Why there are mushrooms with eyes in Ryazan, and what eggs interfere with bad dancers: Proverbs from time immemorial

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The Russian language is very figurative, it contains not only a lot of information, but also bright proverbs, phraseological units and catch phrases that are not always clear to foreigners. The history of the emergence of most of them is lost in our history, however, if you delve into, then almost all the sayings have an interesting historical basis or explanation.

“And we have mushrooms with eyes in Ryazan. They are eaten, they look"

This unusual proverb is not at all a reference to horror films. Its history dates back to the distant XIV century. In those days, the inhabitants were very annoyed by the raids of the Horde warriors. Ryazan was just on the favorite path of the invaders, but the local forests seemed to themselves helped to find the invading foreigners, their path was easily found by the pathfinders by rumpled mushrooms. To prevent this "tracking system" from failing, local residents were forbidden to pick and trample mushrooms on pain of death. Therefore, boletus and fly agarics became "big-eyed" - they helped to track the movement of enemies.

It is surprising that with all the modern means of communication and tracking, today the old "mushroom watch" is also used in border areas that boast forest resources. He also helps in the search for people missing in the forest. Considering the historical merits, in 2013 a monument to "big-eyed" mushrooms was erected in Ryazan. The bronze family looks in different directions, guarding the peace and peace of citizens.

Filkin's certificate

This expression, meaning ignorant and illiterate writing, appeared as a result of very tragic events. In the 16th century, during the reign of Ivan IV, there was found a lover of truth who was not afraid to express his thoughts to the formidable tsar. Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia Philip II not only spoke publicly about the numerous crimes of the guardsmen, but also wrote angry exposing letters. It was these documents that Ivan the Terrible began to call "phony letters".

Of course, the Russian monarch did not tolerate such opposition for a long time. The disgraced metropolitan was defrocked and exiled to the Tver monastery, where he was killed by Malyuta Skuratov. Later, the relics of the truth-lover were transferred to Moscow, and he was glorified for all-Russian veneration as Saint Philip of Moscow. For several centuries “Filkin's letters” were used to refer to documents that have no legal force. Later, this expression became winged, acquiring a more negative meaning.

Kazan Orphan

This phraseological unit also arose during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The fact is that after the capture of Kazan, the tsar showed a fair amount of generosity and political foresight. Instead of destroying the princes of the captured city, he decided to turn them into allies and showered them with favors. However, the Kazan khans continued to complain about their fate and bombarded Moscow with petitions with requests, where they often called themselves "orphans." The Russian boyars, who were often given rears from the tsar as gifts, began to ironically call their new “colleagues” “Kazan orphans,” and later they began to use it for all those who are poor and who want to specifically evoke pity.

They carry water to the offended

There is a legend that this expression appeared thanks to Peter I. In those days, if they heard about city water pipelines, it was far from everywhere, therefore, water carriers were most often engaged in the delivery of drinking water to cities. It was a fairly prestigious profession. Men with horse-drawn carts, on which huge barrels were installed, collected water and brought it to the townspeople. This delivery was organized centrally, and payment to the carters came from the treasury. Residents received water free of charge or very inexpensively. However, some greedy water carriers began to demand a payment for water, mercilessly overstating it. When information about this reached Peter, he acted in his own spirit - he ordered the peasants convicted of such a fraud to be harnessed to carts so that they would carry water "on their humps." Of course, the water carriers were very offended by the king.

It is written on the forehead

This phraseological unit, like many others that came to us from distant antiquity, initially had a much more terrible meaning and meant not just a person who does not know how to restrain emotions. The tradition of putting marks on criminals in prominent places on the body, most often on the face, dates back to ancient Rome. For example, there they burned the letter "C" (Latin calumniare - slander) on the foreheads of the slanderers. Later this method was adopted from us. So, in the 17th century, participants in the copper riot were branded with the letter "B" on their cheeks, and in 1746 Elizaveta Petrovna issued a decree that criminals should be branded and marked on their foreheads. This measure was in effect for more than 100 years and was canceled only in the middle of the XIX century, so that the expression was fixed in our language.

Bad dancer and eggs get in the way

There is no consensus on this proverb, but there is a version that looks very convincing and, which is not unimportant, decent. Eggs in this case are chicken eggs. In Europe in the old days there was a tradition of "Egg Dance" - "Eiertanz". This strange action appeared in the 16th-17th centuries in the Netherlands, and later spread to different countries. It can be seen on the canvases of famous artists - Artsen, Bruegel, Van Ostade, Saftleven. All of them depict people dancing among eggs laid out on the floor.

Goethe, "The Study Years of Wilhelm Meister"

It is clear that this fun was supposed to show the agility of the dancers. The Germans, by the way, have a similar expression: which means literally, and in a figurative sense - cleverly solve problems. It is possible that in our tradition the proverb was turned upside down, and the chicken eggs were forgotten, although there is still no exact data that this explanation is correct.

Read on about How to "get to the handle" and who has "seven Fridays a week": Interesting facts about famous phraseological units