chest and never in the back; three fingers amputated, a broken arm, a terrible scar on his forehead, a saber presented as a reward for courage, a red ribbon, a pension of 200 francs - this is what this old warrior has accumulated over his long life ... It would be difficult to find a more noble patron for chauvinism ".

The surname of the private comes from the word "bald" (Calvinus) and is common in France, today it has become synonymous with nationalism, while the comic component is almost forgotten.

Guppy

A small viviparous fish from South America is named after the British Robert John Lechmer Guppy. This man lived an amazing life: at the age of 18 he left England and went on a sea voyage. However, the ship on which he sailed was shipwrecked off the coast of New Zealand. After that, the young man spent two years among the Maori and did not waste time: he made a map of the area. He then moved to Trinidad and Tobago, where he studied wildlife and paleontology, published several scientific papers and became president of the local scientific community, although he did not have a special education. The British were extremely interested in small fish that lived in the fresh waters of Trinidad. In 1866, a naturalist sent one of these specimens to London for cataloging and scientific description. The then curator of zoology at the British Museum, Carl Günther, named the fish Girardinus guppii in honor of the discoverer. And although it soon became clear that Robert Guppy was not the discoverer of fish and the German ichthyologist Wilhelm Peters had already described them a little earlier, the name “guppies” had already been fixed and became international.

In 1886 Robert Guppy returned to England to give a lecture to the members of the Royal Society. He also spoke about the amazing fish, which, according to the inhabitants of Trinidad, do not spawn, but give birth to live young. This caused ridicule from the scientific community - they considered Guppy a naive amateur who bought into the fiction of the Trinidadians. But soon guppy fish were brought to England, and scientists could no longer deny the obvious.

Saxophone

The name of the Belgian musical master Adolphe Sax is immortalized in the musical instrument saxophone. He invented it in the middle of the 19th century in Paris, having remade it from a clarinet. But Sax did not come up with the name “saxophone” himself: at the Brussels Industrial Exhibition in 1841, he presented his development under the name “mouthpiece ophicleid”. The French composer Hector Berlioz, a friend of the inventor, called the instrument a saxophone in an article devoted to the invention, and the word immediately became popular.

Sachs' competitors haunted him, and before he could patent the instrument and his name, they were already suing him, accusing him of fraud and falsification. The judges issued an absurd decision: "a musical instrument called "saxophone" does not exist and cannot exist," and five months later Sachs managed to prove the opposite and receive a patent in August 1846. Nevertheless, the attacks on the talented inventor of musical instruments did not stop: competitors, provoking trials and accusations of plagiarism, brought Adolf Sachs to ruin. Having lived to be 80 years old, the author of saxophones and saxhorns died in poverty long before the invention of jazz.

Masochism

The word "masochism" was formed on behalf of the Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, who in his novels described despotic women and weak men who take pleasure in humiliation and punishment ("The Divorced Woman", "Venus in Furs"). In 1866, the German psychiatrist and neuropathologist Richard von Kraft-Ebing coined this term and suggested using it in the emerging science of sexology. By the way, a curious fact: Sacher-Masoch comes from Lviv, which during the life of the writer was Lemberg and belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 2008, two sights appeared in Lviv in honor of the writer: "Masoch-cafe" and a monument.

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch

The atmosphere of the masochistic works of Sacher-Masoch is recreated in the cafe: red color and objects of violence dominate - chains, handcuffs, lashes, etc. which you can see changing erotic pictures. And inside there is a “secret”: if you put your hand into the pocket of the monument, you can touch his manhood… and rub it “for good luck”.

Sandwich

A sandwich with two slices of bread and a filling inside was named after the fourth Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu (1718-1792). According to one version, which is more like an anecdote than a true story, the count was an avid gambler and during one of the long games in 1762 he asked the cook to fry a couple of pieces of bread, and put roast beef between them - so he could hold a sandwich and play cards without messing them up. However, given the high position of John Montagu, who was an English diplomat and First Lord of the Admiralty, another legend seems more convincing.

In the 1770s, the round-the-world expedition of James Cook took place, and it was the Earl of Sandwich who was engaged in the preparation of this voyage. He probably had no time to be distracted by food, and hesimple and convenient fast food - sandwich. By the way, James Cook highly appreciated Montagu's contribution to the organization of circumnavigation, giving his name to three open geographical objects at once: the South Sandwich Islands, the main island in this archipelago - Montagu, as well as the Hawaiian Islands, which Cook originally christened the Sandwich Islands (this name was used until the middle of the 20th century).

Boycott

The word "boycott" owes its appearance to the British Charles Boycott, who worked as a manager for Lord Erne, a landowner in the west of Ireland. In 1880, workers refused to harvest and went on strike under the leadership of the local union, the Land League of Ireland. The people of Boycott's County Mayo fought for fair rents, the right to remain on the land, and the right to freely purchase land. When the manager tried to stop their protests, the Irish began to ignore the Englishman in every possible way: they stopped greeting him, sat down from him in church, and local sellers refused to serve him in stores. The campaign against the Boycott was widely reported in the British press, and although he soon left Ireland, his name had already become a household name, spread around the world and lived a life of its own. By the way, that harvest cost the government dearly: it was necessary to spend ten times more to protect the fields and sent workers than the harvest itself cost.

Stroganov

There are Russian heroes among the generous people who donated their names. So, in the word "beef stroganoff" you can hear the name of Count Alexander Stroganov. The invention of this dish of beef and tomato-sour cream sauce belongs not to the count himself, but to his French chef - hence the word formation in the French manner: bœuf Stroganoff, that is, “Stroganoff-style beef”. According to one legend, the cook came up with food personally for the count when he was old and chewed food badly due to lack of teeth.

Alexander Grigorievich Stroganov

According to another, beef stroganoff was invented in Odessa for those who dined at Stroganov's. In the middle of the 19th century, the count became the governor-general of Novorossiysk and Bessarabia, after which he received the title of honorary citizen of Odessa. Being such an important person, he organized an "open table": any educated person in a decent suit could come to his dinners. At the behest of the count, the cook came up with a convenient and quick way to cook meat, which, due to small cuts into pieces, was easy to divide into portions.

Carpaccio

Vittore Carpaccio is an early Renaissance painter who lived and worked in Venice, the most independent Italian city. The most successful is his cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of St. Ursula. In it, the master immortalized his native city: gondolas, high arcades of bridges, majestic palazzos, squares filled with a motley crowd...

More than four centuries later, in 1950, a large exhibition of the artist was held in Venice. At the same time, a new dish was served for the first time in the famous Venetian "Harry's Bar": beef fillet seasoned with a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice, accompanied by parmesan, arugula and cherry tomatoes. The recipe was invented by the owner of the establishment, Giuseppe Cipriani, especially for Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo, who was forbidden by doctors to eat cooked meat. Remembering how many shades of red Vittore Carpaccio used in his palette, Giuseppe decided to name a new dish in his honor. So they reunited - the artist and the beef fillet.

Attic

The carpenter's son Francois Mansart did not receive a systematic education, but his love for architecture and talent allowed him to become one of the greatest masters of the French Baroque. Oddly enough, the desire for perfection undermined his professional reputation: if Mansart was not satisfied with what was done, he could demolish what had already been built and start doing it again, which is why he was accused of waste and neglect of the interests of the customer. Thus, he lost the order for the reconstruction of the Louvre and the royal tomb in Saint-Denis, and the construction of the famous palace in Versailles, Louis XIV entrusted his rival Louis Levo. Nevertheless, the name Mansara has been on everyone's lips for four centuries.

Architect Francois Mansart

In most of his projects, the architect used the steep, kinked roof traditional for France, equipping it with windows for the first time in history. Thus, a double effect was achieved: decorative and practical. The rooms arranged under the rafters turned from dark closets into quite habitable apartments. Having a residential attic (as the French called the premises) has become not only fashionable, but also profitable: from the attic, which was not considered a full-fledged floor, taxes were not taken from homeowners.

Nicotine

The French diplomat Jean Villeman Nico was ambassador to Portugal from 1559 to 1561, where he had the mission of facilitating the marriage of Princess Marguerite de Valois and the infant King Sebastian of Portugal. He did not succeed in his task, but he brought tobacco to his homeland and introduced the fashion at court to sniff it. The novelty was liked by the Queen Mother Catherine de Medici and the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Jean Parisot de la Valette. Soon the fashion spread throughout Paris, and the plant was called Nicotiana.

In the future, tobacco has been repeatedly studied. The substances obtained by distillation were used for skin diseases, asthma and epilepsy. Nicotine itself was discovered in 1828 by German chemists Christian Posselot and Carl Reimann. They named the alkaloid in honor of the ambassador-enthusiast, who “hooked” the whole of Paris on tobacco in the 16th century.

Cardigan

James Thomas Bradnell, aka the 7th Earl of Cardigan, was famous for his impeccable taste and was known as a fashionista. He did not lose these properties in military service, where he led a cavalry brigade that took part in the Battle of Balaklava in 1854. Considering that it is necessary to look elegant even in battle, Lord Cardigan acquired a new uniform for the 11th Hussars at his own expense. And in case of frost, he came up with a jacket without a collar and lapels, large knit, with buttons to the very bottom, which should be worn under a uniform. The innovation, which the grateful warriors named after the commander, quickly gained fans in civilian life.

Later, the excitement subsided, but a century later, the fashion for cardigans was revived - now they have become a sign of belonging to Bohemia. Marilyn Monroe's photo session, where she poses on the beach in a rough-knit cardigan on her naked body, especially strengthened their positions. And now this cozy clothes have not lost their relevance and are in the wardrobe of almost everyone.

Shrapnel

From a certain moment, the affairs of Lieutenant of the Royal Artillery of the British Army, Henry Shrapnel, quickly went uphill: in 1803 he received the rank of major, the next - lieutenant colonel, and ten years later he was assigned a salary of £ 1200 from the British government. A little later, he was promoted to the rank of general. This was preceded by some event.

In 1784, Henry invented a new kind of projectile. The grenade was a solid hollow sphere, inside of which there was lead shot and a charge of gunpowder. It was distinguished from other similar ones by the presence in the body of a hole for the ignition tube. When fired, the gunpowder in the tube ignited. When it burned out during the flight, the fire passed to the powder charge located in the grenade itself. There was an explosion, and the body shattered into fragments, along with bullets that struck the enemy. Of interest was the ignition tube, the length of which could be changed immediately before the shot, thereby adjusting the range of the projectile. The invention quickly demonstrated its effectiveness - it won’t kill, it will cripple - and was named shrapnel after the inventor.

Very interesting origin stories have words associated with real historical figures, for example, scientists, writers, or entrepreneurs who did not leave the public of their time indifferent. It is for this reason that their names have become common nouns. Words-eponyms, and that is how they are called in etymology, are often found, we just do not know or do not think about their existence.

Boycott- British manager in Ireland Charles Boycott (1832–1897). The Irish refused to farm his land and began a campaign to isolate Boycott from the local community.

Cardigan- This piece of clothing was named in honor of General James Thomas Brandnell, the seventh head of the County of Cardigan. It is he who is credited with the invention of this piece of clothing, which was intended to insulate a uniform uniform.

Chauvinism- Nicolas Chauvin, a French soldier who expressed in his speeches his love for France and for Napoleon Bonaparte in particular. Extremely pathetic.

Whatman This is high quality white paper. It got its name in honor of the English paper manufacturer James Whatman, who in the mid-1750s introduced a new paper form that made it possible to obtain sheets of paper without traces of a grid.

riding breeches- the name of this cut of trousers is given by the name of the French general Gaston Galifet (1830–1909), who introduced them for cavalrymen. Then the riding breeches were borrowed by other armies, and even later entered the daily men's and women's wardrobe.

Guppy- Robert John Lemcher Guppy, an English priest and scientist, in 1886 made a report to members of the Royal Society, in which he spoke about fish that do not spawn, but give birth to live young. And, by the way, was ridiculed.

Sweatshirt- this popular type of clothing is named after the great Leo Tolstoy, although the writer himself wore a shirt of a different cut.

Guillotine- the French doctor Joseph-Ignace Guyotin, although he did not invent this means of execution, but in 1789 for the first time proposed to cut off heads using this mechanism. This was considered "more humane."

Tapestry- the word originated in France in the 17th century, after the royal Gobelin manufactory opened. Their products were very popular, and in some countries everything that was done using the tapestry weaving technique was called a tapestry.

Russian salad- everyone's favorite salad got its name in honor of its creator, chef Lucien Olivier, who kept the Hermitage restaurant of Parisian cuisine in Moscow in the early 60s of the 19th century. True, the original recipe is completely different from the modern familiar version.
Olivier took:
meat of two boiled hazel grouses,
one boiled veal tongue,
added about 100 grams of black pressed caviar,
200 grams of fresh lettuce,
25 boiled crayfish or 1 can of lobster
half a can of very small pickled cucumbers (pickuli),
half a can of soy kabul - this is a kind of soy sauce-paste produced at that time (a similarity to the Yuzhny and Moskovsky sauces later produced in the USSR, which also contained soy hydrolyzate),
two chopped fresh cucumbers,
100 grams of capers (a prickly vegetable crop, in which flower buds are pickled),
finely chopped five hard-boiled eggs.
This delicacy was seasoned with Provence sauce, which was to be prepared with "French vinegar, two fresh egg yolks and a pound (400 grams) of Provence olive oil."

Begonia- named after the French nobleman Michel Begon (1638-1710). He was quartermaster of the French colonies in the Caribbean and organized a scientific expedition to the Antilles to collect plants.

Masochism- The Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1836–1895) described in his novels The Divorced Woman and Venus in Furs how despotic women mocked weak men. From there, this term appeared.

Maecenas- the name comes from the name of the Roman Gaius Cilnius Maecenas, who patronized the arts under the emperor Augustus.

Lovelace- Sir Robert Lovelace is a character in Samuel Richardson's Clarissa, written in 1748. According to the plot of this work, a handsome aristocrat insidiously seduces the 16-year-old main character.

Saxophone- the instrument is named after the Belgian inventor of musical instruments, Adolphe Sax (1814–1894).

Sandwich- John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718–1792), an English minister and avid gambler, is said to have invented this sandwich while playing cribbage. The game had been going on for several hours, and the minister could not distract himself to eat. John Montagu asked to be served meat sandwiched between two slices of bread. His fellow players really liked this way of eating, because they did not have to break away from the game, and they also ordered sandwich bread.

Silhouette- Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767) was comptroller general of finance in France under Louis XV and taxed the outward signs of wealth (doors and windows, farms, luxuries, servants, profits). In retaliation, his name was associated with so-called "cheap painting" ”, when instead of an expensive portrait you can simply circle the shadow of a person - cheaper and faster.

Mausoleum- this type of burial structures is named after the magnificent tomb of the Carian king Mausolus in the city of Halicarnassus in the territory of modern Turkey.