Some people don't swear at all. Someone inserts abuse through the word. Most use strong words at least occasionally. What is a Russian mat and where did it come from?
The Russian mat has a rich history
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Attention! The text contains profanity.
The notorious social opinion does not allow studying the good old mat. Most of the researchers who have chosen such a difficult path complain about this. Therefore, there is very little literature on the mat.
One of the mysteries of Russian profanity is the origin of the word “mat” itself. According to one hypothesis, initially "mat" means "voice". That is why phrases such as “shouting good obscenities” have come down to us. However, the generally accepted version reduces the word "mat" to "mother", therefore - "swear at mother", "send to hell" and so on.
Another problem with swearing is the impossibility of compiling an accurate list of swear words, because some native speakers mark certain words as obscene, others do not. So, for example, is the case with the word "gondon". However, typical swear words come from just four to seven roots.
It is known that different peoples have a different "reserve" of mate, which can be traced to different spheres. Russian swearing, like the abuse of many other cultures, is tied to the sexual sphere. But this is not the case for all nations, because there are a number of cultures where everything related to sex is not tabooed in any way. For example, among the indigenous population of New Zealand - the Maori people. One of the tribes - the ancestor of the Maoritans - quite "officially" was called "ure faith", which means "hot penises", or "hot penis". In European culture, the sphere of mating, by the way, is also not necessarily associated with sexual relations. If you look at the Germanic languages, it becomes clear that there many curses are associated with bowel movements.
The basis of Russian obscene vocabulary, as in many other languages, is the so-called "obscene triad": the male genital organ ("x.y"), the female genital organ (p..da), and the verb describing the process of copulation ("e ..t”). Interestingly, the Russian language is characterized by the complete absence of designations for these words of literary native Russian terms. They are replaced either by naked Latin and soulless medical equivalents, or by emotional ones - swear words.
In addition to the obscene triad, the Russian mate is also characterized by the word “bl.d” - the only one that does not mean genitals and copulation, but comes from the Slavic bleed, which translated into Russian means "fornication - delusion, error, sin." In Church Slavonic, the word "bliss" means "to lie, deceive, slander."
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Also popular are "m..de" (male testicles), "man.a" (female genitalia) and "e.da" (male genitalia).
Aleksey Plutser-Sarno, a well-known researcher of Russian swearing, proposes to take the above seven lexemes as the basis for the concept of Russian swearing, citing, however, another 35 roots that survey participants considered as obscene (among them, by the way, such words as “eat” and “vomit” ).
Despite the very limited number of roots, the Russian mat is characterized by just a gigantic number of derivative words. In addition to existing ones, new ones are constantly emerging. So, the researcher V.Raskin gives a far from complete list of derivatives from the word “e..t” (only verbs): e..nut, e..until, e..tsya, e.edit, e.nut, e. to. to. to. to. to. to.. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. to. , to..bat, to..bat, stop.to.nit, from..bat, from..bat, to.bat, to.to.bat, to.bat, to.bat, under..bat, under..to , under .. bnut, raz .. bat, raz .. bat, s.. bat, s .. be, s .. bat, y .. bat, etc.
No one knows for sure where the Russian mat came from. The once popular hypothesis that we got it “from the Mongol-Tatar yoke” (“Tatar version”) was completely refuted with the discovery of Novgorod birch bark letters of the 12th-13th centuries. It was not possible to fall on the yoke. This is understandable, because foul language is one way or another typical, apparently, for all languages of the world.
But there are other versions. Two of them are the main ones. The first is that the Russian mat is associated with erotic pagan rites that played an important role in agricultural magic. The second - swear words in Russia once had different meaning, for example, double. But over time, one of the meanings was forced out, or they were merged together, turning the meaning of the word into a negative one.
Russian mat, as a phenomenon of the national language and culture, has its roots in ancient times. The word mat itself, according to some philologists and linguists, comes from the word mother. Mother (word) was not previously used outside the verbal construction Yo ... your mother. Only after the introduction by Catherine II of the restriction on the use of obscene expressions in society, the word mother acquired a slightly different meaning. And by the eighteenth century, affectionate derivatives of this word appeared - mother, mother, mother, mother, and so on.
Other scientists (including the famous researcher of Russian mat A. Plutzer-Sarno) believe that the word mat meant a loud cry, the cry of animals during the period of mating flirtations or the process of copulation itself.
Why the Russian rulers sent swear words, which have been used from time immemorial in everyday life to designate their mental states, as unacceptable and forbidden can be explained, perhaps, only by European influence. Insofar as foreign culture, primarily German and French, and their words and expressions penetrated into Russia and were adopted by the ruling class, traditionally Russian words and expressions disappeared in this environment.
Gradually, only the lower classes of Russian society began to use obscenities in their speech, where the expression “e ... t - dig” was used on a par with “give us daily bread today”. But among the nobles and the higher clergy, the mat went into the realm of gloomy legends and historicisms. And if one of the nobles did not refrain from using a “strong” word in speech, then this was considered bad form and ignorance. In French, please. Just not as Russian men say. This was how the tabooing of obscenities was introduced. And he himself began to be considered obscene vocabulary. It was in the noble environment that swear words were considered a forbidden curse. It was there that he acquired his “bad” reputation as something vile and overly negative.
But, nevertheless, despite official prohibitions and moral protests, the mat survived. Moreover, it has developed and matured. This was largely facilitated by Russian enlighteners and writers, digging out piles of hitherto unknown literature and philological emeralds among the dusty historical evidence. The expressions dug out in this way were used by the writers themselves in friendly correspondence, where they wanted to outdo each other in the art of selective Russian swearing. A special contribution to the popularization of the mat was made by such writers as Pushkin, Lermontov, Barkov, Alexei Tolstoy, Zhemchuzhnikovs, Yesenin and many others.
AT modern Russia the mat is also taboo. Everyone swears and yet, well, or almost everyone, advocates the complete eradication of swearing, cutting the defenders of obscene vocabulary with the penultimate words.
Everyday mat, which we meet here and there has nothing to do with literary obscenities. Today's swearing has become so boring that you involuntarily do not notice it at all. Gradually, obscene words lose their social function of expressing discontent and protest and pass into the category of everyday words and expressions. This is facilitated by the extraordinary flexibility of "matyukov". In separate words, you can express almost anything, including concepts and phenomena that are opposite in meaning and meaning.
Swearing and swearing is actually all. Even young, unintelligent children are attracted by the unpretentious philosophy of swear words. But only a few of this number swear in a florid, long, competent, funny way and in accordance with all the rules of the Russian language. Cursing correctly is a big science that requires detailed and in-depth study.
Mat can be expressed in individual words, in phrases containing up to five obscene words, and maybe in bends. The obscene bend is of several types.
So, they distinguish between a small obscene bend, a large obscene bend, a large Petrovsky bend, a small sea and a large sea bend, and so on.
The obscene bend is the simplest and at the same time rigid and extensive scheme, according to which the swear sentence is being constructed.
The bend is distinguished by its strength. One word is hardly replaced in it by another.
Obscene bends (large and small) differ, first of all, in the number of non-formatted words contained in them. A small bend should include from fifteen to twenty words (prepositions and conjunctions are not among them). Large, respectively, contains thirty or more words. There are known bends in the number of obscene words, which reach one and a half hundred and even more. Such works folk art they look colorful and are usually voiced with a tongue twister.
There are also unverified rumors about the existence Great Petrovsky Bend, which contains several hundred fixed phrases and is a model for building nine-story mats. It seems that this work can be attributed for the most part to the field of legends and legends. Although you can often find something similar. Paraphrase of Peter's curse.
Skilled swearers were highly honored in Russia and were invited to all mass celebrations in order to appease the ears of tipsy hosts and guests with their dashing abuse. Speaking in curves back then was like having a flashing beacon on your car today. That is, those who possessed such talents could practically freely enter any establishments and attend any events. Today, championships and competitions are often held among the bearers of the “great and mighty”.
So, ladies and gentlemen, learn Russian. It may be of use to you.
Trying to discover the origin of Russian swearing, first of all, you need to pay attention to the fact that millions of people do not know where this language came from. The phenomenon itself is incomprehensible. They say they say, but they don’t know why they say it that way? It involuntarily draws attention. If the origin is unknown, then why is it so stubbornly and steadily used? At the same time, the mat cannot be considered exclusively Russian. It is in Jewish Yiddish. Many experts have long noticed a connection between the Hebrew and Slavic-Novgorod languages. This clearly points to common ancestors. Now the reason for this connection is not difficult to prove.
Swearing is considered obscene language. That is, prohibited for official use. From this we can make a fairly confident assumption that it is pre-literate. The Orthodox Church has always condemned and forbade him. Consequently, it appeared among our ancestors before Byzantine Orthodoxy was universally established in medieval Russia. And, judging by the fact that Christianity came to Byzantium from Rome, where it appeared in the first centuries new era, therefore, among the Jews, the mat appeared before the emergence of this religion.
But here another question arises: the Novgorodians appeared no earlier than the 7th century. New era, and the Jews in Egypt and the Middle East two or three thousand years earlier. How did both of them get the same language, about the origin of which neither one nor the other knows anything? This means that both of them had common ancestors who used this language.
A shallow study of the Russian mat allows us to conclude that its numerous expressions and words have only a few roots. Their semantic meaning varies depending on the endings and pronounced intonation. From one word you can make a dozen others.
Unfortunately, I do not know how, without repeating past stories, to explain another unknown. Because that information is also unique. So I apologize for the repetition.
To understand the world of the ancient pagans, you need to imagine what the Aryan dwelling looked like with its chimney. It was a domed structure similar to the Mongolian yurt. The poles, called prugi, were stuck with thick ends in a circle into the ground. And in the dome, the thin ends converged on a special wheel, where they were tied with straps - a rope. Words familiar to everyone - prugi, rope. From here come the concepts of spouses and the Old Slavonic verv - genus.
The tip of each spring, sticking out inside the chimney wheel, had its own name and sign. The signs were carved on the staff of the tribal leader with "features and cuts" and looked like bird tracks - piste. Hence epistola - letter. Each tip of the pruga was also the bearer of a number, a syllable, a prayer, a name that was given to members of the clan.
In some Aryan clans, the leaders duplicated the names of the tips with a certain knot on the strap, which they constantly carried with them. It was the rope alphabet. Therefore, the words rope, rope, faith, top, twirl have one root. From ver - circle, wheel.
Undoubtedly, only a very simple language could be created from this wheel. But to create a new genus, the ancestor did not need another. The wheel was the matrix of the original language spoken to the hybrid birthing mothers. It is not for nothing that the mat is called obscene language. Or they say: "I swore at my mother."
The word swearing also speaks of its origin from the Aryan smoke wheel. Detail: mother genie. Mat-stick, line. Er - wooden. That is, a pole, a pruga, the end of which stuck out in a chimney wheel. The ending tire means a wheel or a round object. For example: reyshina - ray with a tire. Wheel stick. Eye, fascina, machine. Etc. In turn, ji-na - the sky is on. The word "tire" speaks of a smoke wheel that is "in the sky".
To decipher the original meaning of swear words, you can compile a small dictionary.
Ba is the body.
Wa, ka - together
Yes, throat.
E is on top.
Idz \ ij - the sky.
Y - tip.
P - attach, attach.
Ku - together, small
La - lips, fingers.
Ma is the body.
Man - wheel, circle, round.
T - stand.
Now we add p-idz - yes - a throat attached to the sky. Smoke hole of an Aryan dwelling.
We double-check: man-da - wheel-throat. According to him, names were given and genera were made, therefore in some languages man means “man”.
The very word mat means all that is worth. This is grass - mint, and hair by which a woman was distinguished from a man. Hence the words mat and mother sound the same. Mat, also, is just a stick.
The most commonly used obscene name for the male genital organ comes from two syllable words ku - y. Ku - together, th - tip. Along with a tip.
Compiling a language template was not particularly difficult. Therefore, the Aryan tribal leaders, having the skill, easily designed new languages. They used this primitive language in communication with women in childbirth. They, in turn, passed it on to their children.
With the increase in the number of genera and with the complication of life in general, languages were replenished with new constructed words based on the original template. The Aryans created enclaves all over the world. Therefore, in completely different languages you can find these template words. For example, in Chechen there is a word bud, meaning the female genital organ. In Russian, a booth, a wake-up call. The capital of Hungary is Budapest. The Tibetan religion is called Buddhism.
What is the connection, you ask? - Yes, in that bud is one of the synonyms that the Aryans called the smoke hole of their dwelling. Bud-ka - with a hole together. Come on - on top of the hole together. The smoke hole, from which in the morning the tribal leader moved the hatch with a long hatch, announcing the booth.
The toponym Buda - Pest directly points to the bud of the furnace. That is, the round wheel of the chimney, according to which the Aryans gave names to members of the genus. In this case, the name means "ancestral dwelling" or "ancestral dwellings". The giant city began with several families created here by the Aryan leaders.
In ancient Turkic, the word "budun" means "people". Bud-un is one hole. And Russian " means people - from above the clan. The Wheel of the Family, according to which the names of the members of the family were given.
About the fact that names were given on this wheel. says the well-known surname Budanov. It comes from bud-an - a hole from above.
In past centuries, in the Dagestan villages there was a public position "budun". This person was obliged to monitor the night time and so that the sentries guarding the village did not sleep. He kept track of time by the stars and, at exactly the same time, made a wake-up call to the people by rattling his baton into a suspended copper basin.
The name of the religion with the root Bud says that in connection with the smoke wheel, a rather complex set of knowledge has developed. To understand the origin of the god Buddha himself, it is enough to read my decoding of the myth about Jesus Christ. These are two different descriptions of the appearance of the first light after the polar night in the smoke holes of the Aryan polar dwellings. Only in the first case it was called idz-uz - the sky is narrow. And in the second bud-yes - a round hole.
A common swear word used to call walkers and women in general is another synonym for a smoke hole. Lyada is still called in the south the entrance to the attic of the house. B-lyad - the body of the lyad, the body-hole. Kolyada - the name of a few hours of the evening before Christmas comes from kolyada - a circle of lyada. That is, an open smoke wheel-lyada.
That's all. There are a couple more swear words. Use the dictionary yourself. You will succeed.
I was always surprised that not a single philologist wrote me a single word on such things. Even maternal. True, once a doctor of science from a well-known university noticed that there were spelling errors in my text and punctuation marks were incorrectly placed. A very helpful note. I wanted to immediately go to high school to finish my studies. It’s a pity that he didn’t take the elephant ... .., sorry, I didn’t notice.
(By the way! The word min-et consists of a min-hole, et - from above. That is, a mouth. A medieval dig under the walls of a besieged fortress is a mine. The same hole. The titles of the Chinese emperors of the Ming dynasty and the name of the Egyptian god Ming come from the hole of the Aryan smoke wheel dwellings. The only source of light in the dark chamber is the headlight. Hence the farah-on. The headlight is round.
As a child, I heard the following story from the old people of our village: During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, the Cossacks asked the Bulgarians: “Why do you laugh when someone asks for a match?” They answered that in their language the word "picka" means the female genital organ. From the parent language, this can be translated as p-ij-ka - putting the sky together. All the same smoke hole of the Aryan dwelling. As a result, it turns out that no matter how you avoid using swear words, you still sometimes unwittingly do this by mentioning an ordinary match in a conversation. If in one of the related Slavic languages “picka” is the very place for a woman, then a wooden stick with a red sulfur tip is a male organ, which is intended for this place.
Philosophers gentlemen! Study the saw of the logos more carefully! And when your great and mighty one reaches the proper height, you will understand the difference between a house conic and a condom. And at the same time learn to distinguish pichka from kichka.
Swearing words that can be easily heard on the streets, in parks, cafes, restaurants and even on television, were instilled in Russians by the Tatar-Mongols. For three centuries - so much the yoke ruled in Russia - the Slavs adopted a loud and extremely harsh swearing. Other countries that were also subject to capture swear no less and no worse than the Slavs. The researchers claim that you can find the same roots in the mats of different languages. That is why the strong vocabulary of different nationalities is quite easy to understand.
However, there is a slightly different theory of the origin of the Russian mat. Some of the chronicle sources indicate that the Slavs knew how to express themselves long before the invasion of the Golden Horde. The roots of profanity lie in a number of Indo-European dialects, which surprisingly concentrated precisely on Russian soil. Swear words can be divided into three groups: denoting sexual intercourse, defining male or female genitals. The rest of the dictionary of obscene language is built on this basis.
Scientists offer such a theory of the occurrence of the mat. Such vocabulary was born, in their opinion, in the territory between the Himalayas and Mesopotamia. After all, it was here that the majority of Indo-European tribes were concentrated, from which profanity dispersed in the future.
Of great importance among the inhabitants of these tribes was given to the reproductive function, since this was the only way to survive and expand their nationality. All the words that denoted the sacrament of the process were considered especially magical, therefore it was impossible to pronounce them without special need and the permission of the sorcerers, since, according to the elders, this could lead to the evil eye. However, these rules were violated by the sorcerers and slaves themselves, for whom the law was not written. So gradually the forbidden vocabulary migrated into everyday speech and began to be used from the fullness of feelings or a surge of emotions.
It is natural that most of swear words used now are not very similar to the first Indo-European curses. Most of the modern mat is based on associations. So, for example, the word for a woman of easy virtue is associated with and comes from such a word as “vomit”, which can be translated as “spew out an abomination”. On the face of the phonetic similarity of two swear words based on the same association.
Mats have entered into everyday life among Russian people especially tightly. Researchers attribute this fact to the development of Christianity, which prohibits abuse in any form. And since what is forbidden, one wants even more. Therefore, foul language has taken a special place in the Russian language.
And what Russian does not express itself with a strong word? And it is true! Moreover, many swear words have been translated into foreign languages, but it is interesting that there are no full-fledged analogues of Russian swear words in foreign languages no, and probably never will. It is no coincidence that not a single great Russian writer and poet has bypassed this phenomenon!
How and why did the obscene language appear in Russian?
Why do other languages do without it? Perhaps someone will say that with the development of civilization, with the improvement in the well-being of citizens in the vast majority of countries on our planet, the need for mat naturally disappeared? Russia is unique in that these improvements did not occur in it, and the mat in it remained in its virgin, primitive form ...
Where did he come from anyway?
Previously, a version was spread that the mat appeared in the dark times of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, and before the arrival of the Tatars to Russia, Russians did not swear at all, but cursing, they called each other only dogs, goats and rams.
However, this opinion is erroneous and is denied by the majority of research scientists. Of course, the invasion of nomads influenced the life, culture and speech of the Russian people. Perhaps such a Turkic word as “baba-yagat” (knight, knight) changed social status and gender, turning into our Baba Yaga. The word "karpuz" (watermelon) has turned into a well-fed little boy. But the term "fool" (stop, halt) began to be called a stupid person.
Math has nothing to do with the Turkic language, because it was not customary for nomads to use foul language, and swear words were completely absent from the dictionary. From Russian chronicle sources (the oldest known samples in birch bark letters of the 12th century from Novgorod and Staraya Russa. See “Obscene vocabulary in birch bark letters”. The specifics of the use of some expressions are commented on in the Russian-English Dictionary Diary by Richard James (1618–1619) .) it is known that swear words appeared in Russia long before the Tatar-Mongol invasion. Linguists see the roots of these words in most Indo-European languages, but they only received such distribution on Russian soil.
So why, after all, of the many Indo-European peoples, mat stuck only to the Russian language?
Researchers explain this fact also religious taboos, which other peoples appeared earlier due to the earlier adoption of Christianity. In Christianity, as in Islam, profanity is considered a great sin. Russia adopted Christianity later, and by that time, along with pagan customs, mat was firmly rooted among the Russian people. After the adoption of Christianity in Russia, war was declared against foul language.
The etymology of the word "mat" may seem quite transparent: supposedly it goes back to the Indo-European word "mater" in the meaning of "mother", which has been preserved in various Indo-European languages. However, special studies suggest other reconstructions.
So, for example, L.I. Skvortsov writes: “The literal meaning of the word “mat” is “a loud voice, a cry.” It is based on onomatopoeia, that is, involuntary cries of “ma!”, “me!” - mooing, meowing, roaring of animals during estrus, mating calls, etc. Such an etymology might seem naive if it did not go back to the concept of the authoritative Etymological Dictionary of Slavic Languages: “... Russian mat, is a derivative of the verb “matati” - “shout”, “loud voice”, “shout”, is related to the word “ matoga" - "to swear", i.e. grimacing, breaking down, (about animals) shaking one's head, "cursing" - to disturb, disturb. But "matoga" in many Slavic languages means "ghost, ghost, monster, monster, sorceress" ...
What does it mean?
There are three main swear words and they denote sexual intercourse, male and female genitalia, all the rest are derivatives of these three words. But in other languages, these organs and actions also have their own names, which for some reason did not become abusive words? To understand the reason for the appearance of swear words on Russian soil, the researchers looked into the depths of centuries and offered their own answer.
They believe that in the vast territory between the Himalayas and Mesopotamia, in the vast expanses, there lived a few tribes of the ancestors of the Indo-Europeans, who had to breed in order to expand their habitat, so childbearing was of great importance. And the words associated with the reproductive organs and functions were considered magical. They were forbidden to pronounce "in vain", so as not to jinx it, not to cause damage. Taboos were broken by sorcerers, followed by untouchables and slaves, to whom the law was not written.
Gradually, a habit appeared to express obscenities from the fullness of feelings or simply for a bunch of words. The main words began to acquire many derivatives. Not so long ago, just a thousand years ago, a word denoting a woman of easy virtue "f*ck" was included in the number of abusive words. It comes from the word “vomit”, that is, “spew out an abomination”.
But the most important swear word is considered to be the very word of three letters that is found on the walls and on the fences of the entire civilized world. Let's take it as an example. When did this three-letter word appear? I will say one thing for sure, which is clearly not in the Tatar-Mongolian times. In the Turkic dialect of the Tatar-Mongolian languages, this “object” is denoted by the word “kutakh”. By the way, many now have a surname derived from this word and do not at all consider it dissonant: “Kutahov”.
But what was the name of the reproductive organ in ancient times?
Many Slavic tribes it was designated by the word "oud", from which, by the way, quite a decent and censored "fishing rod" comes from. But still, in most tribes, the genital organ was called nothing more than “x * y”. However, this three-letter word, around the 16th century, was replaced by a three-letter more literary analogue - “dick”. Most literate people know that this is exactly what (dick) was the name of the 23rd letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, which turned into the letter “ha” after the revolution. For those who know this, it seems obvious that the word "dick" is a euphemistic substitution that arose due to the fact that the replaced word begins with this letter. However, in reality, everything is not so simple.
The fact is that those who think so do not wonder why, in fact, the letter “X” is called a dick? After all, all the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet are called Slavic words, the meaning of most of which is clear to the modern Russian-speaking public without translation. What did this word mean before becoming a letter?
In the Indo-European language-based, which was spoken by the distant ancestors of the Slavs, Balts, Germans and other European peoples, the word "dick" meant a goat. The word is related to the Latin "hircus". In modern Russian, the word “mug” remains a related word to him. Until recently, this word was used to call goat masks used by mummers during carols.
The similarity of this letter to a goat in the 9th century was obvious to the Slavs. The top two sticks are the horns and the bottom two are his legs. Then, among many nationalities, the goat symbolized fertility, and the god of fertility was depicted as a two-legged goat. This idol had an organ between its two legs, symbolizing fertility, which was called “oud” or “x * y”. In the Indo-European language, this part of the body was called "pesus", it corresponds to the Sanskrit "पसस्", which is translated into ancient Greek as "peos", Latin "penis", Old English "faesl". This word comes from the verb "peseti", meaning the primary function of this organ is to emit urine.
Thus, we can conclude that the mat arose in ancient times and was associated with pagan rites. Checkmate is, first of all, a way to demonstrate readiness to break taboos, to cross certain boundaries. Therefore, the subject of swearing in different languages is similar - “the bottom of the body” and everything related to the administration of physiological needs. In addition to "bodily swearing", some peoples (mostly French-speaking) have blasphemous swearing. The Russians don't.
And one more important point- you can’t mix argotism with obscenities, which are absolutely not obscenities, but most likely just foul language. As, for example, there are dozens of thieves’ argotisms with the meaning of “prostitute” in Russian: alyura, barukh, marukh, profursetka, slut, etc.