There are many stable phrases and phrases in the Russian language, the meaning of which cannot be understood purely from a linguistic point of view. Russian phraseological units or popular expressions stun foreigners, and a considerable part of modern youth. Meanwhile, they make speech more vivid, expressive, incredibly expand the possibilities of the Russian language and the range of emotions of human communication. No less interesting is the history of their origin, both firmly established in our everyday life, and the most unusual and rare, thanks to which the Russian language, for all its complexity and richness, would be much poorer and more boring.

The origins of the phraseologism lie in antiquity, when salt in Russia was very expensive due to the difficulties of its delivery from the mining regions. In the absence of good roads and a fair weight of the product, it was difficult to expect cheap deliveries. When guests came to the house, the owner himself salted their food, paying more attention to dear guests who sat at the table closer to him. It happened that food was even salted as a sign of special respect. Those who, due to their low social status, sat at the other end of the table, sometimes got little salt and did not get it at all. This is where the expression “leave from somewhere unsalted slurping” came from, i.e. deprived, not getting what they expected.

play spillikins

The modern game "Tower" or "Jenga" had an ancient Russian analogue - a game in which the role of bricks was played by various small objects, which in the old days were called spillikins. The purpose of the fun was to alternately pull out the spillikins from the common heap one by one until the whole structure collapsed. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. the game was very popular and gradually began to personify a useless, empty activity, nonsense, on which time is spent instead of useful things. The expression has this meaning even today.

"Lying like a gray gelding"

The meaning of this phraseological unit is clear without explanation, but its origin has not been unequivocally determined. There are at least two versions of why it was this pet, and it was the gray suit that was awarded the title of a harmless reputation as a liar. And it is not a fact that one of them is accurate, since both come down to a certain speech error in the memory of the Russian people. According to the first one, voiced by the linguist V. Dahl, the word “lying” originally sounded like “rushing”. The fact that geldings are distinguished by special strength and endurance is a well-known fact. But it is unlikely that the gray suit somehow stands out with these qualities against the background of others.

According to the second version, the popular expression remained in memory of the Russian "Munchausen" - a great liar named Sievers-Mering of noble rank, who served in the tsarist army 150 years ago. All the soldiers and officers knew about his tendency to invent fables, so the expression was often used when convicting someone of a lie.

However, this version is also defeated if we remember that the gray gelding (or mare) is also mentioned as a stable expression for other reasons (nonsense of a gray mare, lazy or stupid, op like a gray gelding, etc.). And the researchers still have no explanation for this interesting fact.

Roll a barrel (at someone)

In ancient times, fish was one of the main food products. Although they spoke in Russia about “soup and porridge,” but meat soup was expensive, and you can’t really work on empty ones. Therefore, they were often boiled on fish, and in another form it often appeared on the village table.

Fish often had to be transported from the places of its especially rich fishing - from the lower reaches of the Volga and other large reservoirs. They carried it in large barrels, which, when unloaded, rolled down the ladder and, if handled carelessly, could easily cripple a person. Therefore, the first rule when unloading was not to roll the barrel when there was a person in its path. An interesting fact: this phraseologism was actually born on the social bottom of society, and to this day it is considered vulgar and unacceptable for use in cultural conversation, although its meaning does not carry vulgarity or vulgarity. “Roll a barrel” - attack a person, threaten him, accuse him of something with the implication that he actually did nothing wrong.

Breaking bad (let go)

Temple belfries (bell towers) in the old days usually hung a lot of different bells from small ringing bells to colossal colossus, the weight of which reached tens of tons. To strike such a bell, remarkable strength was needed, since its “tongue” weighed a lot. In church statutes, they were called "heavy", i.e. modern "heavy".

They beat them not only on major holidays, but also in case of emergencies, such as fires and other disasters. "To hit all the hard" meant to beat all the heavy (loud) bells so that the sound would spread further and announce the importance of the event. In this case, the people had to give up everything, regardless of occupation, run to help or save themselves and act, regardless of anything and regardless of anything subjective. The expression is used to this day, retaining only part of the meaning - to perform actions that are not consistent with the usual rules. However, in this case, we are no longer talking about help and salvation, but revelry and debauchery.

Hot spot

Another phraseological phrase from the old church vocabulary that has lost its meaning, and this time it is exactly the opposite. At the mention of cereals, we imagine a place where people indulge in drunkenness and debauchery, however, the original meaning of this expression was not figurative and referred to the place where cereals grow, i.e. bread, well-fed, and therefore cheerful. The request to put to rest in “a green and peaceful (calm) place” is contained in prayers for the dead. The current value is due to the fact that in Russia, in the absence of grapes, intoxicating drinks were made mainly from cereals. Therefore, the "evil" place in oral folklore turned into a "drunk" one.

"Silent glanders"

The meaning of a phraseological unit is to do something inconspicuously, secretly, to achieve the desired inconspicuously for others, as a rule, something that they do not approve of and often comes to the detriment or detriment of others. For example, on the sly, you can get what you want from your superiors, regardless of corporate ethics. Or drag the most delicious food, while no one has sat down at the table. The modified word "sapa" comes from the Italian "zappa", meaning something like our sapper shovel, i.e. small shovel for earthworks. It was convenient for her to dig or dig a secret passage.

Before getting into the Russian language, "tsappa" passed into French in the form of a modified borrowing "sap" (earthworks in order to create a hidden tunnel, sap). By the way, the well-known word "sapper" came from him. In our language, this word itself and the corresponding phrase "quiet glanders" acquired the same meaning. To make the approach to the enemy imperceptible, secret, to approach on the sly.

Subsequently, the expression acquired a wide semantic application and turned into a phraseological unit.

"Sit in a puddle"

Another variant of a phraseological unit is to sit in a galosh (galosh). It means to be disgraced, to be in an absurd position, to be defeated in a dispute, putting forward easily refutable arguments. The origin of this unusual phraseological unit is associated with ancient folk wall-to-wall fights, held as fun, games. The battles took place in the field, where mud and puddles often kneaded underfoot. If a person fell, then he not only lost, but also found himself in a very ridiculous position - lying in a puddle. And since in ancient times the puddle was called a little differently, kaluga, the name of the shoe for overcoming this obstacle came from this name - galosh (it has an equal spelling with the “galosh” variant, depending on the local dialect).

Therefore, in Russian folklore, another popular expression has also become fixed - “sit in a galosh”.

"The sand is falling"

The expression implies old age, a derisive indication of age, often inappropriate behavior. According to one version, its roots go back to medieval Europe, where such a detail of clothing as a codpiece came into fashion, i.e. a bag in which a man's dignity was invested. The detail was not just noticeable, it was decorated in every possible way and flaunted. And in order to make the economy look more solid, men often put fake sandbags into the codpiece. Elderly womanizers especially sinned with this in order to demonstrate that they were still “hoo”. But due to the prescription of use or due to careless movement, the bags sometimes torn, and then a path of sand stretched behind the owner of a luxurious codpiece, which caused laughter among the courtiers.

According to another version, the same bags and in the same place, but for a different purpose, had to be worn by Russian soldiers under Peter, who ordered them to wear narrow, as in Europe, and terribly uncomfortable for them unusual pants (to reduce pressure on causal places ). The bags quickly wore out, torn and scattered sand.

There is also a third version, explaining why the phraseological unit is applied with the same success to women and why it has received such a late distribution. We are talking about stones and sand in the genitourinary system, which are most often formed with age and often come out spontaneously.

Put in a long box

The meaning of the expression is simple - to postpone something for a long or indefinite period, not to rush to resolve the issue. But it has an interesting origin. In the village of Kolomenskoye, during the reign of Alexei, who was the father of Peter the Great, a special box was installed for complaints to the sovereign, which anyone could put there. The people tried, wrote, waited, but the consideration of issues had to wait for months, or even years. For this, the petitioners aptly nicknamed the box long or long. Subsequently, the expression was fixed thanks to special boxes in the "presences", where complaints and petitions were sorted into different boxes by the officials themselves for sorting. Among them was one that was intended for folding unhurried affairs, and it was called "long".

"Disservice"

So they say about unsolicited help, from which more negative consequences are obtained than benefits. The origin is connected with the fable "The Hermit and the Bear" by the famous fabulist Krylov. In it, the Bear, out of good intentions, slapped a fly on the forehead of the Stranger, with whom he became friends. But he did not calculate the strength and killed him. There is no catch phrase in the text of the fable; it was formed later on its basis and firmly entered Russian folklore.

"Not by washing, so by skating"

Phraseologism, the meaning of which comes down to excessive perseverance, the desire of a person to achieve what he wants in any way and find other ways to achieve it if previous attempts have failed. The origin of the expression refers to the old way of ironing clothes with a roll using two wooden bars. Linen was wound on one of them, and the resulting bundle was rolled on a flat surface with the other. When washing clothes, women knew that the results of not quite high-quality washing could be visually improved if the item was carefully ironed.

"7 Fridays in a week"

Phraseologism, as relevant as ever at the present time. Friday was the trading day. If the money was not immediately paid for the goods on the market day, then the payment deadline was the next Friday. People who failed to pay due dates, and especially those who reminded debtors of their debts too often, were said to have Friday every day. The expression stuck to those who change their minds too often. In addition, this day in Russia was considered a day off, a market day. Subsequently, they began to talk like that about loafers, who have every day, like Friday, a day off.

"Japanese policeman!"

By uttering this phrase, many simply mask the obscene expression that is ready to break out of their mouths. In fact, we are talking about a small scandal that took place during the journey of Tsarevich Nicholas in Japan. The youth laughed loudly and had fun, which did not please the stiff guardian of order, who, without thinking twice and without wasting words, simply hit the future emperor on the head with a saber. Fortunately, she was in a sheath, and the incident had no physical consequences, however, it received a serious response in Russia. The outrage was caused by the fact that instead of restoring proper order, the Japanese policeman rushes at unarmed young people just because they laugh out loud. The expression has taken root perfectly as a euphemism - a shy replacement of an indecent word with a completely cultural expression.

The Russian language is rightfully considered the most perfect, beautiful and rich language in the world, which has absorbed, along with the authentic culture of more than 200 peoples of the Russian world, the best elements of Western and Eastern cultural traditions.

Our language is one of the basic elements of the entire Russian civilization, therefore, in order to be rightfully considered Russian, we must be able to use it well and master all the richness of concepts and expressions of the Russian language no worse than Pushkin, Gogol and Dostoevsky.

We present to your attention the first part of the TOP-50 most interesting phraseological units of the Russian language with their original and current meanings, as well as the history of origin:

1. Goal like a falcon

The expression denotes extreme poverty, need.

"Falcon"- this is a smoothly planed and iron-bound ram log, which could be hand-held or wheeled and was used until the end of the 15th century to make holes in wooden palisades or fortress gates. The surface of this tool was even and smooth, i.e. "naked". The same term also denoted cylindrical tools: scrap iron, a pestle for grinding grain in a mortar, and so on.

2. Arshin swallowed

An expression denoting a person who stood at attention or assumed a majestically haughty posture with a straight back.

Arshin is an ancient Russian measure of length of 71 centimeters, widely used in the sewing business before the transition to the metric system of measures. Accordingly, the masters used wooden or metal arshin rulers for measurements. If you swallow this, your posture will surely become phenomenal ...

3. Scapegoat

This is the name of a person who has been blamed for any failure, failure.

An expression that goes back to the Bible. According to the Hebrew rite, on the day of the absolution of sins, the high priest put his hands on the goat's head and thereby laid on him the sins of the entire people of Israel. Then the goat was taken to the Judean desert and released, so that he forever carried away the sins of the Jews.

4. Screams all over Ivanovskaya

The ensemble of the Kremlin cathedrals in Moscow is decorated with the bell tower of Ivan the Great, where on holidays all thirty bells were always rung. The ringing was extremely powerful and carried very far.

5. Smoking room is alive!

We remember this expression from the film “The meeting place cannot be changed” and it denoted the joy of meeting a person who has gone through serious trials.

In fact, "smoking room" is an ancient children's game in Russia. The children sat in a circle and passed each other a burning torch, saying: “Alive, alive smoking room! Thin legs, short soul. The one in whose hands the torch was extinguished left the circle. That is, a "smoking room" is a torch that burned weakly and "smoked" (smoked) in children's hands.

In relation to a person, the expression was first used by the poet Alexander Pushkin in an epigram to the critic and journalist Mikhail Kachenovsky: “How! is the Kurilka journalist still alive? .. "

6. Clean out those Augean stables

Deal with an incredibly neglected mess of cyclopean proportions.

It goes back to the ancient Greek myths about Hercules. There lived in ancient Elis King Augius, a passionate lover of horses, who kept three thousand horses in the stables, but did not clean the stall for 30 years.

Hercules was sent to the service of Avgius, to whom the king instructed to clear the stables in one day, which was impossible. The hero thought and directed the waters of the river through the gates of the stables, which carried out all the manure from there in a day. This act was the 6th feat of Hercules out of 12.

7. Bosom friend

Now a positive expression denoting an old and trusted friend. Previously it was negative, because meant companion.

The old expression "to pour over the Adam's apple" meant "to get drunk", "to drink alcohol". This is where this idiom comes from.

8. Get into trouble

Be in an extremely uncomfortable or even dangerous position.

A prosak is a drum with teeth in a machine with which wool was combed. Once in a hole, it was easy to cripple, lose a hand.

9. Poor place

And again, a biblical expression found in psalms and church prayers and denoting paradise, the kingdom of heaven. In secular usage, it acquired a negative connotation - "hot places" began to be called bars, strip clubs, etc.

This refers to a place where cereals grow abundantly from which the main food (bread) is prepared - a fertile field, the basis of well-being.

10. Like Buridan's donkey

It means a person who is extremely indecisive.

It goes back to the famous example of the 14th-century French philosopher Jean Buridan, who argued that people's actions depend for the most part not on their own will, but on external circumstances. Illustrating his thought, he argued that a donkey, to the left and right of which two identical piles will be placed at an equal distance, one of which will contain hay, and the other straw, will not be able to make a choice and will die of hunger.

11. Reach the handle

To sink completely, to lose human appearance and social skills.

In ancient Russia, kalachi was baked not round, but in the form of a castle with a round bow. Citizens often bought kalachi and ate it right on the street, holding this handle like a handle. At the same time, for reasons of hygiene, the pen itself was not used for food, but was either given to the poor or thrown to the dogs. About those who did not disdain to eat it, they said: it reached the handle.

12. Goof off

Get into an uncomfortable, and often shameful position.

In Russia, walking bareheaded in crowded places (excluding the temple for men) was considered a shame. There was no greater shame for a person than if his hat was torn off in a crowded place.

13. Shabby look

Untidy clothes, unshaven and other signs of negligence in appearance.

Under Tsar Peter I, the Yaroslavl linen manufactory of the merchant Zatrapeznikov began to work, which produced silk and cloth that were in no way inferior in quality to the products of European workshops.

In addition, the manufactory also made very cheap hemp striped fabric, which, by the name of the merchant, was nicknamed “thread”. She went to mattresses, bloomers, sundresses, women's headscarves, work dressing gowns and shirts.

For rich people, a dressing gown from a “shabby” was home clothes, but for the poor, clothes made from this fabric were used “for going out”. The shabby appearance spoke of the low social status of a person.

14. Caliph for an hour

So they say about a person who accidentally and briefly found himself in power.

The expression has Arabic roots. This is the name of a fairy tale from the collection "A Thousand and One Nights" - "A dream in reality, or Caliph for an hour."

It tells how the young Baghdadian Abu-Ghassan, not knowing that the caliph Harun al-Rashid is in front of him, shares with him his cherished dream - to become a caliph at least for a day. Wanting to have some fun, Haroun al-Rashid puts sleeping pills in Abu-Ghassan's wine, orders the servants to take the young man to the palace and treat him like a caliph.

The joke succeeds. Waking up, Abu-Ghassan believes that he is a caliph, enjoys luxury and begins to give orders. In the evening, he again drinks wine with sleeping pills and wakes up already at home.

15. Knock down

Make you lose the thread of the conversation, forget about something.

In Greece, there is Mount Pantelik, famous in antiquity, where marble was mined for a long time. Accordingly, there were many caves, grottoes and passages, and once there, one could easily get lost.

16. I saw him through

Those. realized what kind of person he was, noticed a deception or discovered a secret.

The expression came to us from those times when coins made of precious metals were in use. The authenticity of the coins was checked by a tooth, because precious metals without impurities were soft. If there is a dent left on the coin, then it is real, and if not, it is fake.

17. A voice crying in the wilderness

This is how they talk about the one whose sound thoughts and warnings stubbornly refuse to listen.

A biblical expression with roots in the prophecy of Isaiah and the Gospel of John. The prophets, who predicted the imminent coming of the Savior, urged the Jews to prepare for this day: to monitor their lives and correct it, becoming pious, attentive to the gospel sermon. But the Jews did not heed these calls and crucified the Lord.

18. Bury talent in the ground

It means not to use and not develop the abilities given by God.

Again, a reference to the Bible. Talent was the largest weight and monetary unit in Ancient Greece, Babylon, Persia and other areas of Asia Minor.

In the gospel parable, one of the servants received money from the master and buried it, being afraid to invest in a business that could bring both profit and loss. Upon the return of the master, the servant returned the talent and was punished for the lost time and the profit lost by the host.

19. Tightened the gimp

He began some very long business, began to hesitate.

Gimp is the thinnest wire made of precious metals, which has already acquired the properties of a thread and was used to decorate camisoles, uniforms and dresses with beautiful complex patterns. It was necessary to pull the gimp on ever-decreasing jewelry rollers in several passes, which was a long process. Sewing with a cantle is even less fast.

20. Brought to white heat

Angry to the point of madness, uncontrollable rage.

Goes back to blacksmithing. When the metal is heated during forging, it glows differently depending on the temperature: first red, then yellow, and finally dazzling white. At an even higher temperature, the metal will already melt and boil.

21. Soap opera

This is the name of a television series with a trivial plot.

The fact is that in the 30s in America they began to produce serial (then still radio) programs for housewives with melodramatic plots. They were created with the money of soap and detergent manufacturers, who advertised their products during breaks.

22. Good riddance!

Now this is how they kick out an annoying guest or visitor. Previously, the meaning was the opposite - a wish for a good journey.

In one of Ivan Aksakov's poems, one can read about the road, which is "straight, like an arrow, with a wide smooth surface that the tablecloth lay down." Knowing our spaces, people wished for an unhindered and easy path.

23. Egyptian plagues

Heavy punishments that have fallen, disasters, torments.

Biblical story from the book of Exodus. For Pharaoh's refusal to release the Jews from captivity, the Lord subjected Egypt to terrible punishments - ten Egyptian plagues: blood instead of water, execution with frogs, an invasion of midges, dog flies, pestilence, ulcers and boils, thunder, lightning and hail of fire, an invasion of locusts, darkness and death first-born in the families of the Egyptians.

24. Do your part

To invest part of your work, skills or money in the creation of something important, big.

There is a biblical story about two mites of a poor widow, which she donated to the work of the Jerusalem temple. Lepta is one of the smallest coins of that time in the Roman Empire. Two mites were the widow's only money, donating which she remained hungry until evening. Therefore, her victim was the largest of all.

25. Sing Lazarus

Beat on pity, beg, try to play on sympathy.

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is told by the Savior in the Gospel. Lazarus was poor and lived at the gate of the rich man's house. Lazarus ate the remnants of the rich man's food along with the dogs and endured all sorts of hardships, but after death he went to heaven, while the rich man ended up in hell.

Professional beggars in Russia often begged on the steps of churches, comparing themselves to the biblical Lazarus, although they often lived much better. Therefore, attempts to pity and are called in this way.

Andrey Segeda

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Stable combinations have existed in the history of the language for a long time. Already in the eighteenth century, examples of phraseological units with explanation could be found in collections of idioms, winged expressions, aphorisms, proverbs, although the lexical composition of the language had not yet been studied so closely. And only with the advent of V. V. Vinogradov in science, a basis appeared for the comprehensive study of set phrases. It was he who initiated the development of phraseology and called it a linguistic discipline.

The well-known linguist N. M. Shansky presented phraseological units as a fixed unit of the language, reproduced in finished form and having two or more stressed components of a verbal character. In addition to lexical indivisibility, phraseological units also have a lexical meaning, they are often synonymous with words. As an example: "the right hand is an assistant", "bite your tongue - shut up."

The use of phraseological units in Russian, examples with explanation

We use a variety of phraseological turns in our native speech imperceptibly to ourselves, due to the fact that they have become familiar from childhood. The most famous came to us from fairy tales, epics, folk legends, some from foreign languages. Originally Russian can be attributed to peculiar combinations that are found only in our native language and reflect Russian life, traditions and culture. Let's try to understand the meaning with the following example and explanation. Bread was considered the main product in Russia - it managed to become a symbol of prosperity, good earnings. Therefore, phraseological units: "to beat off someone's bread" or "to eat bread for nothing" are understandable only to Russian people.

Metamorphism and figurativeness are the main criteria of Russian phraseological units. It is the nationality inherent in the native language that allows you to understand set phrases not at the level of speech, but at the level of the language model that you absorb with mother's milk. Even obsolete phrases, the meaning of which is forgotten, become understandable and close to us thanks to their figurativeness. Below we will consider common examples of phraseological units with an explanation and their meaning.

Book and literary

The sphere of use of literary speech is much narrower than colloquial or interstyle. Book phraseological units are used mainly in written sources and give some shade of solemnity, elation, formality of action. Examples, explanations and meaning of book phraseological units are below:

• - do not let the case be postponed for an indefinite period. Cloth refers to the woolen cloth that used to cover the desk. If any paper or folder lay under the cloth, it means that it remained unsigned and did not go into work.
• "Raise to the shield"- that is, to honor, speak with praise about someone. As an example, the winners in the old days were literally raised on a shield and carried high so that everyone could see and thank them.
• "Write - it's gone." So they say about a thing that is obviously impossible to do due to the absence of certain conditions. In the nineteenth century, officials wrote in the ledger of expenditure items on the receipt and expenditure of goods. The embezzlers usually ordered their clerk to make a record of the loss of goods with the words “Write - it’s gone.” At the same time, the loss itself was appropriated.
• "Was there a boy?"- in this way, extreme doubt is now expressed in anything. Phraseologism came from M. Gorky's novel "The Life of Klim Smagin", which describes the scene of children skating. When the guys fall under the water, Klim saves the girl first. Then he throws his belt to the boy, but, afraid that he himself might drown, lets him go. While searching for a drowned child, Klim hears a voice saying the phrase: “Was there a boy, maybe there wasn’t a boy?”
• "Kisey young lady"- they speak so dismissively about a pampered girl who is absolutely not adapted to life. The turnover is taken from the story of N. G. Pomyalovsky “Petty-bourgeois happiness”.
• "Bear Corner"- deaf settlement, outback. For the first time, the expression was used by P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky in the novel of the same name about one of the distant towns of Russia.
• "Touch the inner core"- another book phraseological unit, the history of which goes back to the times when slaves were stigmatized. Cauterization delivered wild pain, especially when touching a healing wound. This turnover becomes relevant when the conversation touches on topics that cause mental anguish in the interlocutor.
• "Scapegoat"- the one who is blamed for someone else's fault. The phrase refers to literary phraseological units and has an ancient origin. The biblical tradition speaks of the rite of absolution. The priest laid his hand on an ordinary goat, as if transferring sins from a person to an animal, which was later expelled into the desert.
• "Like water off a duck's back"- all for nothing. The plumage of the goose is covered with a special lubricant that does not allow the bird to get wet. Water does not wet the wings of a goose. Thanks to this fat, it remains dry.

Examples of colloquial and borrowed phraseological units

Colloquial phraseological units are firmly entrenched in our speech. It is convenient for them to bring the thought to the interlocutor, especially when ordinary words are not enough for the emotional coloring of the phrase. Borrowed phraseological units are tracing papers and semi-calques taken from other languages ​​by literal translation of sayings. There are phraseological units that simply correlate in meaning with set expressions in other languages. Their examples are: "white crow" sounds like "rare bird" in English, and the expression "hanging by a thread" is replaced by the combination "hanging by a thread". Other examples of phraseological units with explanations and meaning:

• "First Among Equals"- that is, the best or leader. Borrowed from the Latin "Primus inter pare", which is literally translated as such. This title was held by the Emperor Augustus even before he assumed his high title. Thus, his prestige was maintained.
• "Good (fun) mine with a bad game"- that is, behind an external imperturbable look to hide your experiences and failures. At the same time, “mine” - from the old Breton language is translated literally as “facial expression”.
• "What is allowed to Jupiter is not allowed to the bull." For the first time the phrase was uttered by Publius Terence Aphrom. It is used when it is necessary to stop unfounded claims by indicating to the disputant his lower place.
• "Eat a pood of salt"- a common colloquial phraseology. This is an example of a long life together. In the system of measures, a pood is equal to 16 kg. To consume this amount of salt, you need to live together for a huge period of time, during which people learn almost everything about each other.
• "There is nothing behind the soul"- so it is customary to speak of a poor person. According to popular belief, the human soul was located in a dimple on the neck. In the same place it was customary to store money and jewelry in the old days. If there was nothing to hide in the dimple, then it was believed that there was nothing “behind the soul”.
• - that is, a little snack. The expression is a tracing paper from the French "tuer le ver", which has a literal translation - "drink a glass of alcohol on an empty stomach." It was assumed that alcohol, taken with a minimal snack, destroyed helminths in the body.
• "The reins got under the tail"- colloquial phraseology denoting the reckless actions of someone. The expression was once used in the literal sense, and not figuratively, in relation to horses, in which, having fallen under the tail of the rein, caused pain and forced them to perform thoughtless actions.
• "Nick down"- remember once and for all. In the old days, illiterate people carried tablets everywhere with them, on which they made notes with notches as a keepsake. The "nose" in this case is not an organ of smell, but a wearable thing.

Medical and other professional expressions with explanation

Some phraseological units are taken from the oral speech of people of various professions. These include the following sentences with phraseological units:

• "Chest Shoemaker"- a medical term that has its own meaning and explanation. This is what is called a funnel-shaped chest. The lower part of the sternum of shoemakers is pressed inward due to their professional activity, due to which the volume of the chest is significantly reduced.
• - so they say about unproductive work. As an example: in the old days, the pharmacist wrote just such a recipe directly on the bottles of medicine. This meant that the treatment should be carried out slowly in order to have time to respond to the appearance of allergic manifestations. If for a patient such an approach is quite justified, then for a working person it is an indicator of laziness and indecision.
• "Talk Teeth"- distract from the pressing problem with extraneous conversations. Unlike dentists, healers know how to temporarily eliminate pain with conspiracies. At the same time, they do not treat the teeth themselves and the problem remains unresolved.
• "Sit in the liver"- get bored, poison life. In ancient Russia, the liver was considered the receptacle of human life force. It was believed that a person who interferes with life takes away free energy, which means that he sits in the liver and directly draws other people's strength from there.
• "Holding breath"- that is, carefully, not missing even the smallest detail. In medicine, in order to clear the chest for a correct diagnosis, it is required to hold the breath for several minutes. It is believed that a person holding his breath will get the highest quality result.
• "Rolling Up Your Sleeves"- act diligently and energetically, not sparing at the same time their own strengths. If you remember, in the old days it was customary to wear clothes with long sleeves - for some, the length reached 95 cm. It was impossible to work in such clothes. To do anything useful, you had to first roll up your sleeves, after which the case was argued much faster.
• "Sleeveless"- lazily, slowly, without proper enthusiasm. This phraseological unit exists in contrast to the previous one and has a similar explanation. That is, the long sleeves dropped down did not allow the work to be done properly.
• "Wait by the sea for the weather"- do nothing, expect the situation to resolve itself. This term came from the speech of sailors who, before going out to fish, always watched the weather and waited for a favorable period so as not to get into a storm.

Stable and neutral phrases and their meaning

Unlike colloquial phrases, which are more figurative, phrases that do not have an emotional connotation are considered neutral. Examples of such phraseological units with explanation and their meaning:

• "Can't find a place"- that is, worried. So they say about a person who is in a state of great anxiety about someone.
• "Without bending your back" It means hard work and perseverance. So they said about the plowmen who worked in the field from morning to night.
• - torture with requests and talk about the same thing.
• "To lose heart"- finally lose faith in their own abilities.
• "Looking at night"- that is, before dark, when public transport is no longer running and the risk of becoming a victim of bad circumstances increases. In addition, there are many examples of the fact that a person will not have time to do anything significant late in the evening, since the daily resources of the body have been exhausted.
• "Stay with the nose" or fail. Examples of the use of the expression: when someone allows himself to be fooled, does not get what he expected. The word "nose" in the old days meant a bow with an offering. "Nose" - that is, "brought". The rich usually came to officials with money, the poor carried a pig, chicken, eggs. Deacons for offerings made decisions in favor of the one who brought the gifts. It was a bad sign that the official did not accept the "nose" if he was too modest. At the same time, the one asking remained with his gift, that is, “with a nose” and did not receive what he wanted.
• "Wash the bones"- that is, gossip, slander, disassemble the actions of another person. It was once believed that a sinner who was under a curse could come out of the grave in the form of a ghoul. To rid him of the spell, it was necessary to dig up the grave and wash the bones with clean water.

In the examples above, we see that the appropriate use of phraseological units saturates our speech, allows us to make communication emotionally rich and interesting. Sentences with idioms bring "zest" to the conversation and are perceived by everyone as a completely natural element of speech, reinforcing its meaning.

To understand what a phraseologism is, you should first look into the "Explanatory Dictionary" by the author T.F. Efremova.

A brief definition is given there, describing a phraseological unit as a speech turnover in which the words individually do not carry a semantic load, which cannot be literally translated into another language.

Phraseologisms - what is it

There are a lot of phraseological units, and therefore it is unlikely to give a definition that is clearer than in the dictionary. First of all, one should understand how tightly these set expressions have entered our speech.

For example, when we praise a very tasty food, we say: "Lick your fingers!". At the same time, in reality, no one is going to lick their fingers, of course.

Its useful to note: the most interesting thing is that it is impossible to replace a word in a set expression, because then the semantic meaning of the speech turnover is lost.

For example, it is worth changing “in the veins” to “in the veins” in the phraseological unit “blood in the veins” or “getting cold” to “cooling down” - and that’s it, there is no more phraseological unit, but there is only a phrase, as they say, from the head.

Also, you should not change the words in places, because then the expression "does not sound."

We can draw the following conclusion about what a phraseologism means - it is a combination of words that is necessarily related in meaning, which, unlike ordinary phrases similar in meaning, is not constructed in the head before the statement, but is served ready-made.

Signs of phraseological units

Phraseologisms are not compiled in the course of the presentation of thoughts, but, as already written above, they are used in speech in a prepared form.

The words that make up such a speech turnover do not have their own semantic independence, but only have a holistic meaning.

For example, a person may not know what an inch is, but he may well say about a low person “two inches from a pot.”

Examples of phraseological units with explanation

“Friend of the seat” is a good example of a phraseological unit that is rare in our time, which has an interesting explanation. It is known that the most delicious bread was obtained by sifting flour through a sieve, so a good friend with whom it is pleasant to spend time is called a sieve friend.

There is a wonderful expression - "there are spots on the sun." It has a scientific basis. The fact is that the Sun, like other stars of a similar type, sometimes releases a particularly large amount of energy due to the action of electromagnetic storms, and clumps of matter, in other words, sunspots, form on the surface of the star in places where heat is released.

It used to be thought that there were no spots on the Sun, that it was a pure star, but scientific observations dispelled this misconception. Now, when they want to say that no one is without flaws, they say: do not be upset, and there are spots on the sun.

Phraseological units are sometimes born thanks to literature. A vivid example is Krylov's fable "Dragonfly and Ant".

The phrase “The Jumping Dragonfly sang the red summer” has become winged and is now spoken of to those people who first spend time in idleness, and then are very indignant that they are not doing well.

“It is written with a pitchfork on the water” - it is easy to guess that if you write something on the water, the inscription will instantly disappear. Therefore, this expression is appropriate if you need to say about the unreliability of someone's assumptions.

When someone constantly bothers with the same story or leads a conversation on one topic, they say that, they say, “started a fairy tale about a white bull”.

Dictionaries of phraseological units of the Russian language and their meaning

There are enough dictionaries of this type. They began to be published in the seventies of the last century.

Dictionaries of phraseological units are very interesting and useful to read or at least sometimes open, because sometimes everyone wants to show off in a conversation with a well-aimed and ironic phrase.

Such dictionaries are of various kinds: some are thick books with short definitions of phraseological units, others are children's books - a combination of explanations given in simple words, with pictures. In general, everyone will find something for themselves.

Phraseological units and their origin

Phraseological units are born (although rather, they were born) mainly due to the specific features of social life, for example, the phraseological unit “goal like a falcon” appeared due to the comparison of a smooth wall-beating tool - a falcon - with an impoverished peasant. Indeed, a goal like a falcon.

Classification and types

There are phraseological units that are identical in meaning to a particular word. They are especially characterized by the inseparability of words.

For example, the phraseological unit “beat the buckets” can be replaced by the word “loose”. Such phrases are called idioms.

Other phraseological units lend themselves better to semantic decomposition. These include some catchphrases, cliches, used not in a figurative, but in the literal sense.

Also, phraseological units can be singled out separately, which themselves can replace sentences: “The cat cried money.”

Why phraseological units are needed in Russian

Most likely, by the time of reading the article at this point, the reader has already developed an understanding of the importance of phraseological units for everyday speech and the Russian language as a whole.

Idioms make the conversation livelier, and remarks more colorful. With the help of phraseological units, you can convey more to the interlocutor by saying less than if ordinary phrases were used.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to note the non-illusory interest in phraseology among the modern reading public, and this is a good sign. The more expressive the speech of a literate person, the more I want to imitate him.

Phraseologisms(from Greek phrasis + logos - expression, figure of speech) - these are stable reproducible expressive complexes that have a holistic meaning and perform a single syntactic function. They give speech a special expressiveness, emphasize the national specifics, the originality of the language. Without them, a person's speech is colorless and often does not convey what he feels. But mastering phraseology is a difficult process, and shortcomings are encountered here very often. The formation of a phraseological unit is based on semantic simplification, i.e., the limitation of the meanings of a word that has become a component of a phraseological unit that has its own single phraseological meaning. For example, the word eye in the four-volume "Dictionary of the Russian Language" has three meanings: 1) the organ of vision, 2) the ability to see; vision; vision, 3) the evil eye - the mysterious magical power of the gaze, bringing misfortune. Last word meaning eye is idiomatic. In the proverb Too many cooks spoil the broth component without an eye(singular only) is based on the figurative meaning of "care", which arose in oral speech on the basis of the second meaning. Expression cry out all eyes- to cry a lot and for a long time - relies on the first meaning of the word eye. Phraseologism relies on the same meaning in a personal meeting- alone with someone. Phraseologism, acquiring a single meaning, receives its subject-conceptual orientation, due to which it can become a synonym for the word: in a personal meeting− alone, beat the buckets− sit back.

The meaning of a phraseological unit, relying on the figurative phraseological meanings of its components, is often motivated differently in different languages. So, the adverbial phraseological unit of the Russian language in a personal meeting has correspondences: it. uner vier Augen (literally: between four eyes), English, face to face (face to face), fr. tete a tete (head to head). Phraseological units do not allow a literal (word by word) translation: they require the search for a phraseological equivalent of another language, since the phraseological meaning is accompanied by an emotional, semantic and stylistic expression; for example phraseology give bream colloquial, and the expression pitch darkness− bookstore.

The degree of semantic simplification of the components of a phraseological unit is different; the older the phraseological unit and the less connected it is with the words of common use, the less motivated the phraseological meaning, the more its internal form is forgotten. The classification of phraseological units is based on the degree of semantic simplification. The most famous classification is V. V. Vinogradov.

1 . Phraseological unions: to sharpen lyas, how to give a drink, on your mind − the main sign of fusion is its semantic indivisibility, the absolute non-derivation of the values ​​of the whole from the components. It is a semantic unit, homogeneous with the word, devoid of internal form. Phraseological fusions are also called idioms. Idioms (phraseological fusions) do not allow word by word (literal) understanding, since one of the components has fallen out of modern word usage; this is also facilitated by a change in shape: laces(instead of balusters− balustrade posts; cf. ital. balustro - column, baluster), joke to say− vm. tell a joke.

2. Phraseological units: lather your neck; to take dirty linen out of the hut; shot sparrow; you never know. Sayings and proverbs adjoin phraseological units, which do not have the form of phrases, but sentences: The work of the master is afraid; Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

A feature of phraseological units is their semantic duplicity: they can be understood literally(to take out dirty linen from the hut) and figuratively - as one semantic unit, with its own phraseological meaning "to disclose something".

3. Phraseological combinations- this kind of stable combinations in which non-free phraseological meanings of words are realized, for example - look away(from someone): I With an effort, he averted his eyes from that beautiful face. However, when management changes, phraseological unity arises look away(to someone) - to deceive: The courtesy and dexterity that he flaunted in front of the buyer who came to his shop were nothing more than a means of "turning" the buyer's eyes, "talking his teeth" and in the meantime foisting rotten, clingy(G. Uspensky).

Composite names and terms. Phraseologisms are expressive means of the language, they are characteristic of oral and book speech, the language of fiction. According to these properties, compound names differ from phraseological units: they do not have an emotional-figurative meaning. Compound names are nominative means of the language, its compound lexemes.