At the end of June at State Duma supported the bill providing for increased punishment for using swear words in the family and in public places. Tighten responsibility for obscene language they have tried more than once - both under tsarism and after the revolution. Lidia Malygina, Associate Professor of the Department of Stylistics of the Russian Language, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University, spoke about how unprintable words penetrated public life here and in the West, about the history and meaning of the obscenity “KP”. scientific adviser systems distance learning
– If there were no problem, there would be no law. The question arises: who originally taught Russian people to swear?
– One of the common versions is the Tatar-Mongols. But in fact, this vocabulary has nothing to do with them. Russian obscenities Slavic origin. Four roots known to every Russian person can be found in Macedonian, Slovenian, and other Slavic languages.
Most likely, swearing was an element of pagan cults associated with fertility, for example, with the spell of cattle or the call of rain. The literature describes in detail this custom: a Serbian peasant throws an ax into the air and utters obscene words, trying to make it rain.
- Why similar words have become taboo?
– When Christianity came to Rus', the church began an active fight against pagan cults, including swear words as one of the manifestations of the cult. Hence the strong taboo nature of these forms. This is what distinguishes Russian obscenities from obscenities in other languages. Of course, since then the Russian language has actively developed and changed, and with it Russian swearing. New ones have appeared swear words, but they are based on the same four standard roots. Some previously harmless words have become obscene. For example, the word "dick". "Her" is a letter pre-revolutionary alphabet, and the verb “poherit” was used to mean “cross out.” Now this word is not yet included in the category of swear words, but it is already actively approaching this.
– There is a myth about the uniqueness of Russian obscene language. Is it so?
– It’s interesting to compare with English language. Obscene words have always puzzled British philologists with their nature. As early as 1938, the linguist Chase emphasized: “If someone mentions sexual intercourse, it does not shock anyone. But if someone says an ancient Anglo-Saxon four-letter word, most people will freeze in horror.”
The premiere of Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion in 1914 was highly anticipated. A rumor was started that, according to the author's plan, the actress playing the main female role, must utter an obscene word from the stage. Answering Freddie's question whether she was going to walk home, Eliza Dolittle had to very emotionally say: “Not bloody likely!” The intrigue remained until the last moment. During the premiere, the actress still uttered an obscene word. The effect was indescribable: noise, laughter, whistling, stomping. Bernard Shaw even decided to leave the hall, deciding that the play was doomed. Now the British are complaining that they have actually lost this favorite curse word, which has already lost its former power, because the word has begun to be used too often.
Lidia MALYGINA - Associate Professor of the Department of Stylistics of the Russian Language, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University Photo: "KP" Archive
– Probably, after the sexual revolution of the 1960s, the situation changed a lot, and obscene words literally poured onto the pages of the press?
- Certainly. Remember Great Britain late XIX– beginning of the twentieth century. Back then, even the legs of the piano were covered in covers so that they would not evoke random erotic associations! In the second half of the twentieth century, contraception developed rapidly and the pornography industry grew. Marriage for life and fidelity between spouses began to look like old-fashioned prejudices. Yes, and heterosexuality in marriage has ceased to exist prerequisite. It is noteworthy that at this time the attitude towards obscene words also changed. Two linguistic collections dedicated to obscene language appear. The first was published in the USA in 1980. The second was published in the United Kingdom and the USA in 1990. These reference books already contain several articles about vulgarisms. Examples of the use of obscene language were given in plain text.
– And yet they were punished for swearing. A well-known case when, at the height of anti-war protests in the United States in 1968, young man, who did not want to serve by conscription, was prosecuted for wearing a jacket with the inscription: “F... the draft!”
- Yes. Another famous case– 12-minute radio program “Obscene Words.” Satirist George Carlin listed seven words that should not be said on the radio, and then began to discuss the problem. One of the listeners was driving in a car with a child and accidentally heard the program. He immediately called the show's editor and complained.
Another famous scandal was caused by newspapers in the late 1970s. published an obscene statement that a player uttered to a referee during a sporting competition: “f... cheating cunt.” Yes and in works of art began to appear without any disguise the rudest words. In the guide to St. Petersburg, Western authors do not hesitate to explain Russian vulgarisms, for example, b... (whore) – which is usually rendered as simply b... ( short version words - Ed.) – and plays an equivalent role to ‘f...’ in English for those who use it as a verbal stutter.
– Russian journalists also like to use obscene words and expressions, slightly disguising them so as not to formally violate the law banning swearing in the media...
– Yes, softer expressions instead of rude ones often cover up easily guessable ones in the text obscene language, swear words and curses: “Dick Lawyer: UEFA for yourself!”; “Hugh Hefner and Dasha Astafieva: Hugh knows her...”; “And he stole 2 billion worth of deposits... But he himself ended up in complete “khopra””; or “Russia in CHOP” - heading special report about private security companies or the title of a film about weight loss “I’m losing weight, dear editors!”
– Are there other languages, besides Russian, in which obscene vocabulary is divided into ordinary swear words and strictly taboo words, the use of which is prohibited in any situation and in any context?
– In this sense, the Russian language is unique. Although, for example, obscene language Spanish is also associated with the sexual sphere, unlike German (in German this is the sphere of excrement). But in Spanish there is no such taboo, so the first academic dictionaries Spanish contained similar vocabulary, but Russian dictionaries did not. In general, the first dictionary fixation of obscenities dates back to the beginning of the 20th century. It's about about the third edition of Dahl's dictionary edited by Baudouin de Courtenay. But such activities of dictionary compilers quickly ended, because Soviet authority banned the use of obscenities, and the third edition of Dahl's dictionary was sharply criticized.
*Fool *
Very for a long time the word "fool" was not offensive. In documents of the XV-XVII centuries. This
the word occurs as a name. And these names are not slaves at all, but quite respectable people: “Prince Fyodor Semenovich Fool of Kemsky”, “Prince Ivan Ivanovich the Bearded Fool Zasekin”, “Moscow clerk (also a rather large position V.G.) Fool Mishurin”. Countless “stupid” surnames Durov, Durakov, Durnovo began from the same times. But the fact is that the word “fool” was often used as a second, non-church name. In the old days, it was popular to give a child a middle name in order to deceive evil spirits, they say, what can you take from a fool?
*Goon*
There is a theory that at first those who drank greedily and choked were called “rednecks.” One way or another, but the first one is true known value this word "greedy, stingy." And even now the expression “Don’t be mean!” means "Don't be greedy!"
*Infection*
Girls are different. Perhaps not everyone is offended by the word “infection,” but you certainly can’t call it a compliment. And yet, initially it was still a compliment. In the first half of the 18th century, secular suitors constantly “called” beautiful ladies"infections". And all because the word “infect” initially had not only a medical-infectious meaning, but was also synonymous with “kill.” In the Novgorod First Chronicle, under the year 1117 there is an entry: “One of the clerks was infected by thunder.” In general, it became so infected that I didn’t even have time to get sick. So the word "infection" became
to denote feminine charms with which they defeated (infected) men.
*Idiot *
Greek word"idiot" initially did not contain even a hint of mental illness. IN Ancient Greece it meant "private person", "individual, isolated person"It's no secret that the ancient Greeks treated public life very responsibly and called themselves "polites". Those who avoided participating in politics (for example, did not go to vote) were called “idiots” (that is, busy only with their own narrow personal interests). Naturally, conscious citizens did not respect “idiots,” and soon this word acquired new disparaging connotations of “limited, undeveloped, ignorant person.” And already among the Romans the Latin idiota means only “ignorant, ignorant,” from which it is two steps away from the meaning “stupid.”
*Cretin*
If we were transported somewhere five or six centuries ago to the mountainous region of the French Alps and addressed the local residents: “Hello, cretins!”, no one would throw you into the abyss for this.. Why be offended by local dialect the word cretin is quite decent and is translated as “Christian” (from the distorted French chretien). This was until they began to notice that among the Alpine cretins there were often mentally retarded people with a characteristic goiter on the neck.. Later it turned out that in mountainous areas there is often a lack of iodine in the water, as a result of which activity is impaired thyroid gland, with all the ensuing consequences. When doctors began to describe this disease, they decided not to invent anything new, and used dialect word"cretin", extremely rarely used. So the Alpine “Christians” became “feeble-minded”.
*Sucker*
This now very popular word “sucker” two centuries ago was used only by residents of the Russian north and they used it not to call people, but fish. Probably, many have heard how courageously and persistently the famous salmon (or, as it is also called, salmon) goes to its spawning site. Rising against the current, it overcomes even steep rocky rapids. It is clear that having reached and spawned, the fish loses last strength(as they said, “she gets blown off”) and the wounded one is literally carried downstream. And there she is,
Naturally, cunning fishermen are waiting and take, as they say, with their bare hands. Gradually this word passed from vernacular into the jargon of itinerant merchants (hence, by the way, the expression “talk on a hairdryer,” that is, communicate in jargon). “Sucker” they called a peasant peasant who came from the village to the city, and who was easy to deceive.
*Scoundrel*
The etymology of "scoundrel" goes back to the word "frozen". Cold even for northern peoples does not evoke any pleasant associations, so they began to call a cold, insensitive, indifferent, callous, inhuman and generally extremely (to the point of trembling!) unpleasant subject a “scoundrel.” The word "scum", by the way, comes from the same place. Just like the now popular “scumbags”.
*Mymra*
“Mymra” is a Komi-Permyak word and it is translated as “gloomy”. Once in Russian speech, it began to mean, first of all, an unsociable homebody (in Dahl’s dictionary it is written: “mymrit” - sitting at home all the time.”) Gradually, “mymra” began to be called simply an unsociable, boring, gray and gloomy person.
*Insolent*
The words “impudence”, “arrogant” existed for quite a long time in the Russian language in the meaning of “sudden, impetuous, explosive, passionate”. Happened in Ancient Rus' and the concept of “brazen death,” that is, death is not slow, natural, but sudden, violent. In the 11th century church work “The Menaions of the Four” there are the following lines: “The horses raced brazenly”, “I will drown the rivers brazenly” (brazenly, that is, quickly).
*Scoundrel*
The fact that this is a person unsuitable for something is, in general, understandable. But in the 19th century, when conscription was introduced in Russia, this word was not an insult. This was the name given to people unfit for military service. That is, if you didn’t serve in the army, that means you’re a scoundrel!
*Scoundrel*
But this word is Polish in origin and simply means “a simple, humble person.” Thus, the famous play by A. Ostrovsky, “Simplicity is Enough for Every Wise Man,” was performed in Polish theaters under the title “Notes of a Scoundrel.” Accordingly, all non-gentry belonged to the “vile people”.
*Bastard*
Another word that originally existed exclusively in plural. It couldn’t have been otherwise, since “scum” was the name given to the remains of the liquid remaining at the bottom along with the sediment. And since all sorts of rabble often hung around the taverns and taverns, finishing off the muddy remains of alcohol after other visitors, the word “scum” soon passed into them. It is also possible that the expression “scum of society” played a significant role here, that is, degraded people who are “at the bottom.”
*Vulgar*
“Vulgarity” is an original Russian word, which is rooted in the verb “went”. Until the 17th century, it was used in a more than decent sense and meant everything that was familiar, traditional, done according to custom, that which HAS HAPPENED from time immemorial. However, in late XVII early XVIII centuries, Peter's reforms began, opening a window to Europe and the fight against all ancient “vulgar” customs. The word “vulgar” began to lose respect before our eyes and now increasingly meant “backward,” “hateful,” “uncultured,” “simple.”
*Bastard*
“Svolochati” in Old Russian is the same as “svolochat”. Therefore, bastard was originally called all kinds of garbage that was raked into a heap. This meaning (among others) was retained by Dahl: “Bastard is everything that is bastarded or dragged into one place: weeds, grass and roots, rubbish dragged by a harrow from arable land.” Over time, this word began to define ANY crowd gathered in one place. And only then they began to refer to all sorts of despicable people - drunks, thieves, tramps and other asocial elements.
*Bitch*
Anyone who opens Dahl’s dictionary can read that a bitch means “dead, scorched cattle,” that is, simply put, carrion, rotting meat. Soon, men began to contemptuously use the word “bitch” to call especially vile and harmful ones (“with a smell” ) whores. And since the harmfulness of a woman apparently turned men on (purely male pleasure from overcoming obstacles), the word “bitch,” while retaining a fair amount of negativity, appropriated some features to itself “ femme fatale"Although the vulture feeding on carrion still reminds us of its original meaning.
*Bastard*
The word “hybrid,” as we know, is non-Russian and entered the popular arsenal quite late. Much later than the hybrids themselves - crosses different types animals. So people came up with the words “bastard” and “geek” for such crosses. The words did not stay long in the animal sphere and began to be used as a humiliating name for slaves and bastards, that is, “crosses” of nobles with commoners.
*Schmuck*
“Chmarit”, “chmorit”, according to Dahl, originally meant “to languish”, “to be in need”, “to vegetate”. Gradually this verb gave birth to a noun defining pathetic person, in a humiliated, depressed state. In the prison world, prone to all kinds of secret codes, the word “ChMO” began to be considered as an abbreviation for the definition of “Moral Degenerate Person,” which, however, is completely not far from the original meaning.
*Shantrapa*
Not all the French made it to France. The Russian nobles brought many of them into captivity into their service. Of course, they were not suitable for the harvest, but as tutors, teachers and directors of serf theaters they came in handy. They examined the men sent to the casting and, if they did not see any talent in the applicant, they waved their hand and said “Chantra pas” (“not fit for singing”).
*Sharomizhnik*
1812 The previously invincible Napoleonic army, exhausted by the cold and partisans, retreated from Russia. The brave “conquerors of Europe” turned into frozen and hungry ragamuffins. Now they did not demand, but humbly asked the Russian peasants for something to eat, addressing them “cher ami” (“love friends”). Peasants, in foreign languages not strong, so they nicknamed the French beggars “ballooners.” Not last role Apparently, the Russian words “rummaging” and “moke” also played a role in these metamorphoses.
*Trash*
Since peasants were not always able to provide “humanitarian aid” to the former occupiers, they often included horse meat in their diet, including dead horse meat. In French, “horse” is cheval (hence, by the way, the well-known word “chevalier” - knight, horseman)... However, the Russians, who did not see any special chivalry in eating horses, dubbed the pathetic French with the word “trash”, in the sense of “rags”.
*Rogue*
Rogue, rogue - words that came into our speech from Germany. The German schelmen meant "swindler, deceiver." Most often, this was the name given to a fraudster posing as another person. In G. Heine's poem "Shelm von Berger" this role is played by the Bergen executioner, who came to a social masquerade pretending to be noble man. The Duchess with whom he danced caught the deceiver by tearing off his mask.
Sent by Lev Utevsky
Loving a person who doesn't give a damn about me is my style, yeah...
There are many in the world good people, but I always talk to fucked people, it’s more interesting with them
And in a white dress and veil I walk to the altar with flowers and my father shouts after me Anton, fucking don’t disgrace your family!
Who said that hatred needs a justified reason? No such thing.
If a cat flies with its ass forward over the fence, it means it stole something from the table.
Even a billion hearts under your ava will not correct the shortcomings of nature on your ****
Briefly about myself - I have no brains and I fuck a lot
At home they say: “Leave your nerves at work!”, At work: “Leave your nerves at home!” Fuck, where should I leave my nerves?
I respect the ocean. He takes lives and he doesn't give a fuck.
They say that when you give a damn about a person, he begins to understand what he has lost. So let the fucker rule the world. Everyone will be happy.
A hedgehog came out of the fog, ran out of marijuana, suddenly found hemp, and entered the fog again!
And again I step into the bottomless heights, with a huge poster... “Everything is fucked up.”
Checkmate is an ambiguous concept. Some find it unacceptable, while others cannot imagine emotional communication without strong expression. But it is impossible to argue with the fact that swearing has long become an integral part of the Russian language, and it is used not only by uncultured people, but also by fully educated representatives of society. Historians claim that they swore with pleasure and defended him as integral part Russian language Pushkin, Mayakovsky, Bunin and Tolstoy. Where did swear words come from, and what do the most common ones actually mean?
Where did the mat come from?
Many believe that obscene language dates back to the times of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, but historians and linguists have long refuted this fact. Golden Horde and most of the nomadic tribes were Muslims, and representatives of this religion do not defile their mouths with swearing, and the biggest insult for them is to call a person an “unclean” animal - for example, a pig or a donkey. Accordingly, Russian mat has more ancient history and its roots go back to ancient Slavic beliefs and traditions.
By the way, the designation of the male causal place in Turkic dialects sounds absolutely harmless - kutah. The bearers of the fairly common and euphonious surname Kutakhov would be surprised to learn what it really means!
Common word from three letters, according to one version, is imperative mood the verb “to hide”, that is, to hide
Most experts in ethnography and linguistics argue that swear words originated from the Proto-Indo-European language, which was spoken by the ancestors of the ancient Slavs, Germanic tribes and many other peoples. The difficulty lies in the fact that its carriers did not leave any written sources, so the language had to be reconstructed literally bit by bit.
The word “mate” itself has several origins. According to one of them, it once meant a cry or loud voice- confirmation of this theory is the expression “Yell swear words", which has survived to our times. Other researchers claim that the term comes from the word “mother,” since most obscene constructions send an unwanted person to a certain mother, or imply having sexual relations with her.
The exact origin and etymology of swear words also remains unclear - linguists and ethnologists put forward many versions on this matter. Only three are considered the most likely.
- Communication with parents. During the times of Ancient Rus', old people and parents were treated with great respect and reverence, so all words with sexual overtones regarding the mother were considered a serious insult to a person.
- Connection with Slavic conspiracies. In the beliefs of the ancient Slavs, the genitals occupied special place- it was believed that they contained Magic force person, and when addressing her, willy-nilly, one had to remember those very places. In addition, our ancestors believed that devils, witches and other dark entities were extremely bashful and could not stand swear words, so they used obscenity as a defense against the unclean.
- Communication with peoples of other faiths. In some ancient Russian texts there is a mention that swearing has “Jewish” or “dog” origin, but this does not mean that non-Zentsurism came to us from Judaism. The ancient Slavs called any foreign beliefs “dogs,” and words borrowed from representatives of such religions were used as curses.
Some experts believe that swearing was invented as a secret language
Another common misconception is that Russian is the richest language obscene words of all that exist. In fact, philologists identify from 4 to 7 basic constructions, and all the rest are formed from them with the help of suffixes, prefixes and prepositions.
The most popular obscene expressions
In Serbia, whose language is related to Russian, obscene words are much less taboo
- X**. The most common swear word that can be found on walls and fences around the world. According to Wikipedia, at least 70 are derived from it different words and idioms, ranging from the short and understandable “fuck you” to the more original “fuck you” or “fuck you”. In addition, this word can be called one of the oldest and most respected in the Russian language - many researchers believe that it dates back to the Proto-Nostratic language, formed in the 11th millennium BC. The most common theory of its origin is from the Indo-European skeu-, which meant "shoot" or "shoot". From him came the more harmless and censored word “needles.”
- Fuck. This word was once quite decent and often used - this is what the 23rd letter of the Cyrillic alphabet was called, which after the reform turned into the letter X. Researchers call different reasons its transformation into an obscene statement. According to one theory, the cross was once called x*r, and defenders of paganism cursed the first Christians who actively spread their faith in Rus', telling them “Go to x*r,” which meant “die like your God.” The second version says that in the Proto-Indo-European language this word was used to refer to a goat, including an idol of the patron of fertility, which had a large genital organ.
According to one version, shoemakers used obscene language more often than others due to the fact that they hit their fingers with a hammer
On the one hand, the frequent use of swear words indicates a person’s low culture, but on the other hand, they are part of history, literature and even the mentality of the Russian people. As the famous joke goes, a foreigner who lived in Russia for five years could not understand why “pi**ato” is good, and “f*ck” is bad, and “pi**ato” is worse, than “fucking”, and “fucking” is better than “fucking”.
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