Public Toilets of Ancient Rome and Old Testament Texts: Where Famous Phrases Come From

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Where did the expressions "money doesn't smell" and "the scapegoat" come from, you already understand.

1. Money doesn't smell

This catch phrase (Latin Pecunia non olet) appeared Money does not smell / Encyclopedia of winged words and expressions. M. 2003. born thanks to the Roman emperor Vespasian (9–79 AD).

Due to the political crisis that preceded his coming to power, there was a large deficit in the treasury, and Vespasian was looking for new sources of income. Then he came up with the idea of collecting a tax from the Romans for visiting public toilets. His son Titus did not like it, and he reproached his father for collecting "dirty money". As Guy Suetonius Tranquill writes. The Life of the Twelve Caesars. M. 1993. Roman historian Suetonius, Vespasian in response handed his son one of the coins obtained in this way and asked if it stinks. When Titus replied that no, the emperor said: "But this is money from the urine."

A similar expression is possible by Juvenal. Satyrs / Roman satire. M. 1989. found in the "Satyrs" of the Roman poet Juvenal:

And do not consider that there is any difference between

Damp skin and perfume: the smell is good after all

There will be any thing.

Juvenal "Satire XIV". Per. F. A. Petrovsky.

2. Hack on the nose

Initially, according to one version, this phrase meant a playful threat. The fact is that in the old days in Russia, very few people knew how to read and count. Therefore, the illiterate to keep track of working days or debts carried with them a special plaque - nose (from the word "wear"). Marks (notches) were put on it, and in the case of debts, they divided it into two halves: one for the debtor, the second for the borrower.

According to another version, a person's nose was compared with this tag, jokingly threatening to leave marks on it.

3. Paper will endure everything

This is another phraseological unit that has come down to us from Roman sources. The expression Epistola non erubescit (literally translated: "The letter does not blush") belongs to Paper will endure everything / Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. M. 2003. to the famous ancient writer and politician Mark Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC). In this form it can be Letters of Mark Tullius Cicero to Atticus, relatives, brother Quintus, M. Brutus. T. I, years 68-51. M.-Leningrad. 1949. found in many letters of Cicero, for example, in a letter to the politician Lucius Lucceus:

When I met, I often tried to talk to you about it, but I was frightened by some almost village shame; at a distance I will put it more boldly: the letter does not blush.

Mark Thulius Cicero. Letters to Lucius Lucceus. Antium June 56 BC

Tellingly, it was not the phrase itself that came into the modern Russian language, but its meaning. Although even Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky in "The Brothers Karamazov" uses Dostoevsky F. M. Brothers Karamazov. M. 2008. expression in a formulation closer to the original: "The paper, they say, does not blush …"

4. Put it back on the back burner

This phraseological unit has several variants of origin.

According to the first point of view, the expression appeared during the reign of the second Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Alexei Mikhailovich. In front of his wooden palace in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow, a box was nailed where it was possible to put petitions (petitions and complaints). Officials - clerks and boyars - took them apart and left many unanswered.

According to another point of view, the phrase may be a tracing of the German expression Etwas in die lange Truhe legen ("To put something in a long chest"), which was born in the offices of the Russian Empire. Then insignificant and not requiring an immediate solution petitions and complaints were put on the back burner.

5. Dot the i

In the Russian pre-revolutionary alphabet there were not 33, but 35 letters, including "and decimal" (i). After 1918, this letter disappeared from the Russian language.

It was over this i that the dots were placed earlier, since when writing it was more convenient to first write a word or sentence in its entirety, and then add additional dots and strokes to the letters. The catch phrase itself is a tracing paper from the French mettre les points sur les i et les barres sur les t ("dot over i and stripes over t").

6. Goal like a falcon

According to the widespread version, this phrase comes from the name of the ramming tool (ram) - the falcon. In the old days it was used to storm cities and fortresses. The falcon was made of a long, thick log, bound with metal and suspended from chains. The surface of the falcon was “bare,” that is, smooth. The phrase has nothing to do with the bird of prey.

By the way, in the original version of this expression there is V. I. Dal. Goal like a falcon, but sharp as a razor / Proverbs of the Russian people. M. 1989. continuation: "Naked like a falcon, but sharp as an ax / razor."

7. The scapegoat

Phraseologism describing a person on whom all responsibility has been piled, the Scapegoat ascends / Encyclopedic Dictionary of Winged Words and Expressions. M. 2003. to the Old Testament tradition about the Hebrew rite. According to him, the high priest laid both hands on the head of the goat (Azazel) as a sign of the imposition of all sins on the animal, after which he was expelled into the wilderness.

And after having cleansed the sanctuary, the tabernacle of the meeting and the altar [and having cleansed the priests], he will bring a living goat, and Aaron will place both his hands on the head of the living goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressions and all their sins, and lay them on the head of a goat, and send them with a messenger to the desert.

Old Testament. Leviticus. 16: 20-21.

8. Bosom friend

Today this phrase means "close, soulful friend", but the word "bosom" comes from the Bosom / Etymological Dictionary of the Russian language. SPb. 2004. from the old expression "pour over the Adam's apple", that is, "drink, get drunk". Therefore, initially a bosom friend is just a drinking companion.

9. A noisy place

In the Old Slavonic language, the word "evil" meant "rich, nourishing, abundant in cereals." It is mentioned in the Orthodox funeral prayer as a description of paradise, a place for the righteous: "Rest the souls of Your departed servants in a brighter place, in a dark place, in a place of peace."

Over time, the expression acquired a negative and ironic connotation. A noisy place began to be called "a well-fed, cheerful place where they indulge in revelry, drunkenness and debauchery," that is, a tavern.

10. The naked truth

This phrase came Naked Truth / Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. M. 2003. into Russian from the ode of the Roman poet Horace (65–8 BC) and in the original in Latin it sounded like Nuda Veritas.

So! Did he really embrace Quintilia forever

Dream? Will they find him equal in valor

Sister of Justice - Incorruptible Honor, Conscience, Really open?

Quintus Horace Flaccus. Ode XXIV. Translated by A. P. Semyonov-Tyan-Shansky.

Allegorically, the truth was often depicted in the form of a naked woman, which symbolized the true state of affairs without revelations and embellishments.

11. It's in the bag

The origin of this stable turn of speech is described in several versions.

It is believed that they began to speak this way because of the ancient custom of resolving disputes by drawing lots. Objects (for example, coins or pebbles) were thrown into the hat, one or more of which were marked. The man took the object out of the hat at random in the hope that the case would be resolved in his favor.

Another version says that the phraseological unit appeared due to the old way of delivering mail, when important documents were sewn under the lining of a messenger's hat or cap. Thus, he could reach his destination without attracting the attention of the robbers.

Finally, the latter point of view insists that in the old days, officials accepted bribes with an inverted headdress.

12. Throwing beads in front of pigs

This expression also leaves Do not throw pearls in front of pigs / Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. M. 2003. roots in the Bible: in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says to his disciples and other people:

Do not give the holy things to the dogs and do not throw your pearls before the pigs, so that they do not trample it under their feet and, turning, do not tear you to pieces.

Gospel of Matthew 7: 6

Pearls in Russia were called beads, therefore phraseological units penetrated into modern speech from the Church Slavonic translation of the Bible in the form in which we know it.

13. Pip on the tongue

Pip is a bird disease, the appearance of a cartilaginous growth on the tip of the tongue. In Russia, pips were also called hard pimples on the human body. According to superstitious beliefs, a pip appeared among deceitful people, and the wish for a “pip on the tongue” was a kind of bad spell.