7 popular phraseological units, the meaning of which many do not know

1. Play Spillikins

Is 100 years a lot or a little? Let's just say: it is enough that over time the true meaning of a word or phraseological unit is forgotten. Now ask any teenager if he knows anything about the noun "spillikins"? Hear something like "this is some kind of nonsense", "unnecessary things", "bruliks" or "jewelry."

So what is Spillikins? This is an old game that got its name from the outdated verb "take" - "take, choose".

According to its rules, the participants had to take one spill after another from a pile of small wooden objects (most often tableware), without affecting the neighboring ones. This was usually done with a special hook or pin - the details were so small.

This game has been known since the 17th century and was originally considered the fun of the common people. But by the beginning of the 19th century, everything had changed: then a real turquoise boom began and the love of spillikins overwhelmed representatives of all classes.

In the Russian Empire, there was not a single family that did not spend evenings on this gambling business: everyone, young and old, competed in the number of toys caught on the hook.

It is known that even the family of Nicholas I was not spared by this hobby: exclusive sets of ivory with precious stones were made for them, which were subsequently inherited.

How did it happen that such a harmless and useful activity for motor skills grew into a phraseological unit with a negative connotation? After all, we know that now "playing with spillikins" means "doing nonsense and wasting time." History is silent about the reasons for the appearance of such a meaning, but, apparently, once this pastime began to exceed the limits of reason.

2. Business is time, and fun is an hour

It would seem that everything is clear: it is necessary to devote more time to work than to entertainment and all kinds of fun. But if you were now in the 17th century and invited someone to play the same spillikins after a hard day, referring to the legal hour “for fun”, hardly anyone would understand you. Because at that time the meaning of this saying was completely opposite, and in general it had to do with hunting. Why?

“It’s time for business and an hour for fun” - the famous saying of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, in which falconry, called fun, was given almost state significance.

Two facts speak eloquently about this: firstly, it was in charge of the Order of Secret Affairs - the most influential institution in Russia at that time, and secondly, in 1656, by order of the tsar, a detailed guide was drawn up “The Book, Spoken by the Uryadnik: a new code and the arrangement of the rank of the falconer way”, which described the rules and types of bird hunting.

Fortunately, we have reached the original manuscript of the "Uryadnik", where there is a postscript of "the tsar's majesty by hand": "… do not forget: it is time for business and an hour for fun." Have you noticed the connecting union "and"? It turns out that Alexei Mikhailovich meant that it is necessary to engage equally in hunting and business; besides, then "hour" and "time" were synonymous and both meant "a long period."

The decline of falconry as a matter of state importance fell on the reign of Peter I, who, unlike his father, was indifferent to it. Nevertheless, the history of the tsarist phrase did not end there: it entered folklore as "time for business, fun for an hour", and then completely acquired a new meaning thanks to the opposing conjunction "a". At the same time, “fun” acquired new meanings: first, “entertainment event”, and then “entertainment, fun, joke”.

3. Seven Fridays a week

What do Gentiles and those who work five days a week have in common? Both of them have always attached special importance to Friday. In pagan times, this day was dedicated to the goddess of fertility and the patroness of the feminine principle Mokoshi, thanks to which all women were forbidden to spin, weave and wash.

After the adoption of Christianity, this tradition was reborn on the day of St. Paraskeva (Paraskeva - literally from the ancient Greek "Friday"), who was considered the keeper of family happiness and a helper in agricultural work, like Mokosh.

Over time, only two days a year began to be allotted for the veneration of St. Paraskeva: October 14 and 28, according to the old style. But there were also vowed Fridays, when many Orthodox Christians still refused to work, which was condemned by the church. So, for example, all the old Russian superstitions associated with this day of the week were called "godless and demonic deceptions" in Stoglav:

Yes, deceitful prophets - men and women, girls, and old women, naked and barefoot, and growing their hair and spreading out, shake and are killed - walk around the churchyard and in the village and in the parish. And they say that they are Holy Friday and St. Anastasia and they order them to command the canons of the peasants to endorse them. They command the peasants on Wednesday and Friday not to do manual work, and not to spin their wives, and not to wash their dresses, and not to light stones, and others command to do disgusting deeds besides the divine scriptures …

Stoglav 1551

Obviously, these were the people who were said to have seven Fridays a week. And now they say this about those who often change their decisions.

4. Give oak

Once, in a conversation with a friend, I heard a phrase in my address: "What, did you give an oak?" What do you think she meant? It turns out that she just asked if everything was in order with my head and if I had lost my mind. Imagine her surprise when she learned that the true meaning of this phraseological unit is “to die”. Yes. And there are several versions of its origin.

According to one of them, this turnover is associated with the verb "harden" ("cool down, lose sensitivity, become hard"). Thus, its original meaning is “to become motionless, like an oak, to grow cold”. On the other hand, the phraseological unit may be associated with the tradition of burying the dead under an oak tree.

And the third version connects the origin of the expression with pagan rituals: according to this hypothesis, initially the turn sounded like "give to the oak", that is, to make a sacrifice to the deity. Why oak? This tree was the sacred symbol of Perun, the pagan god of thunder.

5. Sherochka with a little girl

Sherochka, why are you so sour today, like an autumn fly?

"Falling Stars" D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak

Do you think anyone in the 19th century would have been surprised to hear about the little thing? No. Because at that time such an appeal to a woman was widespread: ma chère - "my dear" - usually so called each other pupils of the institutes of noble maidens. From this French phrase, both "sherchka" and "masherochka" appeared as nouns derived in the Russian way.

Initially, the same noble noblewomen who danced in pairs due to the lack of cavaliers was jokingly called a little hair with a little little girl. And this is understandable, where did men come from in a women's educational institution? Subsequently, they began to talk about any close friends - "bosom friends".

Nothing confused you in the previous sentence? It is no coincidence that I put in a row both "little hair with a little girl" and "bosom friends": lately these phraseological units are often used as synonymous, although it is better not to do so. Yes, they both imply friendship, but nevertheless, a bosom friend is rather a drinking companion, because before, "pouring for the Adam's apple" meant "drinking alcohol, getting drunk." All this does not come close with intelligent little girls!

6. Pour in on the first number

In pre-revolutionary times, students were often flogged with rods, sometimes even for no reason. If someone was hit with especially a lot of blows, the punished could be freed from the vice right up to the next month. That is why they began to say "pour in the first number."

7. To wash the bones

Here is another phraseological unit, from the origin of which goosebumps run down the skin. And all because it is associated with the ancient rite of re-burial of the deceased.

In the old days, some peoples believed that an unrepentant sinner after death could come out of the grave in the form of a ghoul. And in order to save him from the curse, relatives sometimes dug up the deceased and washed his remains with clean water, milk or wine.

Over time, this rite has sunk into oblivion, and the expression "washing the bones" for some reason began to be associated with backbiting and gossip. Apparently, it was not in vain that the ancient Greek politician and poet Chilo from Sparta (6th century BC) said: "About the dead it is either good or nothing but the truth."

Even more interesting and unexpected things about the etymology and grammar of the Russian language can be found in the book "Mighty Russian".