"Fall into hell." This expression is often found in fiction. It can also be heard in spoken language. What is its meaning and what is its origin? This will be discussed in detail in the article.
Open dictionary
The following definitions of the specified expression are given there:
- The phrase "fall into hell" is colloquial and has an expressive coloring. Its meaning is “perish”, “perish”, “disappear”. Example: “We are all at risk of falling into turmoil, as was the case with Sodom and Gomorrah.”
- There is another version of the expression: "So that you (them, you, and so on) fall into hell." It is a colloquial, rude, abusive wish for trouble, trouble, getting into such a distant place from which they do not return. Example: “So that you, devil, fall into tartarara and take eternal torment there.”
Mythological aspect
So what are these “tartars”? This word refers to the underworld of the dead. This is the place where the souls of sinners settle after death. There they endure eternal torment. That is, "tartarara" is associated with hell,hell.
The roots of the studied lexeme must be sought in ancient Greek mythology. It comes from the Greek noun Τάρταρος, meaning "tartar", i.e. hell, underworld.
It means the abyss, which is under the underworld, hell. This is a kingdom belonging to the ruler of the underworld, the brother of Zeus and Poseidon, Hades. It contained the shadows of the dead, that is, their souls. As for Tartarus itself, this is the place where the titans were dropped. This happened after Zeus defeated them led by Kronos. There he also imprisoned the Cyclopes. All of them were guarded by the children of Uranus, the Hekatoncheirs - hundred-armed giants.
Tartarus was a gloomy abyss, as far from the surface of the earth as far as the sky is from it. As Hesiod wrote, it would take nine days for a copper anvil to reach Tartarus, being thrown from the surface of the earth. It had copper walls and gates, and was surrounded by a triple layer of darkness, which was sent by the god Erebus.
Ancient Greek authors believed that Tartarus was located in the North. Later it came to be regarded as the most remote place in Hades. During late antiquity, this place became associated with a space of darkness and extreme cold.
In the Middle Ages, this was the name given to the most remote and abandoned corners of the earth. Later, due to the similarity of names, in European cartography, Tartarus began to be associated with northern Asia, which was called Tartaria.
Geographic term
The word Tartaria was used inliterature of Western Europe and in cartography. It was used in the name of vast areas stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific Ocean and the borders with India and China.
The use of this name is seen from the 13th to the end of the 18th century. In the modern European tradition, the space that used to be called Tartary is called Central or Inner Eurasia. These are areas where arid plains are located, and the population has long been engaged in cattle breeding.
Thus, tartare is the place where it is better for no one to fall.
