Reports and messages in the Russian language

To the topic: ETYMOLOGY

Words, like people, have their own history, their own destiny. They can have relatives, a rich pedigree, and, on the contrary, be complete orphans. The Word can tell us about one's nationality, about one's parents, about one's origin.

Etymology- a branch of the science of language that studies the origin of words. Etymology also studies all the changes that occur in the life of words. And changes in the language are constantly taking place: new words appear, new meanings for long-familiar words, and sometimes it even happens that a word suddenly changes its sound. For example, the words bee, bull and insect, it turns out, came from the same word to thrash. Now this word has left the language, it has been forgotten by everyone, but once it was familiar to everyone and was used in the meaning of "buzz", "buzz". And today it would never occur to anyone to call a bull, a bee and an insect with relative words, although etymologically this is so.

Some words have changed not the sound, but the meaning. For example, today we call the word guest a person who came to visit us, and in ancient times this was the name of a visiting merchant (these were the guests in the fairy tale of A. Pushkin called by Tsar Saltan).

Once upon a time, the word dashing meant "bad", "bad", and today it is used in almost the opposite sense - "daring", "brave".

One more example. Today, the word contagion has 2 meanings: it denotes a curse, and is also used in the meaning of "source of an infectious disease." But at the end of the 18th century, the word contagion was used to mean "charm", "attractiveness".

In a word, this science is very interesting - etymology! And it often happens that the story of the origin of a word turns out to be more fascinating than another detective story.

You will learn about the origin of some words, as well as set phrases (they are called phraseological units) in our language, by reading the following pages.

Palm

Our ancestors once sounded the word palm quite differently: palm. And the meaning of the word was this: the side of the hand facing the valley (that is, down to the ground). Over time, there was a rearrangement of sounds in the word dolon, and it began to sound differently: lodon. And then (under the influence of the akanya dominating in the literary language) the unstressed vowel o in the word passed into a: palm. So it turned out the modern spelling and pronunciation of this word familiar to all of us.

However, related words still live in the language in their original form: valley (lowland), hem (bottom of clothing), Podolsk (city in the river valley).

Umbrella

Everyone knows and understands this word - it would seem that it is the most common. But it also has an interesting history.

It came to us from Holland, having traveled across 2 seas, along with the umbrella itself, which in Dutch is called "zonnedek", which means "tire" or "covering from the sun." But the word "zonnedek" turned out to be extremely inconvenient and unusual for our pronunciation. Therefore, they began to remake it in a Russian way: they began to pronounce it according to the model of the words already existing in the language, bow, edging.

So from the zonedeks an umbrella turned out. The resulting word even began to lead its own independent life. When they want to talk about a large umbrella, they change it again according to the model: bow - bow, edging - edging, umbrella - umbrella. As a result, the word umbrella turned out, as you can see, even less similar to the sonnedek borrowed from the Dutch.

Carousel

Of course, you have often ridden wooden horses or carousel boats, but you probably haven’t wondered why, in addition to ordinary seats, there are wooden horses and boats on the carousel? And boats and horses got on the carousel not by chance.

Several centuries ago, during the Middle Ages, there were magnificent knightly holidays - tournaments. Armed knights, clad in iron, riding mighty horses, engaged in single combat with each other. Often such knightly duels ended in death, but they did not see anything special in this, and did not even consider such an outcome a crime. The French king Henry II once also decided to take part in a jousting tournament and compete with the famous knight Montgomery in strength and dexterity. This tournament took place in 1559, and in it King Henry II was mortally wounded. Since then jousting has been banned. Instead, they began to arrange solemn races in a circle. Such races were called "carousel" (from the Italian words carola - round dance and sella - saddle), which literally means "round dance in the saddle."

The most brilliant carousels were arranged in Paris during the reign of King Louis XIV. In front of the royal palace of the Tuileries, magnificently dressed horsemen with their luxurious ladies passed by. They divided into parties, gathered and dispersed, forming beautiful figures.

During the French Revolution of 1789, carousels, more accessible to the common people, were invented - revolving structures with horses and boats. In this form, the carousel has survived to this day.

pull the gimp

When we do something very slowly, they say about us: "The rope is pulling." This expression came from the recent past, when in Russia in needlework a metal thread was used for embroidery. It took a lot of work for the craftsmen to pull such a thread from a red-hot wire. This thread was called "gimp". Embroidering with it was also very difficult, slow and painstaking work. At the same time, the expression to pull the rigmarole was born. Now no one knows what the gimp looked like, and needlewomen have not embroidered in this way for a long time, but the expression has been preserved in the language.

Easier than a steamed turnip

Turnip- the most ancient vegetable in Russia. Our ancestors loved both raw, and boiled, and steamed turnips. The turnip dish was quick and very easy to prepare. Since then, the expression has become simpler than a steamed turnip. So they say that it is easy to do.

Register Izhitsa

Izhitsa- the ancient name of the last letter of the ancient Slavic alphabet.

How is this letter related to the threat of punishment? After all, to prescribe Izhitsa means "to teach a lesson, to punish", as well as "to make a suggestion to someone."

Such an expression arose in the old school environment, in the everyday life of the students. And the thing is that in the ancient Slavic alphabet there were 3 very insidious letters: fita, yat and zhitsa - they became symbols of the difficulty of writing. These letters were written in a few words (or in several dozen words), which had to be remembered, memorized, memorized. "The bellies let down because of fita," the students who mastered the intricacies of writing used to say in the old days. Fita was called at that time a school literate, wisecrack, who mastered complex skills with incredible efforts. And they said this about loafers: "Fita and Izhitsa - the whip is approaching the lazy." To prescribe Izhitsa literally meant "to flog with rods for what was not learned."

It is curious that in its external image, the Izhitsa resembled an inverted whip or a bunch of rods. Hence, in all likelihood, the playfully ironic spelling of Izhitsu arose.

Over time, this expression went beyond the school jargon and acquired a more general meaning: "to cruelly punish someone, to teach a lesson." Now it is usually used as an expression of a threat and is a synonym for phraseological units: show where the crayfish hibernate; show Kuz'kin's mother.

There is no truth at the feet

"Sit down, because there is no truth at your feet," - this is how the Russian people have long said.

There are different versions of the origin of this expression. A connoisseur of the folk language and an interpreter of Russian winged expressions, S. Maksimov connects the phrase truth in the feet with a medieval Russian judicial custom, which was called pravez. Pravezh is not even a court, but rather a reprisal against the debtor, in which he was beaten on his bare feet and heels or forced to stand in the snow without boots and bast shoes. At that time, such sayings appeared as to look for the truth in the legs; the soul has sinned, but the feet are to blame; give time, do not knock down and some others.

Over time, the right rule has become a thing of the past, but the memory of it has remained in folk speech, in its live use, and the expression in the feet of truth has even become playful. Indeed, in the old days a person who came to a house and stood, shifting from foot to foot, did not know where to start, resembled a debtor on the right. It was then that a playful saying came to the rescue, which invited the guest to sit down and start a leisurely conversation: sit down, there is no truth at your feet, that is, "there is nothing to stand on ceremony, let's sit in a row and talk okay." Many of the expressions familiar to us are actually associated with ancient and long-forgotten customs, beliefs and rituals.

Cow and loaf

In ancient times, the word for people was not just a designation of objects and concepts - it was a symbol. People were sure that the word had magical powers, that they could prevent evil and call for good luck. Do you want to know why, for example, we do not call cow meat the word Korovin? And where did the word beef come from? And what does the word beef have in common with the word loaf?

In the language of the ancient Indo-Europeans, there was one word for any cattle - beef. And the word cow had the meaning of "horned beef." And cows in those ancient times were raised by people not at all for meat and milk, but for sacrifices to their gods. And only when people began to eat cow's milk, they replaced the real animal in the rituals of sacrifice with a horned figure baked from dough - a cow. It was believed that such a sacrifice should bring happiness and prosperity, so they sentenced like this:

Like our birthdays
We baked a loaf!
That's such a height!
That's such a height!
Caravan, caravan,
Whom do you want to choose!

Now it’s hard to believe that the words cow and loaf are generally somehow connected with each other. But in fact, the word loaf was formed from the word cow.

Mittens, gloves, mittens

It is believed that of all the words listed, the most ancient is mittens. The antiquity of this word is indicated by its distribution in all or almost all Slavic languages ​​- in Polish, Slovak, Czech, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian.

The word mitten is made up of 2 roots: the first root is easy to determine - this is a hand, the second one is known to us in the verb to twist. It turns out that a mitten means "wrapping a hand". It is interesting that in many Slavic languages ​​there is the word nogavitsa - the name for special clothes on the leg, that is, "wrap around the leg." In the Slovak language, legs are "trousers, trousers", Poles and Czechs call legs "legs", in Slovenian, legs are "stockings or socks". And in the monuments of ancient Russian writing, both words are often found - leggings and mittens.

But with the word gloves, the story is different. At first, the phrase “pen or finger mittens” was used in the language (such a name can be found in the Smolensk charter of 1229). Over time, the phrase was replaced by one word gloves, but the old root of the finger, that is, "finger", is clearly visible everywhere. Gloves are mittens with fingers (with fingers).

But about the origin of the word mittens, there is not even one version. For example, M. Vasmer believed that the word mittens and the word varegs, known in Russian dialects, were formed from a combination of Varangian mittens. Another version (fixed in the Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language, edited by N. Shansky) says that the words varegi and mittens are derived from the Old Russian verbs variti and varovati, used in the meaning of "protect, protect." But there is also an even simpler explanation of the origin of these words. If we turn to a wide range of names of mittens known in regional Russian dialects, then among these names, it turns out, there are many words associated with the processes of processing wool and making mittens. These names are: knitted, braided, valega (felled mittens), wire rod (rolled mittens). This also includes varegs, mittens, formed by the name of the process - boil (that is, boil). The fact is that finished knitted wool products were brewed in boiling water to make them more durable and warm. It turns out that mittens are "boiled mittens". Dahl's dictionary contains the following saying: "Necessity has made a mitten akin to a varga." What does she mean? It turns out that special names for upper and lower mittens were once widespread in Russian. Of course, most often such names are found in the North, in the Urals and in Siberia - where 2 pairs of mittens are often worn at once. There are such local names: tops, tops, undersides. And in some areas, upper leather or cloth mittens are called mittens, and lower knitted mittens are called wargs, mittens. Hence, apparently, the expression written down by Dahl.

Red

In a well-known proverb, the hut is not red with corners, but with pies, the adjective red means "good, pleasant." And such obsolete expressions as a red bird, a red beast mean "the best bird" or "the best beast", that is, "the best and most expensive bird or beast preferred by hunters." Dahl wrote in his dictionary as follows: "Red game, high, all kinds of snipe, also roe deer, swan, capercaillie and others; the red beast is a bear, wolf, fox, lynx and others."

In modern Russian, there is a lot of evidence of the ancient meaning of the word red. First of all, of course, this is a constant epithet in folk poetic speech: the girl is beautiful, the words are red. Red here means "beautiful, beautiful, pleasant." In N. Nekrasov's poem "Peasant Children" there are lines in which the word red is used in this sense:

Play, children, grow up in freedom,
That's why a red childhood is given to you.

In the old names, the red gate, the red corner, the adjective red means "decorated" and "honorary, front". The same meaning is contained in the proper names of Krasnoye Selo and Red Square.

The meanings "best, pleasant", "beautiful, decorated" were the very first meanings of the adjective red.

A completely different word was used to denote color - red. So it was in the Old Russian language, and in Ukrainian, and in Belarusian. And only since the 18th century, a new, color meaning of the adjective red appeared in the dictionaries of the Russian language. It has become its core value. The ancient, primary meaning is preserved only in stable expressions and turns.

In the 19th century, the adjective red acquired another meaning - "revolutionary". In the name Red Banner, it spread in European languages ​​during the revolution of 1848. Soon, in this sense, the word was firmly established in the Russian language.

Now, in modern Russian, the adjective red is not only a very expressive, but also a polysemantic word.

Pigalitsa

What does the word piglet mean? This word has 2 meanings. A lapwing is a small bird called a lapwing. But a person of small stature, inconspicuous, is also often called a pigalis. Scientists believe that this is an onomatopoeic word - that is, it originated in the language as an onomatopoeia of the cry of a lapwing. And the lapwing cries like this: pee-gi, ki-gi!

"Reports and messages on the Russian language" V.A. Krutetskaya. Additional materials, useful information, interesting facts. Primary School.

We don't often think about how the words we use came into being and how their meanings may have changed over time. Meanwhile, words are quite living beings. 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 can have relatives, a rich pedigree, and, on the contrary, be complete orphans. The Word can tell us about one's nationality, about one's parents, about one's origin. The study of the history of vocabulary and the origin of words is an interesting science - etymology.

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 - in particular, 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. According to one version, the surname Houlihan was once worn by a famous London brawler, who caused a lot of trouble for the residents of the city and the police. The surname has become a household name, 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. We don't grow oranges! And then the Portuguese navigators brought these delicious orange balls from China. And they began to trade with their neighbors. In Dutch, "apple" is appel, and "Chinese" is sien. Borrowed from the Dutch language, the word appelsien is a translation of the French phrase Pomme de Chine - "an apple from China."

Doctor

It is known that in the old days they were treated with various conspiracies and spells. The ancient healer said to the sick something like this: "Go away, illness, to the quicksands, to the dense forests ..." And he muttered various words over the ill. The word doctor is originally Slavic and is derived from the word “vrati”, which means “to speak”, “to speak”. Interestingly, from the same word comes “lie”, which for our ancestors also meant “to speak”. It turns out that in ancient times doctors lied? Yes, but this word initially did not contain a negative meaning.

Scammer

Ancient Russia did not know the Turkic word "pocket", because money was then carried in special wallets - purses. From the word "sack" and produced "swindler" - a specialist in thefts from scrotums.

Restaurant

The word "restaurant" means "strengthening" in French. This name was given in the 18th century to one of the Parisian taverns by its visitors after the owner of the Boulanger establishment introduced nutritious meat broth to the number of dishes on offer.

Shit

The word "shit" comes from the Proto-Slavic "govno", which means "cow" and was originally associated only with cow "cakes". "Beef" - "cattle", hence "beef", "beef". By the way, from the same Indo-European root and the English name of the cow - cow, as well as the shepherd of these cows - cowboy. That is, the expression "fucking cowboy" is not accidental, it has a deep family connection.

Heaven

One version is that the Russian word "heaven" comes from "not, no" and "bes, demons" - literally a place free from evil/demons. However, another interpretation is probably closer to the truth. Most Slavic languages ​​have words similar to "sky", and they probably originated from the Latin word for "cloud" (nebula).

Slates

In the Soviet Union, a well-known manufacturer of rubber slippers was the Polymer plant in the city of Slantsy, Leningrad Region. Many buyers believed that the word “Slates” squeezed out on the soles was the name of the shoe. Further, the word entered the active vocabulary and became a synonym for the word "slippers".

nonsense

In the late 17th century, the French physician Gali Mathieu treated his patients with jokes.
He gained such popularity that he did not keep up with 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 at present this concept has a completely different meaning.

The vocabulary of the Russian language is one of the largest in the world. It has been formed over the centuries under the influence of the development of social, economic and cultural life. The list of native Russian words makes up 90% of modern explanatory dictionaries. The rest consists of foreign borrowings that appeared both in the early stages of its development and in modern times.

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Stages of development of the Russian vocabulary

Russian language, along with Ukrainian and Belarusian, is part of the East Slavic group of the Indo-European language family. It began to form at the end of the Neolithic era and continues its development to this day.

There are several major stages in the development of native vocabulary:

Words that appeared in our language at any of these stages are considered native Russian.

Also, words of Russian origin include lexical units formed from borrowed ones according to the rules of Russian word formation.

Scientists believe that at the end of the Neolithic era there was a single Indo-European linguistic community. Native speakers of the Indo-European language lived on a rather vast territory. Some researchers call this place the land from the Yenisei to the Volga. Their opponents talk about the settlement of the Indo-Europeans along the banks of the Danube and on the Balkan Peninsula. But they all agree that the Indo-European language gave rise to almost all European languages ​​and some Asian ones.

Common Indo-European words reflect specific phenomena and objects of the surrounding reality, degrees of kinship, numerals. Their spelling and pronunciation in many languages ​​of the Indo-European family is almost identical. For example:

In East Slavic languages there are a lot of words common to Indo-European languages. These include nouns denoting:

• degree of relationship: mother, brother, sister, daughter, son;
• natural phenomena: sun, moon, ice, rain, water;
• animals: wolf, goose, cow, bear;
• plants: oak, birch;
• metals: copper, bronze.

Words denoting numerals (two, three, four, five), properties of objects (new, white, fast), actions (sew, go) have Indo-European origin.

Common Slavic

Around the 6th century BC e. the Proto-Slavic language appeared. Its carriers were Slavic tribes settled in the territory between the rivers Dnieper, Vistula, Bug. Common Slavic vocabulary served as the basis for the development of the languages ​​of the Western, Southern and Eastern Slavs. Common roots can be traced in them today.

The common Slavic primordially Russian vocabulary is diverse. Noun examples:

Among common Slavic words there are nouns that denote not specific objects and phenomena, but abstract concepts. These include: will, guilt, faith, sin, thought, glory, happiness, goodness.

Compared with the words of Indo-European origin, there are more lexical units left in our language from the common Slavic vocabulary, denoting actions, signs and qualities of objects.

• Actions: breathe, lie down, run, write, sow, reap, weave, spin.
• Signs and qualities of objects: high, fast, black, red, many, few, soon.

Common Slavisms are distinguished by their simple structure. They consist of a base and an end. At the same time, the number of derivative words from their stems is very large. Several dozen words have been formed with the root of glory: dishonor, glorify, glorify, glorious, love of glory, glorify.

The meaning of some common Slavic words changed during the development of the language. The word "red" in the common Slavic vocabulary was used in the meaning of "beautiful, good." The modern meaning (color designation) has come into use since the 16th century.

There are about two thousand common Slavic words in the vocabulary of Russian-speaking people. This relatively small group of native words forms the core of the Russian written and spoken language.

Old Russian or East Slavic stage of lexical development

In the 7th century AD, on the basis of common Slavic vocabulary, three separate groups of Slavic languages ​​began to develop: West Slavic, South Slavic and East Slavic languages. The East Slavic community of peoples became the basis of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities. The tribes, which were carriers of a single East Slavic language, formed a single state in the 9th century - Kievan (Ancient) Rus. For this reason, the vocabulary that appeared between VII and XIV is called Old Russian vocabulary.

Old Russian lexical units were formed under the influence of the political, economic, social and cultural development of a single East Slavic state. The original words of our language of this period belong to different parts of speech and lexical-semantic groups.

Great Russian period of language formation

From the 14th century the actual Russian or Great Russian stage of development of our vocabulary begins. It continues to this day. The beginning of the formation of the Great Russian vocabulary coincided with the formation of the Russian statehood and the division for a long time of the development of the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalities. Therefore, in the lexical stock of these languages, the same objects are denoted by different words. For example: wallet - ukr. hamanets - Belarusian. cough; palace - Ukrainian Palace - Belarusian. palace; sparkle - Ukrainian vibliskuvati - Belarusian. zihatsets.

The words that appeared during this period are characterized by a derivative basis. They appeared on the basis of well-known lexical units of Indo-European, Common Slavic and East Slavic origin. New word forms were formed on the basis of borrowings from foreign languages ​​by adding simple bases. Such word forms are considered primordial. Actually Russian words make up a significant part of the Russian vocabulary.

Formation of new words in Russian

The vocabulary of our language replenishes quite rapidly. The basis for this process is the lexical units of the previous stages of language development and borrowed vocabulary. This vocabulary changes and adapts to the needs of the language in accordance with the rules of word formation adopted in it.

Nouns

Addition to the borrowed basis of a specific Russian suffix -shchik, -chik, -ovshchik, -shchik, -lk, -ovk, -k, -tel, -ost. For example: from the word stone, which is of Indo-European origin, with the help of the suffix -shchik, the actual Russian noun mason was formed; from the word sheet, which appeared in the all-Slavic period of the development of the Russian language, with the help of the suffix -ovk, the concept of a leaflet arose.

Addition to the basis of primordially Russian prefixes at-, pa-, pr-, su-, in-, voz-, on-, ob-, pre-, re- and so on. For example: by adding the prefix city to the common Slavic stem, the word suburb is formed; adding the prefixes o- to the same stem, they get the noun garden.

The formation of new words from two or more bases: from the common Slavic bases -pravd- and -lyub- the complex Russian word truth-lover was formed; from the Indo-European basis of the mouse- and the common Slavic word to catch with the help of the suffix -k, the noun mysh was formed Ways of forming verbs.

Ways of forming verbs

One of the most common ways to form verbs is simultaneous addition of a prefix and a suffix to the stem. For example: from the common Slavic basis, running with the help of the prefix raz- and suffixes -at and -sya appeared the verb to scatter; from the common Slavic basis -bogat- with the help of the prefix o- and suffixes -it and -sya, the original Russian word enriched itself appeared.

In the actual Russian period of the development of vocabulary, verbs formed from nouns are quite common. From the borrowed in the XVIII German word assault with the help of the suffix -ova, the verb to assault was formed. With the help of the suffix -i, the verb to praise was formed from the common Slavic word glory.

The Russian vocabulary is one of the most extensive and actively developing in the world. Borrowing vocabulary from other languages ​​and forming new words on its basis, the Russian language is replenished. Using online dictionaries of the origin of words, you can get acquainted with the etymology of Russian vocabulary in more detail. In the age of globalization, knowledge of the origins of the Russian language and the stages of its development will help preserve its originality and uniqueness.

Zakharov Vladimir

The Russian language is the soul of Russia, its sacred place. Our destiny is in the words we speak. That is why it is necessary to focus on the historical processes taking place in it; based on the similarity of the Old Slavonic and Russian languages, to use the material of 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 the 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

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GBPOU RO PU №36 Zakharova Vladimir

Introduction

The Russian language is the soul of Russia, its sacred place. Our destiny is in the words we speak. That is why it is necessary to focus on the historical processes taking place in it; based on the similarity of the Old Slavonic and Russian languages, to use the material of 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 the key concepts of Orthodox culture: home, temple, family, duty, honor, love, humility, beauty, and work on the etymology of a single word.

1. Science etymology

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

The subject of etymology as a section of linguistics is the study of sources and the process of forming the vocabulary of a language andreconstruction the vocabulary of the language of the most ancient period (usually pre-literate).

Semantics as a branch of linguistics answers the question of how a person, knowing the words and grammatical rules of a 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 first encounters with such a task, and to understand what information about the world is contained in any statement addressed to him, even if he hears it for the first time.

AT vocabulary each language has a significant fund of words, the relationship of which form with the meaning is incomprehensible to native speakers, since the structure of the word cannot be explained on the basis of the models of word formation that operate in the language. Historical changes in words obscure the primary form and meaning of the word, andiconic the nature of the word determines the complexity of the reconstruction of primary motivation, i.e. connection of the primary form and meaning of the word. The purpose of the etymological analysis of the word is to determine when, in what language, according to whatderivational 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 designate 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, along with it, the term "semasiology" was also widely used, now preserved only as a not very common name for one of the sections of semantics. However, questions related to the conduct of semantics were raised and, one way or another, resolved already in the oldest linguistic traditions known to us. After all, one of the main reasons forcing us to pay attention to the language is a misunderstanding 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 occupied an important place. So, in China, 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. A truly rapid development of linguistic semantics began in the 1960s; at present, it is one of the most important 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 belonged, was first raised by ancient Greek philosophers, but to this day various aspects of this relationship continue to be clarified. Consider the relation of the word to the "thing" more closely..

2. Origin of words

Asphalt. I wonder what this Greek word meant when there were no paved sidewalks and highways. Let's open the Greek dictionary. First syllable a - denial. Noun sfalma - fall, misfortune, failure. So the basic meaning is bad. The prefix a turns this word into its opposite, giving it a good quality. Asfaleya means: confidence, reliability, security. It is with this word asphaltos was named in ancient Greece the resin of coniferous plants. The name comes from the resin asphalt - tarred road.

Birch. From the word white in ancient times there were the words "birch", "linen", "squirrel". Birch - a tree with white bark; white squirrel - a kind of squirrel of a very rare and expensive breed was named after the color of the fur; "linen from white" according to the type "junk from old" originally meant unpainted white linen, then linen from this linen, then linen in general.

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

Shabby dress.Weekday, home, everyday. a meal in the last century, cheap fabric was called - by the name of Zatrapeznov, at whose factory it was produced.

Clumsy . Some Russian writers can find the word clumsy

Okay, foldable: “Good, clumsy words come by themselves” (A. Kuprin). Writers use it from folk dialects. It comes from an ancient word key - order, beauty.

Hence the clumsy and clumsy - beautiful, stately; clumsy - clumsy, awkward.

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

Education. It is believed that this word is a tracing paper of the German - a picture, an image, and the whole word means enlightenment. Word education can be found in church Russian books already in the 17th century, and German influences could hardly penetrate into them. Most likely, a direct connection with Old Church Slavoniccreate - createcompose, from the Slavicimage is likeness.

Forgive. The etymology of this word may seem surprising. Old Russian simple, corresponding to our simple, meant straight, unbent. Sorry therefore, it was important to straighten up, and then to allow the guilty one, who was bent in an apology bow, to straighten up. The exclamation "Forgive me!" therefore meant: "Let me raise my guilty head, get up from my knees ...". To forgive means to set free, to make free.

Rainbow. The word rainbow recorded in the dictionaries of the Russian language only since the 18th century. This word is East Slavic in origin, formed from the adjective glad meaning cheerful. First the word rainbow referred to something cheerful, and later - to a brilliant, sparkling. Word meaning connection rainbow with the 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 - a stream, current, with the Celtic renos - a river, from which the geographical name Rhine arose. Probably in the mists of time river meant - a stormy stream, rapids.

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

Day. once existed days - collision. That is exactly how the meeting of day and night, their totality, and this word was originally understood.

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, originally drawing - this is cutting, cutting, notching, as well as a forest clearing.

In the sense familiar to us: "the image of any objects on paper, a plan of something" the word drawing 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, the development of language flair, expanding horizons, vocabulary. Mechanical memorization of words, text without understanding and comprehension is the most difficult and uninteresting form of obtaining knowledge.

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

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 - in particular, 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 a well-known London brawler, who brought a lot of trouble to the inhabitants of the city and the police. The surname has become a household name, 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. We don't grow oranges! And then the Portuguese navigators brought these delicious orange balls from the eastern countries. And they began to trade with their neighbors. Those, of course, asked: “Where do the apples come from?” - because they have not heard of oranges, but in shape this fruit looks like an apple. Merchants honestly answered: “Apples from China, Chinese!” The Dutch for "apple" is appel, and the Chinese for "apple" is sien.

Doctor

In the old days, they treated with conspiracies, spells, various whispers. The ancient healer, the sorcerer, said to the patient something like this: “Go away, illness, to the quicksands, to the dense forests ...” And he muttered various words over the ill. Do you know what muttering, chatter was called until the beginning of the 19th century? Muttering, chatter was then called a lie. To mutter meant "to lie." The one who trumpets is the trumpeter, the one who weaves is the weaver, and the one who lies is the doctor.

Scammer

In Russia, swindlers were not called deceivers or thieves at all. This was the name of the masters who made the moshna, i.e. wallets.

Insect

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

To answer this question, one does not need to be either an entomologist, that is, a scientist who studies insects, or a linguist. It is enough to remember how these very insects look. Remembered? Animals with "notches" on the body are insects. By the way, pure tracing paper from the French insect - from the Latin insectum "notched, notched (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 they are just right as boogers. Remember, Chukovsky: “Thick-legged goat-insect” ...

Heaven

One version is that the Russian word "heaven" comes from "not, no" and "bes, demons" - literally a place free from evil/demons. However, another interpretation is probably closer to the truth. Most Slavic languages ​​have words similar to "sky", and they probably originated from the Latin word for "cloud" (nebula).

Slates

In the Soviet Union, a well-known manufacturer of rubber slippers was the Polymer plant in the city of Slantsy, Leningrad Region. Many buyers believed that the word “Slates” squeezed out on the soles was the name of the shoe. Further, 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 a synonym for the word just now and means "recently, somehow the other day, but on which days, I don't remember."

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 the specific days that have already been discussed. Something like this: on the second and third of February, someone met someone in the nearest forest, and on the same days, that is, these days, that is, the other day, something happened in Paris ...

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

nonsense

At the end of the last century, the French physician Gali Mathieu treated his patients with jokes. He gained such popularity that he did not keep up with 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 at present this concept has a completely different meaning.