Profanity is The history of profanity

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:55

In everyday life, we all often hear words and expressions, the use of which is completely unacceptable from the point of view of public morality and is intended both to insult the addressee and to express negative assessments of people and phenomena. This is the so-called obscene Russian vocabulary, or, more simply, obscene language, which is one of the unsightly, but, unfortunately, difficult to eradicate aspects of our "great and mighty" language.

A long tradition of banning obscene language

Familiar to all of us from childhood, the profanity of linguists is called obscene. The term comes from the English obscene, which means "shameless", "obscene" or "filthy". The English word itself comes from the Latin obscenus, which has the same meaning.

As evidenced by many researchers, the taboo ban on the use of various expressions related to the sexual sphere in the presence of women developed back in the pagan era among the ancient Slavs - the ethnic ancestors of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians. Subsequently, with the advent of Christianity, the ban onthe use of profanity was universally supported by the Orthodox Church, which suggests a long historical tradition of this taboo.

Society's attitude towards swearing

In this regard, the results of a sociological survey conducted in 2004, the purpose of which was to identify the attitude of Russians to the use of obscene expressions by show business stars, are of interest. It is quite characteristic that the vast majority of respondents, almost 80%, expressed their negative attitude towards such a phenomenon, stating that in their speeches, profanity is a manifestation of lack of culture and licentiousness.

Despite the fact that in oral speech these expressions are widespread among all segments of the population, in Russia there has always been a taboo on their use in print. Unfortunately, it significantly weakened in the post-perestroika period due to the weakening of state control over the printing industry, as well as due to a number of side effects that resulted from the democratization of society. In addition, the removal of the ban on the coverage of many topics that were not previously covered by the press, led to the expansion of vocabulary. As a result, swearing and jargon have become not only fashionable, but also effective PR tools.

Insulting and degrading language

We have to admit that among teenagers, the ability to use foul language is considered a sign of growing up, and for them, profanity is a kind of demonstration of belonging to “their own” and disregard for generally accepted prohibitions. Of course, addingtheir vocabulary with such expressions, adolescents tend to use them, often using fences, toilet walls and school desks for this purpose, and in recent years, the Internet.

Considering the problem of the use of profanity in society, it should be noted that, despite all the freedom of expression established in recent years, responsibility for the use of obscene expressions from those who write or speak is not removed.

Of course, it is hardly possible to forbid foul language to a person for whom - by virtue of his upbringing and intellect - this is the only available form of self-expression. However, it should be borne in mind that swearing in a public place offends those for whom the taboo on swearing - due to their moral or religious considerations - has not lost its force.

Main motives for using profanity

In modern language, swearing is most often used as an element of verbal aggression, which aims to scold and insult a specific addressee. In addition, people of low culture use it in the following cases: to make their expressions more emotional, as a way to relieve psychological stress, as interjections and to fill speech pauses.

History of profanity

Contrary to the popular notion that obscene expressions came into the Russian language from Tatar during the Tatar-Mongol yoke, serious researchers are very skeptical about this hypothesis. According to most of them, the words of this categoryhave Slavic and Indo-European roots.

In the pagan period of the history of Ancient Russia, they were used as one of the elements of sacred conspiracies. For our ancestors, profanity is nothing more than an appeal to the magical power, which, according to their ideas, was in the genitals. This is evidenced by some surviving echoes of the oldest pagan spells.

But since the establishment of Christianity, church authorities have been consistently fighting this speech phenomenon. To this day, many circulars and decrees of Orthodox hierarchs aimed at eradicating swearing have survived. When in the 17th century there was a sharp distinction between the spoken language and the literary one, the status of a collection of “obscene expressions” was finally assigned to the obscene language.

Foul language in historical documents

The studies of the famous linguist V. D. Nazarov testify to how rich the Russian vocabulary of profanity was at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries. According to his calculations, even an incomplete collection of written monuments of that time contains sixty-seven words derived from the most common roots of obscene vocabulary. Even in more ancient sources - birch bark letters from Novgorod and Staraya Russa - expressions of this kind are often found both in ritual and joking form.

Chat in the perception of foreigners

By the way, the first profanity dictionary was compiled at the beginning of the XVIIcentury by the Englishman Richard James. In it, this inquisitive foreigner explained to his compatriots the specific meaning of some words and expressions that are difficult to translate into English, which we today call obscene.

The German scientist, Master of Philosophy of the University of Leipzig, Adam Olearius, who visited Russia at the end of the same century, also testifies to their very wide use in his travel notes. The German translators who accompanied him often found themselves in a difficult situation, trying to find the meaning of the use of known concepts in the most unusual context for them.

Official ban on obscene language

The ban on the use of profanity in Russia appeared relatively late. For example, it is often found in documents of the Petrine era. However, by the end of the 17th century, its taboo took the form of a law. It is characteristic that the poems of the famous poet Ivan Barkov in those years, who widely used obscene vocabulary, were not published, but were distributed exclusively in lists. In the next century, indiscreet expressions were included only in the unofficial part of the work of poets and writers, who included them in their epigrams and comic poems.

Attempts to remove the taboo from the mat

The first attempts to legalize obscene expressions were observed in the twenties of the last century. They were not massive. Interest in swearing was not self-sufficient, but some writers believed that profanity was one of the ways to speak freely about issuesthe sexual realm. As for the Soviet period, throughout its entire length the ban on the use of swearing was strictly observed, although it was widely used in everyday colloquial speech.

In the nineties, with the onset of perestroika, censorship restrictions were abolished, which made it possible for profanity to freely penetrate literature. It is used mainly to convey the living spoken language of the characters. Many authors believe that if these expressions are used in everyday life, then there is no reason to neglect them in their work.

Attempts to eradicate evil

Today, the fight against profanity is limited to fines for its use in public places and Roskomnadzor's explanation of the inadmissibility of using the four main swear words and all expressions derived from them in the media. According to existing legislation, in case of violation of this resolution, the perpetrators are sent an appropriate warning, and in case of a repeated violation, Roskomnadzor has the right to deprive them of their license.

However, many private publishers neglect the prohibitions. In recent years, the dictionary of profanity has even repeatedly gone out of print and reprinted, which hardly allows us to hope for its possible eradication. The only way to fight swearing can be a general increase in the culture of Russians.