What were different parts of the body called in Rus'? In Rus' there can be no other parties except the one that is at one with the Russian people. Where did the appeal “to you” come from among the Slavs

In modern Russian, these words are considered obsolete. They have long disappeared from our everyday speech. Eyes, mouths and other ancient names for body parts can only be found today in the classics or in historical literature.

Face

Nowadays we almost never use the ancient noun “eye,” although many know that it is synonymous with the word “eye.” Linguist Krylov suggests that “eye” is of Indo-European nature, since similar words are found in Latin (oculus), German (auge), and English (eye). According to the “Explanatory Dictionary” of the famous linguist Vladimir Dahl, the eyelid used to be an “eyelid”, and Krylov in his “Etymological Dictionary” writes that once upon a time the eyes were also called that way. According to Krylov, this noun came from the verb “to see.” Mouth - this word is also still familiar to many. That's what lips used to be called. The famous researcher of Slavic languages, Max Vasmer, assumed that “mouth” appeared thanks to “mouth” (meaning “source”), and not the other way around. Lanita is an obsolete designation for the cheek. As linguist Nikolai Shansky points out in his “Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language,” “lanits” come from the common Slavic “olnita,” that is, “a curved part of the body.” In the Explanatory Dictionary, edited by Ozhegov and Shvedova, there is another forgotten word “brow” or simply “forehead”. Uspensky’s “Etymological Dictionary of a Schoolchild” indicates that “chelo” comes from the Latin “celsus” - “high”.

Hands

Soviet linguist Dmitry Ushakov also considered “shuytsu” to be an ancient word. This is what the left hand was called in ancient times. The noun “shuytsa” originates from the adjective “shuy”, which denoted the direction of movement. Max Vasmer believed that the word “shuy” is related to the Indo-European “savyás” - “left”. Right hand is a word that is still widely known. The right hand is the right hand. Max Vasmer believed that the roots of the “hand” should be sought in the Proto-Indo-European language: for example, “daksinas” - dexterous. According to Dahl's dictionary, a finger was previously called a finger. Moreover, it does not matter where this finger was: on the arm or on the leg. The diminutive form “finger” could be used to designate the little finger. Linguist Krylov writes that similar-sounding words are found in many Indo-European languages.

Legs

Gacha - exactly as Dahl pointed out, legs were called a long time ago, or rather the part of the leg from the knee to the waist. Swedish linguist Liden suggested that the noun is related to some ancient words for the butt of an animal. It is noteworthy that Dahl’s dictionary says that our ancestors also christened pants “gacha.” Semenov’s “Etymological Dictionary” reports that in Ancient Rus' the foot was called “dog”, from the Latin “pedis” - “leg”. And the ankle (shin), according to the works of the lexicographer Preobrazhensky, was then called “glezna”.

Torso

Linguist Ushakov also included such a noun as “ramen” in his dictionary. Once upon a time, shoulders had this name. Shansky pointed out that this word is common Slavic and is found in many languages ​​in the form “arm” (“hand”). According to Ozhegov’s “Explanatory Dictionary,” the hips and lower back were previously called “cheslya” (or “loins”). The German Slavic linguist Bernecker suggested that “cheresla” arose thanks to the Proto-Slavic “čerslo” (“partition”). We still often call the belly “belly,” but now only with a tinge of disdain. As linguist Krylov writes, this common Slavic word originally meant “convexity.”

The life of women in Rus' was determined, firstly, by Christian canons, and secondly, by a system of traditions. There were things that were humiliation for a Russian woman or were used as punishment for certain sins.

Walking bareheaded

Unmarried girls had the right to go bareheaded, but married women did not. Usually a woman braided her hair, laid it around her head, and put on a headdress on top - it could be a scarf, kokoshnik or kichka. The custom of covering one's hair dates back to ancient times. The peasants believed that a woman with uncovered hair could bring misfortune into the house: illness, crop failure, loss of livestock. If for some reason a woman appeared in public with her hair uncovered, it was the height of indecency. It was believed that by this she dishonored herself, her husband, and her parents, who did not instill in her moral standards. For this they could even beat her, which was generally the norm in Rus'. By the way, removing a married woman’s headdress was considered a terrible insult. This is what they did to a woman when they wanted to disgrace her. This is where the expression “goofing up” comes from - disgracing oneself.

Hair cutting

Cutting the hair of women and girls was practiced for a variety of reasons. Before the abolition of serfdom, landowners ordered their maids' braids to be cut off for various offenses. A woman's relatives or husband could cut off her hair for fornication or treason.

Communication with strangers

If in the era of pagan Slavism women’s lives were quite free - they could participate in games, dances, round dances, and our Slavic ancestors turned a blind eye to carnal pleasures before marriage, then after the advent of Christianity Russian women (at least representatives of the upper class) ) it was prescribed to sit in the towers all day long and do, for example, handicrafts. They were forbidden to enter into conversations with strangers without their husband’s permission, for example, to receive guests in their mansion, or to take gifts from them. This was considered a terrible shame.

Loss of chastity

If in pre-Christian Rus' physical virginity was not given much importance, then with the advent of Christianity everything changed. Specific punishments for premarital sin were rarely practiced (except for the spanking of the sinning girl3 by her father or brother). But the gates in the house of the “harlot” were smeared with tar in many Russian regions. Public censure was considered the worst shame for a girl. In Western Siberia, premarital cohabitation was not condemned, but it was considered humiliating for a girl if the sin could not be “covered with a crown,” that is, if her lover, having sinned, could not or refused to marry. The presence or absence of virginity in most Russian regions was treated very strictly, because only if his wife had it first could a man be sure of his paternity. Chastity was also considered a guarantee that a woman would be faithful in marriage. Even at royal weddings, it was customary to show the newlywed's bloody shirt to the assembled guests the morning after the wedding night. For example, this is what the Russian Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich did when he married Agafya Grushetskaya in 1679, about whom a rumor was spread that she was supposedly “unclean.” Women who did not marry as virgins faced a sad fate in their husband's family: they were humiliated in every possible way and forced to do the most menial jobs. In addition, their husbands often beat them periodically “for shame” and never forgot their sin.

To be honest, it’s interesting how we live. We learn to speak from an early age, and from those same years we believe that there is nowhere else to learn in the conversational genre. But is this really so? I doubt. One question. I wonder why we call saints by “you”, but we call our boss at work “you” and even with a capital letter? Or why is it customary to address superiors and strangers as “You”, but we say “You” to loved ones? What kind of injustice? In fact, everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance.

What if I told you that respect is... You, and you always called only enemies? do not believe? Now I'll try to put everything in order...

And so, let me just give an excerpt from the most common prayer as an example:

...Hallowed be the name Your; Kingdom come Your; Let there be a will Yours…

So why, as I said above, with your boss you and with a capital V, but with God, the creator, with you? Perhaps I’ll respond to the quote with a quote. I suggest you read a quote from the book by Mikhail Nikolaevich Zadornov, where he already answered this question:

What strong words-medicines our ancestors came up with... After all, initially only enemies were called “you”. “I’m coming at you!” "Viy" is the ruler of darkness. So “you” is not respectful, but on the contrary - “do not approach the enemy.” And God and the one you love - only on “you”!

Do you agree that it is absurd to say in prayers: “God, forgive me”? Or say to your beloved wife: “Can you feed me breakfast?” You can, of course, put it that way, but only if you want to make fun of your own wife.

And now that I have answered the main question, let's think a little logically. After all, it’s enough just to connect logic to understand. If there is only one person, and accordingly you need to address him as you, you are alone, why will I address you as if there are many of you here? It is so? And there is one fact to prove this. Remember that Ivan the Terrible was always addressed on a personal level. And he was not offended because... at that time the language was not yet so distorted.

An interesting fact is that in English there is basically no “you”. There is only “you”, which can be translated as you. So how did it happen that such a tradition appeared among us? In fact, it is no secret that Peter I introduced many Western customs into the Russian consciousness by order. And weaving was one of them.

He simply introduced the “Table of Ranks” in Russia, according to which all those superior (by rank) had to be addressed as you, and called them some kind of “your goodness.” And for violating this rule, a fine was imposed in the amount of two months' salary, and this could be imposed both for poking a superior and for poking a subordinate. And if you consider that a third of this money was due to the informer, then it was... unsafe to violate it. In this way, Western weaving was forcibly introduced in Russia, under threat of a fine. To the common man, understandably, everyone was poking at him: “he’s a man, and here we are with some kind of European showoff, and we respect only those who play the same social game with us, and who wins... in it... with us.” . And note (this is important): at first the address “you” was introduced to emphasize social inequality: you call the emperor “you”, he calls you “you”; to those higher in rank - on you, they to you - on you... That is, vykanya expressed social status, position in the social structure, and not respect for the person. Only then does consciousness adapt: ​​position -> respect for position -> respect, then they intertwine... And now the natural desire of a person - to feel the respect of others, to hear respectful treatment - pushes him to occupy a position, to this “ vertical race"...

Instead of an afterword...

In general, it may seem that I am calling here to abruptly stop You rock and start You Well, but... Still, there are probably moments when public opinion is already so entrenched that the “right” ones can be understood “wrongly”. And this is one of those cases. That’s why with this publication I don’t encourage anyone to do anything, otherwise in modern realities, if you start poking everyone and everyone... I’m afraid you can get poked! :)

It seems that by saying you, we are expressing our respect for the person - it is customary to address superiors and strangers as you.
But why then do we say to our loved ones - You? Do we really respect them less than those strangers? Maybe it's not a matter of respect... But what is it? To understand this, let's go back in time. Where and why did this VYkanye come from?

Indeed, in all ancient languages: other Greek, Latin, other Russian - the address was only in YOU, this is understandable: if there is only one person, then you need to speak to him in the singular: You. From time immemorial, people in Rus' have addressed each other as You.

Before the start of a military campaign, Prince Svyatoslav sent a messenger to the enemy with a short message - “I’m coming to you!” In the Old Russian language, the nominative and accusative cases coincided, so Svyatoslav said “I’m coming at you,” consciously warning about his military plans, which at first glance contradicts common sense, but Svyatoslav had his own calculation.

Of course, in Rus', from time immemorial, people addressed each other as you. They even called out to God - You. They told Ivan the Terrible You, and he was not offended, because this is a natural, normal address - to You, generally accepted then: to address one person as one.

Weaving came to us relatively recently, in the times of Peter the Great, as a kind of Western fashion, a newfangled trend. Then Peter I introduced many Western customs into the Russian consciousness by order. And KAKING was one of them.

Although it might not have taken hold of us at all - it would have remained some kind of foreign curiosity, but in 1722. from R.H. Peter I introduced the “Table of Ranks” in Russia, according to which all superiors (by rank) were to be addressed as YOU, and called something like “Your Good-Highness.” And for violating this rule, a fine was imposed in the amount of two months' salary, and this could be imposed both for Poking a superior and for Poking a subordinate.
And if you consider that a third of this money was due to the informer, then it was... unsafe to violate it. In this way, Western VICTION was forcibly introduced in Russia, under threat of a fine. To the common man, of course, everyone was poking: “he’s a man, and here we are with some kind of European show-off, and we respect only those who play the same social game with us, and who wins... in it... with us.” .

And note (this is IMPORTANT): at first, addressing YOU was introduced to emphasize social inequality: YOU call the emperor YOU, he calls you YOU; to those of a higher rank - as YOU, they to you - as YOU... That is, the vykanie expressed social status, position in the social structure, and not respect for the person. Only then does consciousness adapt: ​​position -> respect for position -> respect, then they intertwine...

And now a person’s egoistic desire - to feel the respect of others, to hear respectful treatment towards himself - pushes him to occupy a position, to this “vertical race”...

An Atlanticist wave of Anglo-Saxon culture, alien to us, is moving towards our blessed Fatherland. It has become fashionable to address YOU to all ages. It would seem an innocent and even civilized sign of recent times: completely replace the pronoun YOU with YOU. But among the Slavs, YOU always meant trust, expressed a sense of brotherhood, the communal, veche spirit of the people. We even address the Gods “on your own”, which emphasizes special intimacy and a disposition towards unity.

The Russian YOU means recognition of respectable age, position, individuality, while the English universal you is a sign of individualism, hopeless disunity. The Anglo-Saxons generally lack the innermost YOU. There is the archaic thou (tau), and then this is the Sanskrit (= Slavic) YOU. Until the mid-twentieth century in Russia, many complete strangers addressed each other as “brother(s)”, “sister(s)”. Now you hear: “citizen”, “citizen”, “man”, “woman”. When Yakubovich in his “Land of Fools” addresses a child “as YOU”, this sugary etiquette alien to us, strange as it may seem, works to destroy Our Traditions, Our mentality (in which the West has succeeded a lot). For the West, Slavic you are a sign of barbarism and lack of culture.

To confirm how sincere the Slavic you is, which disappeared among the Anglo-Saxons, I would like to recall Pushkin’s poem.

Empty YOU, heartfelt YOU
She, having mentioned, replaced,
And all the happy dreams
It aroused the soul of a lover.

I stand before her thoughtfully;
There is no strength to take your eyes off her;
And I tell her: how sweet YOU are!
And I think: how I love you!

There is no need to relax about Western “culture” and its unctuous YOU. Sirs, mayors and peers are not oriented towards brotherhood, neither among themselves, nor, especially, with the common people, from whom they are protected by a “golden curtain”. And between brothers, YOU is not a sign of a lack of culture; on the contrary, YOU is absurd.