The smartest words and their meaning. Meanings of famous phrases and expressions

12 popular expressions, the meaning of which is not known to everyone

Editor's response

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

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

Quietly

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

Borrowed into the French language, the word turned into the French “sap” and received the meaning of “earthwork, trench and underground work,” from which the word “sapper” also arose.

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

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

Can't see anything

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

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

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

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

Dance from the stove

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

The expression “dance from the stove” first appeared in a novel by a 19th-century Russian writer Vasily Sleptsova"Good man". The book was published in 1871. There is an episode in it when the main character Seryozha Terebenev remembers how he was taught to dance, but he could not do the steps required from the dance teacher. There is a phrase in the book:

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

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

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

Shabby look

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

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

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

Sharpen the laces

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

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

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

Lies like a gray gelding

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

Bullshit

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

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

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

Androns are traveling

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

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

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

Live as a Biryuk

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

Mikhail Golubovich in the film "Biryuk". 1977

Play spillikins

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

In a figurative sense, the expression “to play tricks” means to engage in trifles, nonsense, leaving aside the main and important things:

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

Pies with kittens

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

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

Leave unsalted with a slurp

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

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

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

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

Shemyakin court

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

“If the mountain does not come to Mohammed”, “On a silver platter”, “And you, Brutus!” - how firmly these phrases have entered our lives. And each of them very briefly and accurately, in just a few words, can describe the current situation or convey the feelings experienced.

What it is?

Winged words or expressions are phraseological units that are drawn from historical events, folklore and various literary sources - artistic, journalistic, scientific. They often contain the names of literary characters, historical figures, and geographical names. These can be quotes from speeches of famous people.

Most catch phrases lose their original meaning and are used in relation to current realities.

Winged words can have the features of an aphorism, or simply be figurative in nature, or used in a figurative sense. They, like proverbs, are known to many, are often and widely used, have special expressiveness and accurately convey ideas.

Where did this name come from?

The very phrase “winged words” belongs to Homer and has by no means the meaning that is attributed to it now. The Greek poet in his Odyssey had in mind loud speech. Later, however, the expression “winged words” acquired a slightly different meaning in the mouth of Homer. It has come to mean smooth speech, the words of which fly from the speaker’s mouth to the listener’s ear.

This phrase acquired its current meaning thanks to the publication in 1864 of a collection of popular quotes compiled by the German scientist Georg Buchmann. Since then, the expression has become a term used in stylistics and linguistics.

The history of the appearance of some catch phrases dates back to ancient times. Some of them relate to mythology, others to historical events or speeches of prominent figures and philosophers of the past. Translated from Latin and Greek, catch phrases have firmly entered our lives, although they have lost their original meaning. And expressions drawn from mythology are generally used only in a figurative sense.

Sources

A special place is occupied by winged words, the source of which is the Bible. Individual phrases or even entire sentences - biblical words - are often found in everyday speech and give it a special coloring and meaning. The most famous of them are “judge not, lest ye be judged”, “the book of seven seals”, “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” and many others.

In addition to biblical quotes, a separate niche is occupied by literary sayings found in the works of Russian and Ukrainian classics - N.V. Gogol, A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov. A huge source of popular expressions are the fables of I. A. Krylov and “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov. Much later, the collection of similar phrases was replenished with quotes from the works of Ilf and Petrov.

Losing their original meaning, partially changing under the influence of time, winged words, however, decorate our speech, making it richer and more interesting. Some expressions are instructive, others add a humorous spin to the words. Increasingly, popular expressions can be found in the titles of books and articles.

Conclusion

However, some phrases in different countries may have a slightly different meaning, although they are taken from the same source. There are expressions that have no analogues at all in another language, and when translated they will seem completely meaningless. This is worth knowing for people who want to show off their speech and knowledge abroad, so as not to get into an awkward position. It’s better to memorize several popular expressions that are actively used in a given country. This will be the best evidence of genuine interest in the culture and history of the host country.

We often hear popular expressions, and we ourselves often use short and succinct expressions. Their meaning is more or less clear, but their origin is not always clear. By the way, the very expression “winged words” goes back to Homer, in whose poems it appears repeatedly. Homer called words “winged” because they seem to fly from the mouth of the speaker to the ear of the listener.

Over time, the Homeric expression “winged words” became a term of linguistics and stylistics. This term denotes figurative expressions, short quotes, sayings of historical figures, names of mythological and literary characters that have become household names that have entered our speech from literary sources. Also, the term “winged words” is often interpreted in a broader sense. It denotes folk sayings and proverbs, all sorts of figurative expressions that arose not only from literary sources, but also in everyday life, from beliefs. In their origin, winged words are quite diverse. Some of them arose in distant eras, others - quite recently.

And now, the most interesting thing - meaning of catchphrases. Of course, about food.

Get your nuts

This expression is used in the sense of punishment, a reprimand, that is, “and they got it for the nuts” means “and they scolded them.” And this is where this expression came from. Nuts in Rus' were the most common delicacy - the father returning from work often brought nuts to the children. At the same time, if the children were playing around, the mother, in order to pacify and intimidate them, threatened: “Father will come and get you for your nuts.”

Like peas hitting a wall

Used in the sense of “without any result, achieving nothing.” Why is this important? It's very simple - if you throw a pea against a wall, it will bounce off. In the same way, all arguments bounce off a person who cannot be convinced.

You can't cook porridge

The meaning of this expression is that if you don’t come to an agreement, you won’t get things done, but the roots are here: in the old days in Rus' there was a ritual of jointly preparing porridge by the community. A person who did not want to participate in this was considered a stranger and unreliable.

Master (doctor) of sour cabbage soup

Used to mean “unlucky person.” This is where this expression comes from. Sour cabbage soup is a simple peasant food - water and sauerkraut, and anyone could cook it. If someone was called a master of sour cabbage soup, it meant that he was not fit for anything worthwhile.

Not at ease

The meaning of the expression is in a bad mood, not in the mood. At ease, on the contrary, to feel cozy and comfortable. What does this have to do with the plate? It turns out that this expression originated in the 19th century as an erroneous translation of the French phrase “ne pas dans son assiette,” that is, “out of position.” The word assiette, meaning “state, position,” has been confused with “plate,” which has the same spelling in French (assiette). Despite such an unusual, one might say, involuntary origin, this expression has taken root and become firmly established in our speech.

Cut off slice

There is a saying: “You can’t put a piece back when you cut it off.” The loaf was whole, but it became an open loaf and a chunk separately. That is why they began to call members who left the family a cut off piece. A son who separated and lived in his own house, a daughter who was given in marriage, a recruit whose forehead was shaved by lot - all these are cut off pieces, dating is not a tricky thing, but they will no longer heal as one family.

There is one more subtlety here. In the times of the pagan gods, which personified a prosperous life, in no case could it be cut, it was broken with hands, hence the word hunk. Therefore, the phrase “cut off piece” is a pure oxymoron, the so-called “smart stupidity.”

Pears to hang around

The fact is that a ripe pear itself falls from the branch, although of course, you can, armed with a drin, knock on the branches, poking around the pears, but if you consider that pears are a perishable product and were almost never sold, and were rarely used for jams and compotes , being only a seasonal delicacy for children, it is clear why the expression “poaching pears” has become synonymous not just with idleness, but with especially malicious idleness. It’s better to play spillikins or beat the hell out :)

Baking chestnuts on coals is an uncharacteristic activity for Russians, if only because edible chestnuts simply do not grow here. Indeed, this idiom came from France, and is a literal translation of the expression "Tirer les marrons du feu". The meaning of the phrase is this: to work for the sake of another, receiving nothing for your work except trouble. The source of the expression was La Fontaine's fable "The Monkey and the Cat". The monkey saw chestnuts baking in the fireplace in hot ashes, and asked his cat friend to get some chestnuts for her. While the cat, burning its paws, pulled chestnuts from the fire, the monkey quickly ate what it had caught. And the cat, captured at the scene of the crime, was also punished for theft.

Description of some catchphrases

We often use so-called catchphrases without even knowing their origin. Of course, everyone knows: “And Vaska listens and eats” - this is from Krylov’s fable, “gifts of the Danaans” and “Trojan horse” - from Greek legends about the Trojan War... But many words have become so close and familiar that we don’t even think whoever said them first may come.

Scapegoat
The history of this expression is as follows: the ancient Jews had a rite of absolution. The priest laid both hands on the head of the living goat, thereby, as it were, transferring the sins of the entire people onto it. After this, the goat was driven out into the desert. Many, many years have passed, and the ritual no longer exists, but the expression still lives on...

Tryn-grass
The mysterious “tryn-grass” is not at all some kind of herbal medicine that people drink so as not to worry. At first it was called “tyn-grass”, and tyn is a fence. The result was “fence grass,” that is, a weed that no one needed, everyone was indifferent to.

Master of sour cabbage soup
Sour cabbage soup is a simple peasant food: water and sauerkraut. Preparing them was not particularly difficult. And if someone was called a master of sour cabbage soup, it meant that he was not fit for anything worthwhile. Balzac’s age

The expression arose after the publication of the novel by the French writer Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) “A Woman of Thirty” (1831); used as a characteristic of women aged 30-40 years.

White crow
This expression, as a designation of a rare person, sharply different from the rest, is given in the 7th satire of the Roman poet Juvenal (mid-1st century - after 127 AD):
Fate gives kingdoms to slaves and brings triumphs to captives.
However, such a lucky person is rarer than a black sheep.

Plant the pig
In all likelihood, this expression is due to the fact that some peoples do not eat pork for religious reasons. And if such a person was quietly put pork in his food, then his faith was desecrated.

Throwing a stone
The expression “throwing a stone” at someone in the sense of “accusing” arose from the Gospel (John 8:7); Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, who, tempting him, brought to him a woman caught in adultery: “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (in ancient Judea there was a penalty - stoning).

Paper endures everything (Paper does not turn red)
The expression goes back to the Roman writer and orator Cicero (106 - 43 BC); in his letters “To Friends” there is an expression: “Epistola non erubescit” - “A letter does not blush,” that is, in writing one can express thoughts that one is embarrassed to express orally.

To be or not to be - that is the question
The beginning of Hamlet's monologue in Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, translated by N.A. Polevoy (1837).

Wolf in sheep's clothing
The expression originated from the Gospel: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”

In borrowed plumes
It arose from a fable by I.A. Krylov “The Crow” (1825).

Add the first number
You won’t believe it, but... from the old school, where students were flogged every week, no matter who was right or wrong. And if the mentor overdoes it, then such a spanking would last for a long time, until the first day of the next month.

Register Izhitsa
Izhitsa is the name of the last letter of the Church Slavonic alphabet. Traces of flogging on well-known places of careless students strongly resembled this letter. So registering an Izhitsa means teaching a lesson, punishing it, and it’s easier to flog it. And you still criticize modern school!

I carry everything I have with me
The expression originated from an ancient Greek legend. When the Persian king Cyrus occupied the city of Priene in Ionia, the inhabitants abandoned it, taking with them the most valuable of their possessions. Only Biant, one of the “seven wise men”, a native of Priene, left empty-handed. In response to the perplexed questions of his fellow citizens, he answered, referring to spiritual values: “I carry everything I own with me.” This expression is often used in the Latin formulation due to Cicero: Omnia mea mecum porto.
Everything flows, everything changes
This expression, which defines the constant variability of all things, sets out the essence of the teachings of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 530-470 BC)

Goal like a falcon
Terribly poor, beggar. People usually think that we are talking about a bird. But the falcon has nothing to do with it. In fact, the “falcon” is an ancient military battering gun. It was a completely smooth (“bare”) cast iron block attached to chains. Nothing extra!

Orphan Kazan
This is what they say about a person who pretends to be unhappy, offended, helpless in order to pity someone. But why is the orphan “Kazan”? It turns out that this phraseological unit arose after the conquest of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible. The Mirzas (Tatar princes), finding themselves subjects of the Russian Tsar, tried to beg all sorts of concessions from him, complaining about their orphanhood and bitter fate.

Unlucky man
In the old days in Rus', “path” was the name given not only to the road, but also to various positions at the prince’s court. The falconer's path is in charge of princely hunting, the hunter's path is in charge of hound hunting, the stableman's path is in charge of carriages and horses. The boyars tried by hook or by crook to get a position from the prince. And those who did not succeed were spoken of with disdain: a good-for-nothing person.

Was there a boy?
One of the episodes of M. Gorky’s novel “The Life of Klim Samgin” tells about the boy Klim skating with other children. Boris Varavka and Varya Somova fall into the wormwood. Klim hands Boris the end of his gymnasium belt, but, feeling that he too is being pulled into the water, he lets go of the belt. Children are drowning. When the search for the drowned begins, Klim is struck by “someone’s serious, incredulous question: “Was there a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy.” The last phrase became popular as a figurative expression of extreme doubt about something.

Twenty two misfortunes
This is how in A.P. Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” (1903) they call the clerk Epikhodov, with whom some comic trouble happens every day. The expression is applied to people with whom some misfortune constantly happens.

Money doesn't smell
The expression arose from the words of the Roman emperor (69 - 79 AD) Vespasian, said by him, as Suetonius reports in his biography, on the following occasion. When Vespasian's son Titus reproached his father for introducing a tax on public latrines, Vespasian brought the first money received from this tax to his nose and asked if it smelled. To Titus's negative answer, Vespasian said: "And yet they are made of urine."

Draconian measures
This is the name given to the excessively harsh laws named after Dragon, the first legislator of the Athenian Republic (7th century BC). Among the punishments determined by its laws, the death penalty allegedly occupied a prominent place, which punished, for example, such an offense as theft of vegetables. There was a legend that these laws were written in blood (Plutarch, Solon). In literary speech, the expression “draconian laws”, “draconian measures, punishments” have become stronger in the meaning of harsh, cruel laws.

Inside out
Now this seems to be a completely harmless expression. And once it was associated with shameful punishment. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, a guilty boyar was placed backwards on a horse with his clothes turned inside out and, in this disgraced form, was driven around the city to the whistling and jeers of the street crowd.

Retired goat drummer
In the old days, trained bears were brought to fairs. They were accompanied by a dancing boy dressed as a goat, and a drummer accompanying his dance. This was the goat drummer. He was perceived as a worthless, frivolous person.

Yellow press
In 1895, American graphic artist Richard Outcault published a series of frivolous drawings with humorous text in a number of issues of the New York newspaper “The World”; Among the drawings was a picture of a child in a yellow shirt, to whom various funny sayings were attributed. Soon another newspaper, the New York Journal, began publishing a series of similar drawings. A dispute arose between these two newspapers over the right of primacy to the “yellow boy”. In 1896, Erwin Wardman, editor of the New York Press, published an article in his magazine in which he contemptuously called both competing newspapers "yellow press." Since then, the expression has become popular.

Finest hour
An expression by Stefan Zweig (1881-1942) from the preface to his collection of historical short stories, Humanity's Finest Hours (1927). Zweig explains that he called historical moments starry hours “because, like eternal stars, they invariably shine in the night of oblivion and decay.”

Golden mean
An expression from the 2nd book of odes of the Roman poet Horace: “aurea mediocritas.”

Choose the lesser of two evils
An expression found in the works of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle “Nicomachean Ethics” in the form: “The lesser of evils must be chosen.” Cicero (in his essay “On Duties”) says: “One should not only choose the least of evils, but also extract from them themselves what can be good in them.”

To make mountains out of molehills
The expression is one of the ancient ones. It is quoted by the Greek writer Lucian (3rd century AD), who ends his satirical “Praise of the Fly” like this: “But I interrupt my speech, although I could say a lot more, lest anyone think that I “, as the proverb goes, I make a mountain out of a molehill.”

Highlight
The expression is used in the meaning: something that gives a special taste, attractiveness to something (a dish, a story, a person, etc.). It arose from a popular proverb: “Kvass is not expensive, the zest in kvass is expensive”; became popular after the appearance of L. N. Tolstoy’s drama “The Living Corpse” (1912). The hero of the drama, Protasov, talking about his family life, says: “My wife was an ideal woman... But what can I tell you? There was no zest - you know, there is zest in kvass? - there was no game in our lives. And I needed to forget. And without the game you won’t forget...”

Lead by the nose
Apparently, trained bears were very popular, because this expression was also associated with fairground entertainment. Gypsies led bears by a ring threaded through their noses. And they forced them, the poor fellows, to do various tricks, deceiving them with the promise of a handout.

Sharpen the laces
Lyasy (balusters) are turned figured posts of railings at the porch. Only a true master could make such beauty. Probably, at first, “sharpening balusters” meant conducting an elegant, fancy, ornate (like balusters) conversation. But in our time, the number of people skilled in conducting such a conversation became fewer and fewer. So this expression came to mean empty chatter.

a swan song
The expression is used to mean: the last manifestation of talent. Based on the belief that swans sing before death, it arose in ancient times. Evidence of this is found in one of Aesop’s fables (6th century BC): “They say that swans sing before they die.”

Flying Dutchman
A Dutch legend has preserved the story of a sailor who vowed, in a strong storm, to round the cape that blocked his path, even if it took him forever. Because of his pride, he was doomed to forever rush on a ship on a raging sea, never landing on the shore. This legend obviously arose in the age of great discoveries. It is possible that its historical basis was the expedition of Vasco da Gama (1469-1524), who rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497. In the 17th century this legend was associated with several Dutch captains, which is reflected in its name.

Seize the day
The expression apparently goes back to Horace (“carpe diem” - “seize the day”, “take advantage of the day”).

The lion's share
The expression goes back to the fable of the ancient Greek fabulist Aesop “The Lion, the Fox and the Donkey”, the plot of which - the division of prey among the animals - was later used by Phaedrus, La Fontaine and other fabulists.

The Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave
Quote from the drama by F. Schiller (1759 - 1805) “The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa” (1783). This phrase (d.3, iv.4) is uttered by the Moor, who turned out to be unnecessary after he helped Count Fisco organize a rebellion of the Republicans against the tyrant of Genoa, Doge Doria. This phrase has become a saying characterizing a cynical attitude towards a person whose services are no longer needed.

Manna from heaven
According to the Bible, manna is the food that God sent to the Jews every morning from heaven when they walked through the desert to the promised land (Exodus 16, 14-16 and 31).

Disservice
The expression arose from I. A. Krylov’s fable “The Hermit and the Bear” (1808).

Honeymoon
The idea that the happiness of the first stage of marriage quickly gives way to the bitterness of disappointment, figuratively expressed in eastern folklore, was used by Voltaire for his philosophical novel “Zadig, or Fate” (1747), in the 3rd chapter of which he writes: “Zadig experienced that The first month of marriage, as described in the book of Zend, is the honeymoon, and the second is the wormwood month.”

Young people love us everywhere
Quote from “Song of the Motherland” in the film “Circus” (1936), text by V. I. Lebedev-Kumach, music by I. O. Dunaevsky.

Silent means consent
Expression of Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) in one of his messages, included in canon law (a set of decrees of church authority). This expression goes back to Sophocles (496-406 BC), in whose tragedy “The Trachinian Women” it is said: “Don’t you understand that by silence you agree with the accuser?”

Torments of Tantalus
In Greek mythology, Tantalus, the king of Phrygia (also called the king of Lydia), was the favorite of the gods, who often invited him to their feasts. But, proud of his position, he offended the gods, for which he was severely punished. According to Homer (“Odyssey”), his punishment was that, cast down into Tartarus (hell), he forever experiences unbearable pangs of thirst and hunger; he stands up to his neck in water, but the water recedes from him as soon as he bows his head to drink; branches with luxurious fruits hang over him, but as soon as he stretches out his hands to them, the branches deviate. This is where the expression “torment of Tantalus” arose, meaning: unbearable torment due to the inability to achieve the desired goal, despite its proximity.

On the seventh sky
The expression, meaning the highest degree of joy, happiness, goes back to the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC), who in his essay “On Heaven” explains the structure of the vault of heaven. He believed that the sky consists of seven motionless crystal spheres on which the stars and planets are established. The seven heavens are mentioned in various places in the Quran: for example, it is said that the Quran itself was brought by an angel from the seventh heaven.

I don't want to study, I want to get married
Words by Mitrofanushka from D. I. Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor” (1783), no. 3, yavl. 7.

New is well forgotten old
In 1824, the memoirs of milliner Marie Antoinette Mademoiselle Bertin were published in France, in which she said these words about the queen’s old dress that she had updated (in reality, her memoirs are fake - their author is Jacques Pesce). This idea was perceived as new only because it had been well forgotten. Already Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) said that “there is no new custom that is not old.” This quote from Chaucer was popularized by Walter Scott's book The Folk Songs of Southern Scotland.

Nick down
In this expression, the word “nose” has nothing to do with the organ of smell. A “nose” was the name given to a memorial plaque, or a note tag. In the distant past, illiterate people always carried such tablets and sticks with them, with the help of which all kinds of notes or notches were made as memories.

Break a leg
This expression arose among hunters and was based on the superstitious idea that with a direct wish (both down and feather), the results of a hunt can be jinxed. In the language of hunters, feather means bird, and down means animals. In ancient times, a hunter going on a hunt received this parting word, the “translation” of which looks something like this: “Let your arrows fly past the target, let the snares and traps you set remain empty, just like the trapping pit!” To which the earner, in order not to jinx it either, replied: “To hell!” And both were confident that the evil spirits, invisibly present during this dialogue, would be satisfied and leave behind, and would not plot intrigues during the hunt.

Beat your head
What are “baklushi”, who “beats” them and when? For a long time, artisans have been making spoons, cups and other utensils from wood. To carve a spoon, it was necessary to chop off a block of wood from a log. Apprentices were entrusted with preparing the bucks: it was an easy, trivial task that did not require any special skill. Preparing such chocks was called “beating the lumps.” From here, from the mockery of the masters at the auxiliary workers - “baklushechnik”, our saying came from.

About the dead it's either good or nothing
The expression often quoted in Latin: “De mortuis nil nisi bene” or “De mortuis aut bene aut nihil” seems to go back to the work of Diogenes Laertius (3rd century AD): “Life, teaching and opinions famous philosophers”, which contains the saying of one of the “seven wise men” - Chilon (VI century BC): “Do not slander the dead.”

Oh holy simplicity!
This expression is attributed to the leader of the Czech national movement, Jan Hus (1369-1415). Sentenced by a church council as a heretic to be burned, he allegedly uttered these words at the stake when he saw that some old woman (according to another version, a peasant woman) in simple-minded religious zeal threw the brushwood she had brought into the fire. However, Hus's biographers, based on reports of eyewitnesses to his death, deny the fact that he uttered this phrase. The church writer Turanius Rufinus (c. 345-410), in his continuation of Eusebius's History of the Church, reports that the expression “holy simplicity” was uttered at the first Council of Nicaea (325) by one of the theologians. This expression is often used in Latin: “O sancta simplicitas!”

An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth
An expression from the Bible, the formula for the law of retribution: “A fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth: as he has injured a person’s body, so must he do it” (Leviticus 24:20; about the same - Exodus 21: 24; Deuteronomy 19, 21).

From great to funny one step
This phrase was often repeated by Napoleon during his flight from Russia in December 1812 to his ambassador in Warsaw, de Pradt, who spoke about it in the book “History of the Embassy to the Grand Duchy of Warsaw” (1816). Its primary source is the expression of the French writer Jean-François Marmontel (1723-1799) in the fifth volume of his works (1787): “In general, the funny comes into contact with the great.”

The language will take you to Kyiv
In 999, a certain Kiev resident Nikita Shchekomyaka got lost in the endless, then Russian, steppe and ended up among the Polovtsians. When the Polovtsians asked him: Where are you from, Nikita? He answered that he was from the rich and beautiful city of Kyiv, and described the wealth and beauty of his native city to the nomads in such a way that the Polovtsian Khan Nunchak attached Nikita by the tongue to the tail of his horse, and the Polovtsians went to fight and plunder Kyiv. This is how Nikita Shchekomyaka got home with the help of his tongue.

Sharomyzhniki
1812 When the French burned Moscow and were left in Russia without food, they came to Russian villages and asked for food She rami, like give it to me. So the Russians began to call them that. (one of the hypotheses).

Bastard
This is an idiomatic phrase. There is a river called Voloch, when the fishermen came with their catch, they said ours and Voloch came. There are several other tomological meanings of this word. To drag - to collect, to drag. This word came from them. But it became abusive not long ago. This is the merit of 70 years in the CPSU.

Know all the ins and outs
The expression is associated with an ancient torture in which needles or nails were driven under the fingernails of the accused to extract a confession.

Oh, you are heavy, Monomakh’s hat!
Quote from A. S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov”, scene “The Royal Chambers” (1831), monologue of Boris (Monomakh in Greek is a martial artist; a nickname that was associated with the names of some Byzantine emperors. In ancient Rus', this nickname was assigned to the Grand Duke Vladimir (beginning of the 12th century), from whom the Moscow kings descended. Monomakh's cap is the crown with which the Moscow kings were crowned kings, a symbol of royal power). The above quote characterizes a difficult situation.

Plato is my friend but the truth is dearer
The Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BC) in his essay “Phaedo” attributes to Socrates the words “Following me, think less about Socrates, and more about the truth.” Aristotle, in his work “Nicomachean Ethics,” polemicizing with Plato and referring to him, writes: “Even though friends and truth are dear to me, duty commands me to give preference to truth.” Luther (1483-1546) says: “Plato is my friend, Socrates is my friend, but truth should be preferred” (“On the Enslaved Will,” 1525). The expression “Amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas” - “Plato is my friend, but the truth is dearer”, was formulated by Cervantes in the 2nd part, ch. 51 novels "Don Quixote" (1615).

Dancing to someone else's tune
The expression is used to mean: to act not according to one’s own will, but according to the will of another. Goes back to the Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC), who in the 1st book of his “History” says: when the Persian king Cyrus conquered the Medes, the Greeks of Asia Minor, whom he had previously tried in vain to win over to his side, expressed their readiness obey him, but under certain conditions. Then Cyrus told them the following fable: “One flute player, seeing fish in the sea, began to play the flute, expecting them to come out to him on land. Having lost his hope, he took a net, threw it in and pulled out many fish. Seeing the fish struggling in the nets, he said to them: “Stop dancing; when I played the flute, you didn’t want to come out and dance.” This fable is attributed to Aesop (VI century BC).

After the rain on Thursday
The Rusichi - the most ancient ancestors of the Russians - honored among their gods the main god - the god of thunder and lightning Perun. One of the days of the week was dedicated to him - Thursday (it is interesting that among the ancient Romans Thursday was also dedicated to the Latin Perun - Jupiter). Prayers were offered to Perun for rain during the drought. It was believed that he should be especially willing to fulfill requests on “his day” - Thursday. And since these prayers often remained in vain, the saying “After the rain on Thursday” began to be applied to everything that is unknown when it will come true.

Get into trouble
In dialects, a binder is a fish trap woven from branches. And, as in any trap, being in it is not a pleasant thing. Beluga roar

Beluga roar
He's as dumb as a fish - you've known that for a long time. And suddenly a beluga roars? It turns out that we are not talking about the beluga, but the beluga whale, which is the name of the polar dolphin. He really roars very loudly.

Success is never blamed
These words are attributed to Catherine II, who allegedly expressed herself this way when A.V. Suvorov was put on trial by military court for the assault on Turtukai in 1773, undertaken by him contrary to the orders of Field Marshal Rumyantsev. However, the story about Suvorov’s arbitrary actions and about putting him on trial is refuted by serious researchers.

Know yourself
According to the legend reported by Plato in the dialogue “Protagoras”, the seven sages of ancient Greece (Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon, Cleobulus, Myson and Chilo), meeting together in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, wrote: “Know yourself.” The idea of ​​knowing oneself was explained and disseminated by Socrates. This expression is often used in its Latin form: nosce te ipsum.

Rare bird
This expression (Latin rara avis) meaning “rare creature” is first found in the satires of Roman poets, for example, in Juvenal (mid-1st century - after 127 AD): “A rare bird on earth, sort of like black Swan".

Born to crawl cannot fly
Quote from “Song of the Falcon” by M. Gorky.

Smoke rocker
In old Rus', huts were often heated in a black way: the smoke did not escape through a chimney (there was none at all), but through a special window or door. And they predicted the weather by the shape of the smoke. The smoke comes in a column - it will be clear, dragging - towards fog, rain, a rocker - towards the wind, bad weather, or even a storm.

Not appropriate
This is a very old sign: only the animal that the brownie likes will live both in the house and in the yard. If he doesn’t like it, he’ll get sick, get sick, or run away. What to do - not good!

Hair on end
But what kind of rack is this? It turns out that standing on end means standing at attention, on your fingertips. That is, when a person gets scared, his hair seems to stand on tiptoes on his head.

Get into trouble
Rozhon is a sharp pole. And in some Russian provinces this is what they called four-pronged pitchforks. Indeed, you can’t really trample on them!

From the ship to the ball
Expression from “Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin, chapter 8, stanza 13 (1832):

And travel for him,
Like everyone else in the world, I'm tired of it,
He returned and hit
Like Chatsky, from the ship to the ball.

This expression characterizes an unexpected, sharp change in situation or circumstances.

Combine business with pleasure
An expression from “The Art of Poetry” by Horace, who says about the poet: “He is worthy of all approval who combines the pleasant with the useful.”

Wash your hands
Used to mean: to avoid responsibility for something. It arose from the Gospel: Pilate washed his hands before the crowd, giving Jesus to them for execution, and said: “I am not guilty of the blood of this righteous man” (Matt. 27:24). The ritual washing of hands, which serves as evidence of the non-involvement of the person washing in anything, is described in the Bible (Deuteronomy 21:6-7).

Weak spot
It arose from the myth about the only vulnerable spot on the hero’s body: Achilles’ heel, a spot on Siegfried’s back, etc. Used in the meaning: the weak side of a person, deeds.

Fortune. Wheel of Fortune
Fortuna is the goddess of blind chance, happiness and misfortune in Roman mythology. She was depicted blindfolded, standing on a ball or wheel (emphasizing her constant changeability), and holding a steering wheel in one hand and a cornucopia in the other. The rudder indicated that fortune controls a person's destiny.

Upside down
Loitering - in many Russian provinces this word meant walking. So, upside down is just walking upside down, upside down.

Grated kalach
By the way, in fact there was such a type of bread - grated kalach. The dough for it was crushed, kneaded, and grated for a very long time, which is why the kalach turned out to be unusually fluffy. And there was also a proverb - don’t grate, don’t crush, there won’t be a kalach. That is, trials and tribulations teach a person. The expression comes from a proverb, and not from the name of the bread.

Bring to light
Once upon a time they said to bring fish to clean water. And if it’s a fish, then everything is clear: in thickets of reeds or where snags are drowning in silt, a fish caught on a hook can easily break the fishing line and leave. And in clear water, above a clean bottom - let him try. So it is with an exposed swindler: if all the circumstances are clear, he will not escape retribution.

And there is a hole in the old woman
And what kind of gap (mistake, oversight by Ozhegov and Efremova) is this, a gap (i.e. flaw, defect) or what? The meaning, therefore, is this: And a person wise by experience can make mistakes. Interpretation from the lips of an expert in ancient Russian literature: And on an old woman there is a blow Porukha (Ukrainian zh. coll.-dec. 1 - Harm, destruction, damage; 2 - Trouble). In a specific sense, porukha (other Russian) is rape. Those. everything is possible.

He who laughs last laughs best
The expression belongs to the French writer Jean-Pierre Florian (1755-1794), who used it in the fable “Two Peasants and a Cloud.”

End justifies the means
The idea of ​​this expression, which is the basis of Jesuit morality, was borrowed by them from the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679).

Man is a wolf to man
An expression from the “Donkey Comedy” by the ancient Roman writer Plautus (c. 254-184 BC).

In this article we will look at some buzzwords and their meaning. Many of them are probably familiar to you. However, not everyone knows what they mean. We took the most from various areas of human knowledge.

Quintessence

Quintessence - in medieval and ancient alchemy and natural philosophy - the fifth element, ether, the fifth element. He is like lightning. This is one of the main elements (elements), the most accurate and subtle. In modern cosmology, quintessence is a model of dark energy (its hypothetical form, which has negative pressure and uniformly fills the space of the Universe). Quintessence in a figurative meaning is the most important, essential, main essence, the purest and subtlest essence, extract.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia is a word that is an onomatopoeia that arose as a result of phonetic assimilation to various non-speech complexes. Onomatopoeic vocabulary is most often associated directly with objects and creatures - sources of sound. These are, for example, verbs such as “meow”, “croak”, “rumble”, “crow”, and nouns derived from them.

Singularity

Singularity - which represents a certain point at which the mathematical function in question tends to infinity or has some other irregular behavior.

There is also a gravitational singularity. This is a region of space-time where the curvature of the continuum turns to infinity or suffers a discontinuity, or the metric has other pathological properties that do not allow physical interpretation. - a short period of rapid technological progress assumed by researchers. The singularity of consciousness is a globally generalizing, expanded state of consciousness. In cosmology, this is the state of the Universe in which it was at the beginning of the Big Bang, it is characterized by infinite temperature and density of matter. In biology, this concept is used mainly to generalize the evolutionary process.

Transcendence

The term "transcendence" (the adjective is "transcendent") comes from the Latin word meaning "to step over." This is a philosophical term that characterizes something inaccessible to experimental knowledge. B was used together with the term “transcendental” to denote God, soul and other concepts. Immanent is its opposite.

Catharsis

“Catharsis” is a term from modern psychoanalysis that denotes the process of relieving or reducing anxiety, frustration, conflict through emotional release and their verbalization. In ancient Greek aesthetics, this concept was used to express in words the impact of art on a person. The term “catharsis” in ancient philosophy was used to designate the result and process of ennobling, purifying, and facilitating the impact of various factors on a person.

Continuum

What other smart words should you know? For example, continuum. This is a set equal to the set of all real numbers, or a class of such sets. In philosophy, this term was used by the ancient Greeks, as well as in the works of the scholastics of the Middle Ages. In modern works, due to changes in the “continuum” itself, it is often replaced by the noun “duration”, “continuity”, “continuity”.

Nigredo

"Nigredo" is a term of alchemy that denotes the complete decomposition or first stage of the creation of the so-called philosopher's stone. This is the formation of a homogeneous black mass of components. The next stages after nigredo are albedo (the white stage, which produces the small elixir, which turns metals into silver) and rubedo (the red stage, after which the great elixir is obtained).

Entropy

“Entropy” is a concept that was introduced by the German mathematician and physicist Clausius. It is used in thermodynamics to determine the degree of deviation from an ideal real process, the degree of energy dissipation. Entropy, defined as the sum of reduced heats, is a function of state. It is constant in various reversible processes, and in irreversible processes its change is always positive. We can highlight, in particular, This is a measure of the uncertainty of a certain message source, which is determined by the probabilities of the appearance of certain symbols during transmission.

Empathy

In psychology, there are often smart words, and their designations sometimes cause difficulties in definition. One of the most popular is the word “empathy”. This is the ability to empathize, the ability to put oneself in the place of another (object or person). Also, empathy is the ability to accurately identify a particular person based on actions, facial reactions, gestures, etc.

Behaviorism

Clever words and expressions from psychology also include a direction in this science that explains human behavior. It studies the direct connections existing between reactions (reflexes) and stimuli. Behaviorism directs the attention of psychologists to the study of experience and skills, as opposed to psychoanalysis and associationism.

Enduro

Enduro is a style of riding on special trails or off-road, racing over long distances over rough terrain. They differ from motocross in that the race takes place on a closed track, and the lap length ranges from 15 to 60 km. Riders cover several laps per day, the total distance being from 200 to 300 km. Basically, the route is laid in mountainous areas and is quite difficult to pass due to the abundance of streams, fords, descents, ascents, etc. Enduro is also a mixture of city and motocross motorcycles.

They are easy to drive, like road vehicles, and have increased cross-country ability. Enduros are close in a number of characteristics to cross-country skis. You can call them jeep motorcycles. One of their main qualities is unpretentiousness.

Other smart words and their meanings

Existentialism (otherwise known as the philosophy of existence) is a movement in the 20th century in philosophy that viewed man as a spiritual being capable of choosing his own destiny.

Synergetics is an interdisciplinary area of ​​research in science, the task of which is to study natural processes and phenomena based on the principles of self-organization of various systems that consist of subsystems.

Annihilation is the reaction of the transformation of an antiparticle and a particle upon collision into some particles different from the original ones.

A priori (literal translation from Latin - “from what precedes”) is knowledge that is obtained independently of and before experience.

Modern smart words are not understood by everyone. For example, “metanoia” (from the Greek word meaning “rethinking”, “after the mind”) is a term that means repentance (especially in psychotherapy and psychology), regret about what has happened.

Compilation (otherwise known as programming) is the transformation by some compiler program of text written in a complex language into a machine-like, similar or objective module.

Rasterization is the conversion of an image, which is described in a vector format, into dots or pixels for output to a printer or display. This is a process that is the inverse of vectorization.

The next term is intubation. It comes from the Latin words for "into" and "pipe." This is the insertion of a special tube into the larynx in case of narrowings that threaten suffocation (with swelling of the larynx, for example), as well as into the trachea in order to administer anesthesia.

Vivisection is the performance of surgical operations on a living animal in order to study the functions of the body or individual removed organs, to study the effects of various drugs, to develop surgical treatment methods, or for educational purposes.

The list of “Smart words and their meaning” can, of course, be continued. There are a lot of such words in various branches of knowledge. We have highlighted only a few that are quite widespread today. Knowing buzzwords and their meaning is useful. This develops erudition and allows you to better navigate the world. Therefore, it would be nice to remember what smart words are called.