Every year on December 9, the Russian Federation celebrates Anti-Corruption Day. This phenomenon is very, very old, rooted for many centuries in the depths of history. Only earlier it was most often expressed in bribery or, as it was called more precisely, bribery. The meaning of the word "bribe" is quite multivariate. Below we will consider the most common interpretations.
Biard as a reward
One of the outdated interpretations of the word was payment for work performed or remuneration for the performance of duties under some kind of mutual agreement reached between the parties. Although in some literary sources the meaning of bribe also looks somewhat ambiguous and semi-criminal for the modern worldview. So, V. M. Doroshevich in his well-known work "Away from the Big Light" has a bribe - payment for the services of bandits for protecting roadways and estates from other dashing people (directly "protection" in a modern manner).
In the famous dictionary of V. M. Dalya bribe is, of course, first of all a reward, booty, profit, profit, that is, some kind of income, and a mezdnik is a hired worker for some kind of payment. So for the most part, we are all now - mezdniki - hired workers working under an employment contract for their employer.
Bribery and bribery
In everyday use, when we hear the words "bribe" or "bribery", then immediately there is an associative array of embezzlers and bribery. Yes, yes, in the current world from the ancient world, this word migrated mainly in this sense. So, a widespread concept: a bribe is a bribe.
A situation where an unscrupulous civil servant or an employee of some state institution (and teachers and doctors are not officials in the general sense of the word) takes money for the performance of their direct duties or for not very legal patronage in resolving any issues, called bribery or bribery. And the briber himself is called a bribe-taker, and the bribe-giver (by the way, no less significant person in the corruption, and then the lawsuit) is called the literary bribe-giver. Well, Dahl's love for such a material reward is called greed.
Retribution is retribution
Not a very widely used interpretation of the word "bribe", but having its place, especially in works of art. So, the third version of the meaning of the word "retribution" is retribution, retributionfor some not very good deeds. Particularly appropriate in this sense, the word "retribution" is used in a poem by the famous Russian Decembrist poet K. F. Ryleev "To a temporary worker", where the word implies fair revenge, retribution.
Conclusion
So, if in the generally accepted modern interpretation the word "bribe" carries a description of a certain corruption phenomenon, which is more likely to be attributed to the economic category, then in earlier use it meant payment for certain work and the relationships arising from this (also a category economic) or assumed the allegorical name of retribution. Both last variants are practically not used in colloquial Russian at the present time.
