How husbands gave nicknames to their wives in Russia, and Why modern women would be offended

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

In Russia, women were called differently. The girl is from the moment of birth to marriage, the young woman is married, but has not given birth to a child, the woman is the one who is married and has children, but not the mistress of the house, and a big woman. Married "baba" is not a very poetic name from the point of view of modernity. In some areas, husbands found other words for their halves. No, these are not modern "bunnies", "birds", "kukusiki", but completely different names - unusual for the ear of a modern person, bright, and sometimes very strange. But if you look closely, there is an explanation for each definition. Nicknames did not appear just like that, but reflected some quality of a person or an event. Read about who the bloopers and big guys are, and who was called "mezhomeok".

Druzhka da vodvorka on the Voronezh lands

If you have to visit Voronezh, then you can hear how married women are called wives. It is clear that this is from the word wife. And before, the peasants called their wife not only that, but also a woman, more affectionately - a butterfly, and even more often - a vodvorka and a friend.

In fact, the word "friend" means "best man of the groom", if it is in the masculine gender. But it is also used in the female as applied to the wife. In Ushakov's dictionary, you can read that in this case it means a paired subject. What's the connection with your wife? Simple. After a woman got married, she was completely dependent on her husband, becoming such a "subject". Hence the friend.

Vodvorka was the name of a woman who was given in marriage and who settled with her husband. In other words, she came “into the yard,” that is, she settled down, as they would say today. This is stated in Dahl's dictionary.

How did the zhonka differ from the big one?

Zhenka or Zhonka - that was the name of their halves of the Pomors. This was even more common in Pomorie than the usual "girl", "baba". When the wife was already old, she became "big-eared." And the point here is not at all in weight and not in volume, but in the significance of the person.

But sometimes this was the name of the woman who ran the household. Of course, a big woman sounds more respectful than a woman or a wife, and this is due to the fact that Pomor women worked on an equal basis with men, who often were not at home for six months. While the women were waiting for the men from the trade, they remained full housekeepers, taking on the role of the head of the family. Well, how else can you call her, if not big-eared? By the way, Pomor women highly appreciated this status and believed that it was wrong to call them simply “women”.

The main thing in the family was the highway and the big one, and most often they were husband and wife. The so-called large could be transferred by the mother-in-law to the daughter-in-law (or one of them) in case of illness and the impossibility of fulfilling her duties any longer), while her husband still had the burden of the highway. But the small men were in obedience to the big women. If the mother bore this title, then all the sons had to obey her unquestioningly before marriage. After the wedding was played, the man acquired some authority, but still obeyed the bolshak, that is, the father, until the moment the bolshoi was accepted.

Mezheumok - a woman or a man?

With a strange word mezheumok (just like that, in the masculine gender) in the Perm villages they called women who left their husbands. Previously, such an event happened very rarely, and the woman who did this was considered to be out of her mind, feeble-minded. That is, between the mind.

Therefore, a woman who today could be called decisive, independent, not afraid of difficulties and so on in old Russia was called a mezheumk and was condemned in every possible way. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that such a nickname could be obtained by any person who did not too smart actions. But it seems clear where the desire of some Russian women to hide behind their husbands comes from, and to preserve their marriage at any cost, even if it is not very good.

Sloppy bald head and neat everyday life

At all times, cleanliness, neatness, and the ability to perfectly manage the household were valued in the wife. Therefore, the nicknames were appropriate. For example, in the Amur region, such women were called everyday women. They knew how to take care of their husband and children, maintain order in the hut, and support the older generation. Everything is extremely simple here: the verb "to use, to look after" is nothing more than "to look after, to look after". Perhaps, even today, the wife would not refuse such a sweet nickname, because it seems to combine all the best qualities of the hostess.

But women who were not characterized by such features, that is, lazy, unscrupulous, who did not want to carry out their household duties, were assigned the not very beautiful nickname bald head.

Blooper, and where does the kite

Another nickname that could be heard is the lyapalka. There are two options here. First: the word comes from one of the elements of the kite, namely from the mesentery. This is a folded piece of paper that is used to tighten the corners of the toy. Otherwise, it was also called a lyapalka, because during the flight it cracked and clapped strongly, that is, it made funny and completely useless sounds. Who else can do the same? Most likely, not too smart and talkative woman, who, as they say, bursts out with her tongue. That is why such women, for example, in the Ryazan regions, were called lyapalka. The same name for the chatterbox was also in the Bryansk regions. If a woman does not think about what she is saying, about the consequences, about whether it is interesting to someone, and how her husband relates to her chatter, then she is a blooper. Unrestrained in language and stupid. Well, the husbands of such representatives of the weaker sex cause only sympathy.

The enormous burden was also distributed on the children. Boys and girls of the time they knew how to do a lot of things, bearing the burden of work and household responsibilities almost on a par with adults.