Math accompanies Russian people for many centuries. The scientific study of this amazing phenomenon began relatively recently. It has already been proven that foul language contributes to the production of testerone in the body, as well as the release of endorphins, which have an analgesic effect. Let's try to figure out where the obscenity came from in Russian, and why other nations do not have such a phenomenon.
Scientific terms
First, let's understand the concepts. Profanity in Russian (as well as in other languages) is considered to be a segment of rude, swear words and expressions that become a spontaneous speech reaction of a person to an unexpected and, most often, unpleasant situation.
In addition, there are taboo phrases that, for moral, religious, political or other reasons, cannot be spoken in society or its certain strata. Similarwords are not necessarily swear words. For example, in Judaism it is forbidden to pronounce the name of God aloud, and the ancient tribes tried not to name the animals they hunted. Instead, euphemisms were used (bear - "master").
At the intersection of two linguistic phenomena, the so-called obscene vocabulary arose, which includes the most rude and taboo curses. Its variant in Russian and other related languages is swearing, which is based on ancient sacred prohibitions. Scientists have found that only 7 words serve as the basis for all swear words.
Features
Interestingly, profanity is present in other languages as well. There they also try not to use it in a decent society. However, not everywhere it is associated with sexual intercourse, as we have. The Germans, for example, swear about bowel movements.
A characteristic feature of Russian swearing is the strongest expression and taboo. It is significant that swear words were included in foreign academic dictionaries, starting from the very first editions. At the same time, the Russian mat was first verbally recorded only at the beginning of the 20th century. The forbidden curses were included in the third edition of Dahl's famous dictionary (ed. Baudouin de Courtenay). This caused sharp criticism of the Soviet government. Only towards the end of the 20th century did the first explanatory dictionaries of Russian profanity begin to appear.
Let's see what such strong bans are connected with. Today, there is a lot of research on the topic of where the checkmate came from in Russianlanguage. Scholars disagree. Let's get to know them in more detail in order to get closer to unraveling this mystery.
Are the Tatars to blame?
Many scientists in the 20th century argued that initially the Slavs did not know how to swear and only called each other names of various animals: dogs, goats, rams. A logical question arises: where did the obscenity come from in the Russian language? The most common version was the assumption of the bad influence of the Tatar-Mongols. It was believed that it was from their language that the main roots of obscene vocabulary came to the Slavs.
However, soon this point of view had to be abandoned. It turned out that in the dictionary of nomads there were no swear words at all. This is confirmed by the records of the Italian Plano Carpini, who traveled around Central Asia in the 13th century. But the Russian people knew how to use foul language even before the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols, as evidenced by the birch bark letters found in Novgorod. They date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Obscene swear words are included in teases or wedding wishes from the matchmaker.
So where did swearing come from in Russian? Linguistic studies have shown that the main curses have ancient Indo-European roots. There are similar words and even phrase patterns in Polish, Serbian and Slovak. It is difficult to establish the time of their occurrence. Perhaps the capacious word was first uttered by a Cro-Magnon man, trying to cope with a huge mammoth.
Forbidden etymology
No scientist can say exactly how many obscenities are in Russian. Such lexical richnessachieved through many derivatives. There are several main roots. Researcher Plutzer-Sarno conducted a survey, asking people what words they consider obscene. A total of 35 roots were identified. Some curse words can hardly be called obscenities (for example, the word "eat").
The analysis showed that the most significant are 7 curses, from which several thousand various obscene expressions are formed. The remaining 28 words in total did not give rise to thousands of derivatives. Of the selected seven, 4 curses are currently widely used.
Let's consider their origin in Russian. Mats, oddly enough, initially sounded quite harmless and did not carry a negative connotation. For example, the word "p …. yes", denoting female genitalia, goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root sed / sod / sd. It is easy to understand its meaning by the modern words "sit", "saddle". "Pi" is a prefix. When pronouncing a word, our ancestors simply pointed to the part of the human body involved in sitting. By the way, the lexeme "nest" ("the place where the bird sits") has the same root.
The word "…bat" comes from the Proto-Indo-European iebh, which means "to strike, invade". Subsequently, it acquired a new meaning: "to mate, unite." The word began to designate paired objects. Hence the harmless word "both".
The curse "b…d" became such only in the 18th century. Until the 15th century, thisthe original Russian word denoted liars or people who had gone astray. The lexemes "fornication", "rogue", "wander", "stray" can be considered related. The meaning of "to debauch" came much later. It becomes clear why the word was often used by the clergy in their sermons (in particular, Archpriest Avvakum). Thus, the origin of the mat in Russian can be easily explained in terms of etymology. This also applies to the most common three-letter word.
Main swear word
This ancient lexeme can often be seen on fences and in porches. Not everyone knows that the word "x … y" was originally used as a euphemism and replaced the more ancient names of the male genital organ. It originally sounded like pes and came from the Proto-Indo-European "psati" ("to urinate like a man"). From here came the Russian words "to write" and "dog". Similar roots are found in Latin, German, English and other languages. From there, by the way, the word "penis" originates.
However, among the Slavs, the ancient name was banned. Other words came to the rescue: oud (it was in use until the 18th century, hence the "fishing rod") and x … d. The last name is derived from the Slavic root "hu", which means "process". From him came the common word "needles". Over time, the new designation also became taboo.
Then it was replaced by the word"dick", which has now become a rude swear word. But how was it in the old days? The origin of mats in Russian is extremely interesting. Educated people know that "dick" was one of the Cyrillic letters (the one with which an obscene word begins). She resembled a cross and initially words with a positive meaning were formed from it ("cherub", "heroism", "heraldry").
Our ancestors used the expression "fuck … rit", but it had a literal meaning (cross out what was written with two intersecting lines, similar to the letter "x"). It was not until the 19th century that the name of a letter was used to replace an obscene word.
Thus, over the course of a long history, mats appeared in the Russian language. Where they came from is no longer a mystery. But another question remains unanswered: why did the words associated with sexual intercourse among the Slavs turn into curses and were banned? Surprisingly, in the Russian language there is not a single decent word for human genitalia, apart from medical names. To understand this, let's listen to the versions of scientists.
What's the mother doing here?
Researchers agree that the roots of foul language go back to paganism. The very name of a linguistic phenomenon - mat. can shed light. In the etymological dictionary of Slavic languages, it is erected to the verb "matati" ("to shout loudly, to voice"). Skvortsov L. I. believes that the onomatopoeia of the mating roar of animals formed the basis: "Ma!Me!"
However, the generally accepted version is the origin of the name from the expression "swearing". Why did the word "mother" turn out to be associated among the Slavs with the rudest of curses? You can understand this by unraveling the meaning of the familiar expression "… fuck you".
No one knows how many obscenities there are in Russian, but this statement is central and fraught with sacred meanings. In ancient sources, it is not impersonal and takes the form of a wish ("So that the dog … your mother"). Dogs among the Slavs were considered unclean animals serving Morena, the goddess of death. This word also denoted the Gentiles, who, according to the Russians, had no soul and behaved inappropriately. But how did swearing come about and what is its basis?
Mat and fertility cult
The classic is the version of B. A. Uspensky, who connects the appearance of curses with pagan rites. In his opinion, the original formula sounded like "God the Thunderer … your mother." The Slavs called the mother the fertile soil that gives them food. Many peoples have myths about the sacred marriage of heaven and earth, which leads to the fertilization of the latter.
Wedding and agricultural rituals of the Slavs since ancient times were accompanied by foul language, obscene ditties and conspiracies. Greek farmers also had similar traditions, as philologist B. Bogaevsky points out. In Serbia, to make it rain, a peasant threw an ax into the sky and used foul language. Given the above, it becomes clear where the checkmate came fromRussian.
Words related to sexual intercourse and childbearing were originally considered sacred. By pronouncing them, a person received tremendous power. Ancient curses were equivalent to prayer, they could save from diseases or evil spirits, give children and a good harvest.
But at the same time, such words should be treated with great care. It was believed that, thanks to their powerful energy, they could cause damage to the family and deprive a person of childbearing power. Therefore, they tried not to scatter in vain, they avoided them in everyday life, replacing them with euphemisms. The exception was sorcerers, who used curses for magical purposes.
Christianization
It is impossible to answer the question of where the obscenity came from in Russian without referring to the time of the Baptism of Russia. The Christian tradition has sharply condemned pagan cults in general and ritual "shaming" in particular. It opposed the power of a swear word to prayer.
Most likely, it was during this period that the defiling formula "Dog … your mother" appeared, directed against the sacred maternal principle. It has been in use since at least the 15th century. In the blasphemous phrase, instead of the Thunderer, the spouse of the Earth was his impure antipode (dog). Thus, pagan ideas about cosmic harmony were violated. Among the Slavs, who have not yet lost faith in the power of swear words, the belief has spread that from such obscene expressions, the offended earth can open, shake or burn.
However, over time, people forgot about the myth. The mother began to mean the real mother of the interlocutor. The dog was soon forgotten altogether. Pagan ideas were rapidly lost, cults degraded. The clergy convinced the parishioners that swearing leads to the desecration of the soul, summons demons and removes a person from the true God. There are many church circulars and decrees against swearing.
But it didn't work out completely. Sorcerers and healers continued to engage in household magic. Ordinary people, out of habit, resorted to strong words to express aggression, to make their speech more emotional, to relieve tension. The mat among the buffoons has taken root quite firmly and has become an integral part of the fun performances. Christian teachings and testimonies of foreigners of the 17th-18th centuries indicate that obscene words were then commonplace in colloquial speech. Parents specially taught their children to use them. Only in the 18th century was swearing clearly separated from the literary language.
Special male code
Not all scientists agree with this version of the origin of profanity in Russian. So, I. G. Yakovenko draws attention to the fact that obscene swearing denies the feminine and often involves violence against the weaker sex. Words formed from the name of the female genital organs ("sp … det" - steal, "p … dun" - a liar, "p … dets" - an unhappy end) are associated with bad and miserable phenomena.
There is an opinion that they could have appeared during the transition phasefrom matriarchy to patriarchy. Men, in order to confirm their power, entered into ritual intimate relations with the main "mother" of the clan. With the help of obscenities, they publicly stated this and tried their best to belittle the role of women.
Mikhaylin V. Yu. has a different point of view. According to them, in the Bronze Age (approximately in the XVIII-XII centuries BC) between the Dnieper and the Urals lived peoples who worshiped dogs and wolves. Their military detachments were distinguished by special ferocity and were called "dogs". The young male members of them wore animal skins, called themselves dog names, and lived separately from the rest of the tribe.
Teenagers who wanted to get into the detachment went to the forests, where they studied hunting and military science according to wolf laws. Then they were initiated and turned into dogs by eating their meat. Mikhailin believes that it was in this marginal environment that mate was born. The expression "To the dog … your mother" was originally intended to insult enemies. It could be accompanied by a demonstration of the genitals for the purpose of intimidation. At the same time, the man went beyond the framework of culture, meaning himself by the "dog". Realizing himself as a beast, not a man, he could rob, kill and rape with impunity.
Thus, mate was the code language of warriors. Its other Slavic name is "dog bark". Curses were used to humiliate the enemy and raise the militaryspirit. In ordinary, "home" life, they were not used. But in an aggressive environment, foul language helped a person withstand stress. Cursing, the warrior violated sacred prohibitions, confirmed his power and went beyond moral restrictions.
Further history
This version of the appearance of swearing in Russian is supported by the fact that foul language has long been considered the prerogative of men. After the disappearance of the "dog detachments" (approximately in the VIII century), their traditions were adopted by the princely squads. A strong word has firmly entered military life and has not given up its positions so far. As an example, we can recall the famous letter of the Cossacks, composed for the Turkish Sultan in response to his offer to surrender. Russian partisans used similar messages to Hitler during World War II.
Gradually, the scope of the use of obscene expressions expanded. However, the concept of "mate" in the Russian language until the beginning of the 20th century was associated with male culture. In the time of Pushkin, it was widely used by representatives of high society, gathering in smoking rooms. Obscene vocabulary also appears in unprinted parodic works of the 18th-19th centuries. However, when communicating with ladies, these words were considered taboo.
Military psychologist L. Kitev-Smyk came to an interesting conclusion. He conducted experiments in the hospital wards of the Institute. Sklifosovsky, as well as at the Cosmonaut Training Center. It turned out that dirty jokes help men to endure stress more easily, and also accelerate the regeneration of damaged tissues. He istalks about how in 15 minutes it was possible to bring the fighters to their senses after many days of bloody battle in the Argun Gorge. Exhausted conscripts were shown an impromptu concert, during which obscene ditties were performed.
The origin of swearing in Russian has not yet been figured out. One thing is clear - initially these words were given a sacred meaning, and they were used in strictly specified situations. Today, foul language is rapidly degrading and testifies mainly to the poverty of the interlocutor's speech.
