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Lisa Patrikeevna, Tugarin Serpent: how the fairy-tale characters actually got their nicknames
Lisa Patrikeevna, Tugarin Serpent: how the fairy-tale characters actually got their nicknames

Video: Lisa Patrikeevna, Tugarin Serpent: how the fairy-tale characters actually got their nicknames

Video: Lisa Patrikeevna, Tugarin Serpent: how the fairy-tale characters actually got their nicknames
Video: Where Did This Image Come From? - YouTube 2024, November
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Still from the movie "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent" (2004)
Still from the movie "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent" (2004)

When reading this or that fairy tale, few people think about the origin of the names of the characters. Why, for example, was Lisa named Patrikeevna, and the Snake - Gorynych. But all these nicknames of the characters have real prototypes.

Lisa Patrikeevna

Fairy-tale character Lisa Patrikeevna
Fairy-tale character Lisa Patrikeevna

The fabulous Fox's nickname "Patrikeevna" did not arise by chance. In the XIV century, the Lithuanian prince Patrikei was fortunate enough to become the governor of the prince in Novgorod. He, to put it mildly, turned out to be dishonest, and began to weave intrigues and intrigue among the Novgorodians. It got to the point that the people of Patrick was engaged in robbery in the vicinity of the city. People remembered the cunning reign of Patrick, therefore, over time, the cunning Fox from Russian folklore got the nickname Patrikeevna.

Tugarin Serpent

Still from the movie "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent" (2004)
Still from the movie "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent" (2004)

In the epics, Alyosha Popovich fights with Tugarin the Serpent. The negative character had his real prototype. It was the Polovtsian Khan Tugorkan, who raided Russia at the end of the 11th century. In 1096, the Polovtsians were defeated by the army of Vladimir Monomakh, and they began to frighten disobedient children with Tugorkan. The khan himself belonged to the Sharukanid family, which in translation means "snakes". This is how Tugorkan Sharukanid became Tugarin the Serpent.

Koschey (Kaschey) Immortal

Still from the film "Kashchei Bessmetny" (1944)
Still from the film "Kashchei Bessmetny" (1944)

Researchers put forward several versions of the origin of the name Koshchei (Kashchei) Immortal. Some associate it with the concept of "blasphemer", that is, a sorcerer. After the adoption of Christianity in Russia, they began to treat witchcraft negatively, and a person who performed pagan rites blasphemed. Other scholars associate the name of Koshchei with the Turkic "koshchi", that is, slave, slave. In many folk tales, Koschey is a prisoner who has been chained for a long time. In addition, in the "Lay of Igor's Campaign" this word appears several times in the meaning of "captive".

Mermaid

Mermaid is a character from Russian folklore
Mermaid is a character from Russian folklore

Many people think that the words "mermaid" and "fair-haired" have the same root. In fact, the folkloric character with a tail got its name in honor of the ancient Roman holiday of Rosalia, at which the departed were honored and their tombs were decorated with wreaths of roses. Several centuries later, the Slavs adopted this tradition, but the rosals have already begun to be pronounced as "mermaids", and the souls of the dead were called mermaids. In the pagan tradition, mermaids lived in forests, but then they were "moved" to water bodies. By the way, in Pushkin's "Mermaid sits on the branches", that is, the poet pointed to its original "forest" location.

Zmey Gorynych

Serpent Gorynych is a character from Russian folklore
Serpent Gorynych is a character from Russian folklore

Some people mistakenly believe that the nickname Serpent Gorynych is derived from the "mountain", they say, he lives in the mountains. In fact, Gorynych comes from the word "burn", because the character spews out tongues of flame from his mouth. If you dig even deeper, you can find in Slavic mythology the chthonic deity Gorynya, who was in charge of the element of fire.

Artists are very fond of turning to folklore images today. Roman Papsuev presented a series of drawings in which epic characters in the style of fantasy are depicted.

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