How did the words come about?

The origin of language is no less an interesting mystery than the appearance of Homo sapiens himself. Moreover, what is surprising is not the fact of the appearance of some simple forms of communication at the level of individual sounds notifying about something, but the modern language, or rather languages.

In this article we will look at the main theories of the origin of language.

Theories of the emergence of language

Evolution theory

At first glance, the story of the emergence of the word as a person develops, his communication and social skills looks very plausible. That is why many linguistic researchers defend it. On the other hand, if you look at modern languages and their ancient “ancestors”, it becomes clear that over time the language did not become more complicated (which would be logical based on the theory of evolution), but was significantly simplified. And this already suggests that the approach is erroneous. In addition, scientists do not have a single version of what the proto-language looked like - that very first, simple, symbolic one, from which the further development of primary verbal communication skills began.

​Derived from the sounds of the animal world

Proponents of this approach believe that as man develops, he becomes more attentive to the world around him. In particular, he began to adopt from animals the sounds with which they communicated with each other. Next, the person gradually improved the set of sounds he had, putting them into words and assigning meanings. However, biologists categorically disagree with this approach - they are convinced that the sounds of the animal world are necessary solely to convey emotions, but not any concepts, judgments, or conclusions. Therefore, the language of fauna representatives could not become the basis for the development of human language.

Theory of divine origin

This theory is based on the biblical vision of the emergence of the world. Having created man in his own image and likeness, God gave people, among other things, the opportunity to communicate with each other through language. This version although it has the right to exist, it is still critically perceived by the scientific world, prone to atheism.

Sudden appearance of tongue

This version tends to view language as a skill that a person has always had, but for some reason was discovered by him only after a certain time. However, if we rely on such a view, the following questions remain open: who exactly “downloaded” such a skill into a person; why people began to communicate with each other through language only after many centuries of evolution; why is the language of animals different from the language of humans - why was not a single language initially created for all living beings on Earth?

From the above it follows that the origin of the word remains a mystery to this day. However, linguists different countries They do everything possible to find out about the origin of words in their own languages ​​(including Russian). But this is a much more feasible task.

Etymology of the Russian word

The Russian language belongs to the Indo-European family, the Slavic group of languages. It contains both native Russian words (formed directly in the language at one or another stage of development) and borrowed words (from Greek, Turkic, Arabic and other languages), which came into the Russian language due to cultural, economic, political contacts of Russian people with other peoples.

In particular, the Russian language was replenished with many foreign words under Peter I thanks to the reforms he carried out, the development of navigation in Russia, and also in the 18th-19th centuries due to close contacts between Russia and France. Another important period of enrichment of the Russian language with new words occurs in the 20th-21st centuries (after the collapse of the USSR as a result of establishing ties with Europe and America).

The science of etymology studies the origin of words. As an example, let's tell you how the words "orange", "doctor" and "nonsense" came about:

• Orange. This citrus fruit was brought to Europe from China. The name was borrowed from the Dutch language, in which the fruit was designated as “appelsien” (“appel” - apple and “sien” - Chinese) - that is, “Chinese apple”. Later, the juicy orange fruit appeared in Russia. And in Europe the name changed to “orange”.
• Doctor. In the old days, healers who treated people, in addition to various medical devices and drugs, used spells that were cast over the patient in order to ward off illness from him. In the Old Church Slavonic language the word “vrati” was used - “to speak, to speak.” It came from him originally Russian word"doctor".
• Nonsense. This word, which today means something meaningless and empty, previously had a different meaning. So, in the 17th century in France, a doctor named Gali Mathieu was well known - he was famous for his wonderful sense of humor. Believing that laughter helps speedy recovery, he tried his best to make his patients laugh with witty jokes. Afterwards, he even began sending encouraging, humorous notes to patients directly by mail.

People have always wanted to know where everything in the world came from. How did our Earth, Moon, and stars originate? When did the first plants and animals appear? And people have always been interested in learning how the words of our language originated. Even a special science was born that began to study the history of the origin of words. It's called etymology.

Topic: Vocabulary. Phraseology

Lesson: Etymology of Russian words

Etymology is a branch of linguistics that studies the origin of words.

It turns out that the words are historically related thimble, ring, gloves. They highlight an ancient root associated with an obsolete word finger, that is finger. We put a thimble on our finger, a ring serves as a decoration for our finger, and gloves help us warm our fingers.

Nowadays, special etymological dictionaries are being created. The dictionary entry of such a dictionary provides the following information:

An original Russian word or a borrowed one;

The source language from which the borrowed word came;

From what original word or phrase and using what method is it formed;

Which related words exist for this word at the present time;

What sound and semantic changes have occurred in the word.

The etymology of the numeral is interesting fourty. This word was originally a noun and served as the name of a bag. It was customary among the Eastern Slavs to sell sable skins for 40 pieces (this is how many skins were needed to sew a fur coat). These 40 skins were placed in a bag called fourty. Over time, the name was transferred: first fourty- it’s just a “bag”, then fourty- a bag containing 40 sable skins, and then - fourty like four dozen of any objects! This is how a numeral was formed from a noun.

Knowing the etymology of some words helps us avoid mistakes when writing them. Spelling words valley And overcome can explain their etymological “relatives” - words dol, that is, the bottom, and hem- bottom edge of the dress. A valley is a lowland between mountains. We say: mountains and valleys. To defeat an enemy or a horseman originally meant to defeat him, to throw him into the valley, that is, down. That's why we write words valley And overcome with the letter O at the root, checking them with a word dol(or hem).

Etymology of words peer And peer also helps to spell them correctly. Peer- this is the one who has lived the same number of springs with you; your same age, born in the same spring. Word peer- a person of the same age as you - goes back to the common Slavic root verst in meaning age, and later a measure of length. The following rhyme helps you remember the spelling of these vocabulary words:

The peer will grow a mile away. The same age grew all spring.

In a word temple the letter I is written, since in origin it is associated with the verb hang (hang) and originally meant a hanging lock of hair.

Etymological scientists studying the history of the origin of words have discovered some ancient suffixes, which in our time are not distinguished as significant parts of a word during morphemic parsing.

Words fat, feast were once formed from verbs live, drink using an ancient suffix -R; Using the old suffix - og from the word feast the word was formed pie, and from the verb create(with the primary meaning of “knead, stir”) - cottage cheese.

Now we do not highlight in the word window, whose origin is associated with the word eye, that is eye, suffix - n-. However, we do not single out the suffix - ts- in a word ring, which is historically derived from the word colo- circle.

Etymology is loved by both adults and children. And who wouldn’t want, for example, to find out why a witch is called a witch, a bear is called a bear, and an ignoramus is called an ignoramus.

It turns out that all these words come from the same verb know, that is, to know. Witch - “knowledgeable, healer.” Once upon a time this word did not have a disapproving meaning. The witch knew healing herbs, knew how to help sick people. And when fairy tales about evil witches appeared, the word changed its meaning. Ignorant - "little knowledgeable person" This word is usually used to describe people who not only know little, but also do not want to know more and are hostile to knowledge. The bear is an animal that knows. That is, he knows and loves honey. Why was this name assigned to the bear? Superstitious hunters considered it dangerous to name the animals they were going to hunt, and gave them new names, “mask” names. Name bear replaced the previous name, which in Latin sounded like this: “ursus”.

Homework

Task No. 1

Using an etymological dictionary, tell about the origin of 5-6 words.

Task No. 2

Try to create your own story about the origin of a word, then compare your version with the explanation in an etymological dictionary.

1. Etymology of “school” words ().

Literature

1. Russian language. 6th grade: Baranov M.T. and others - M.: Education, 2008.

2. Russian language. Theory. 5-9 grades: V.V. Babaytseva, L.D. Chesnokova - M.: Bustard, 2008.

3. Russian language. 6th grade: ed. MM. Razumovskaya, P.A. Lekanta - M.: Bustard, 2010.

Reports and messages on the Russian language

On topic: ETYMOLOGY

Words, like people, have their own history, their own destiny. They may have relatives, a rich pedigree, and, on the contrary, be orphans. A word can tell us about its nationality, its parents, its origin.

Etymology- a branch of the science of language that studies the origin of words. Etymology also studies all the changes that occur in the life of words. And changes in language occur constantly: new words appear, new meanings for long-familiar words, and sometimes it even happens that a word suddenly changes its sound. For example, the words “bee”, “bull” and “bug”, it turns out, came from the same word “buchat”. Now this word has left the language, forgotten by everyone, but once it was familiar to everyone and was used in the meaning of “buzz”, “buzz”. And today it would not occur to anyone to call a bull, a bee and a bug as relative words, although etymologically this is so.

Some words changed not their sound, but their meaning. For example, today we use the word guest to call a person who came to visit us, but in ancient times this was the name given to a visiting merchant (it was Tsar Saltan who called such guests to him in A. Pushkin’s fairy tale).

Once upon a time the word dashing meant “bad”, “evil”, but today it is used in almost the opposite meaning - “daring”, “brave”.

One more example. Today, the word infection has 2 meanings: it means a curse, and is also used in the meaning of “source infectious disease"But at the end of the 18th century, the word infection was used to mean “charm”, “attractiveness”.

In a word, this science is very interesting - etymology! And it often happens that the story of the origin of a word turns out to be more fascinating than another detective story.

You will learn about the origin of some words, as well as stable phrases (they are called phraseological units) in our language by reading the following pages.

Palm

Our ancestors once sounded the word palm completely differently: dolon. And the meaning of the word was this: the side of the hand facing the valley (that is, down, towards the ground). Over time, a rearrangement of sounds occurred in the word dolon, and it began to sound differently: lodon. And then (under the influence of the dominant literary language akanya) the unstressed vowel o in the word turned into a: palm. This is how the modern spelling and pronunciation of this familiar word came about.

However, related words still live in the language in their original form: dolina (lowland), podol (bottom of clothing), Podolsk (city in the lowland of the river).

Umbrella

Everyone knows and understands this word - it would seem that it is the most ordinary. But it also has an interesting story.

It came to us from Holland, having traveled across 2 seas, along with the umbrella itself, which in Dutch is called “zonnedek”, which means “tire” or “cover from the sun”. But the word “zonnedek” turned out to be extremely inconvenient and unusual for our pronunciation. Therefore, they began to remake it in the Russian way: they began to pronounce it according to the model of the words bow and kantik that already existed in the language.

So from the zonnedecks we got an umbrella. The resulting word even began to lead its own independent life. When they want to talk about a large umbrella, they change it again according to the model: bow - bow, edging - edging, umbrella - umbrella. The result was the word umbrella, as you can see, even less similar to the word zonnedek, borrowed from the Dutch.

Carousel

Of course, you have ridden on wooden horses or in carousel boats more than once, but you probably haven’t wondered why, in addition to ordinary seats, there are wooden horses and boats on the carousel? And it was not by chance that the boats and horses got on the carousel.

Several centuries ago, during the Middle Ages, there were magnificent knightly festivals - tournaments. Armed knights, clad in iron, riding on powerful horses, entered into single combat with each other. Often such knightly fights ended in death, but they did not see anything special in this, and did not even consider such an outcome a crime. The French king Henry II once also decided to take part in a knightly tournament and compete with the famous knight Montgomery in strength and dexterity. This tournament took place in 1559, and King Henry II was mortally wounded. Since then, knightly tournaments have been banned. Instead, they began to organize ceremonial races in a circle. Such races were called "carousel" (from the Italian words carola - round dance and sella - saddle), which literally means "round dance in the saddle."

The most brilliant carousels were staged in Paris during the reign of King Louis XIV. Magnificently dressed horsemen with their luxurious ladies rode in front of the royal Tuileries Palace. They divided into parties, came together and left, forming beautiful figures.

During the French Revolution of 1789, more affordable common people carousels are revolving structures with horses and boats. The carousel has survived in this form to this day.

Pull the gimp

When we do something very slowly, they say about us: “It’s a drag.” This expression comes from the recent past, when in Rus' metal thread was used for embroidery in needlework. It took a lot of work for the craftsmen to pull such a thread from a hot wire. This thread was called "gimp". Embroidering with it was also very difficult, slow and painstaking work. It was then that the expression “pull the gimp” was born. Now no one knows what the gimp looked like, and needlewomen have not embroidered this way for a long time, but the expression in the language has been preserved.

Easier than steamed turnips

Turnip- the most ancient vegetable in Rus'. Our ancestors loved raw, boiled and steamed turnips. The turnip dish was quick and very easy to prepare. Since then, the expression simpler than steamed turnips has come into being. This is what they say about something that is easy to do.

Register Izhitsa

Izhitsa- the ancient name of the last letter of the ancient Slavic alphabet.

How is this letter connected with the threat of punishment? After all, registering an Izhitsa means “to teach a lesson, to punish,” and also “to make a reprimand to someone.”

This expression arose in the old school environment, in Bursak everyday life. But the thing is that in the ancient Slavic alphabet there were 3 very insidious letters: fita, yat and izhitsa - they became symbols of the difficulty of writing. These letters were written in several words (or several dozen words), which had to be remembered, memorized, memorized. “Fita makes our stomachs ache,” said students in the old days who were mastering the intricacies of literacy. At that time, Fita was the name given to a school literate person, a nerd who through incredible efforts had mastered complex skills. And about lazy people they said this: “Fita and Izhitsa - the whip is approaching the lazy one.” To register Izhitsa literally meant “to flog with rods for not learning.”

It is curious that in its external image the Izhitsa resembled an inverted whip or a bunch of rods. This is, in all likelihood, where the humorous and ironic prescribing of Izhitsa arose.

Over time, this expression went beyond school jargon and acquired more general meaning: “to severely punish someone, to teach someone a lesson.” Now it is usually used as an expression of threat and is synonymous with phraseological units: show where crayfish spend the winter; show Kuzka's mother.

There is no truth in my feet

“Sit down, because there is no truth at your feet,” - this is what the Russian people have long said.

There are different versions of the origin of this expression. Connoisseur on native language and interpreter of Russian catchphrases, S. Maksimov connects the phrase truth in feet with the medieval Russian judicial custom, which was called pravezh. Pravezh is not even a trial, but rather a reprisal against the debtor, in which he was beaten on his bare feet and heels or forced to stand in the snow without boots or bast shoes. It was at that time that sayings such as looking for the truth in your feet appeared; the soul has sinned, but the feet are to blame; give time, don't knock me down and some others.

Over time, the truth became a thing of the past, but the memory of it remained in popular speech, in its living use, and the expression in the feet of no truth even became humorous. Indeed, in the old days, a man who came into the house and stood, shifting from foot to foot, did not know where to start, resembled a debtor on the right. That’s when a humorous saying came to the rescue, inviting the guest to sit down and start a leisurely conversation: sit down, there is no truth in your legs, that is, “there is no need to stand on ceremony, let’s sit side by side and talk smoothly.” Many expressions familiar to us are actually associated with ancient and long-forgotten customs, beliefs and rituals.

Cow and loaf

In ancient times, a word for people was not just a designation of objects and concepts - it was a symbol. People were sure that the word had magical powers, that they could prevent evil and summon good luck. Do you want to know why, for example, we don’t call cow meat by the word Korovina? Where did the word beef even come from? And what does the word beef have in common with the word loaf?

In the language of the ancient Indo-Europeans, there was one word to designate any livestock - beef. And the word cow had the meaning of “horned beef.” And in those ancient times, people raised cows not for meat and milk, but for sacrifices to their gods. And only when people began to consume cow's milk, they replaced the real animal in the rituals of sacrifice with a horned figure baked from dough - a cow. It was believed that such a sacrifice should bring happiness and prosperity, so they sentenced it like this:

Like on our name days
We baked a loaf!
That's how tall it is!
That's how tall it is!
Loaf, loaf,
Choose whoever you want!

Now it’s hard to believe that the words cow and loaf are somehow connected with each other. But in fact, the word loaf was formed from the word cow.

Mittens, gloves, mittens

It is believed that of all the words listed, the most ancient is mittens. The antiquity of this word is indicated by its distribution in all or almost all Slavic languages ​​- in Polish, Slovak, Czech, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian.

The word mitten is made up of 2 roots: the first root is easy to define - this is hand, the second is known in our verb vit. It turns out that a mitten means “wrapping the hand.” It is interesting that in many Slavic languages ​​there is a word nogavitsa - the name for special clothing on the leg, that is, “wrapping the leg.” In the Slovak language, nogavics are “trousers, trousers,” Poles and Czechs call nogavics “pants legs,” in the Slovenian language, nogavits are “stockings or socks.” And in the monuments of ancient Russian writing, both words are often found - legs and mittens.

But with the word gloves the story is different. At first, the language used the phrase ring or finger mittens (this name can be found in the Smolensk charter of 1229). Over time, the phrase was replaced by the single word gloves, but the old root finger, that is, “finger,” is clearly visible everywhere. Gloves are mittens with fingers (with fingers).

But there is even more than one version regarding the origin of the word mittens. For example, M. Vasmer believed that the word mittens and the word varega, known in Russian dialects, were formed from the combination Varangian mittens. Another version (enshrined in the Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language edited by N. Shansky) says that the words varega and mittens are derived from the Old Russian verbs variti and varovati, used in the meaning of “guard, protect.” But there is also an even simpler explanation for the origin of these words. If we look at the wide range of names of mittens known in regional Russian dialects, then among these names, it turns out, there are many words associated with the processes of processing wool and making mittens. These are the names: faggots, braids, felted mittens, katanki (rolled mittens). This also includes varegs, mittens, formed by the name of the process - to cook (that is, to boil). The fact is that finished knitted wool products were brewed in boiling water to make them stronger and warmer. It turns out that mittens are “boiled mittens.” In Dahl's dictionary the following saying is given: “Need has made the mitten akin to the warga.” What does it mean? It turns out that special names for upper mittens and lower mittens were once widespread in the Russian language. Of course, most often such names are found in the North, the Urals and Siberia - where 2 pairs of mittens are often worn at once. There are such local names: tops, tops, bottoms. And in some areas, mittens are called upper leather or cloth mittens, and vargas, mittens, are lower, knitted ones. Hence, apparently, the expression recorded by Dahl.

Red

In the famous saying, the hut is not red in its corners, but red in its pies; the adjective red means “good, pleasant.” And such outdated expressions as red bird, red beast mean “the best bird” or “the best animal,” that is, “the best and most expensive bird or animal preferred by hunters.” Dahl wrote in his dictionary: “Red game, tall, all types of snipe, also roe deer, swan, capercaillie and others; red game is a bear, wolf, fox, lynx and others.”

In modern Russian, much evidence has been preserved about the ancient meaning of the word red. First of all, this is, of course, a constant epithet in folk poetic speech: the maiden is beautiful, the songs are red. Red here means "beautiful, lovely, pleasant." In N. Nekrasov's poem "Peasant Children" there are lines in which the word red is used in this meaning:

Play, children, grow up in freedom,
That's why you were given a wonderful childhood.

In the ancient names red gate, red corner, the adjective red means “decorated” and “honorary, ceremonial.” The same meaning is contained in the proper names Krasnoye Selo and Red Square.

The meanings “best, pleasant”, “beautiful, decorated” were the very first meanings of the adjective red.

A completely different word was used to denote color - red. This was the case in Old Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian. And only from the 18th century a new, color meaning of the adjective red appeared in Russian dictionaries. It became its main meaning. The ancient, primary meaning is preserved only in stable expressions and phrases.

In the 19th century, the adjective red acquired another meaning - “revolutionary”. The name Red Banner spread into European languages ​​during the 1848 revolution. Soon the word became firmly established in this meaning in the Russian language.

Now, in modern Russian, the adjective red is not only a very expressive, but also a polysemantic word.

Pigalitsa

What does the word pigalitsa mean? This word has 2 meanings. Pigalitsa is the name given to a small bird, lapwing. But a person of small stature, inconspicuous, is also often called a pigalite. Scientists believe that this is an onomatopoeic word - that is, it arose in the language as an onomatopoeia to the cry of a lapwing. And the lapwing screams like this: pi-gi, ki-gi!

"Reports and messages on the Russian language" V.A. Krutetskaya. Additional materials, helpful information, Interesting Facts. Elementary School.

When we speak a language, we rarely think about how the words we use came to be and how their meanings may have changed over time. Etymology is the name given to the science of the history of vocabulary and the origin of words.

New words appear literally every day. Some do not linger in the language, while others remain. Words, like people, have their own history, their own destiny. They may have relatives, a rich pedigree, and, on the contrary, be orphans. A word can tell us about its nationality, its parents, its origin.

Railway station

The word comes from the name of the place "Vauxhall" - a small park and entertainment center near London. The Russian Tsar, who visited this place, fell in love with it - especially the railway. Subsequently, he commissioned British engineers to build a small railway from St. Petersburg to his country residence. One of the stations on this section railway called "Vokzal", and this name later became the Russian word to designate any railway station.

Hooligan

The word hooligan is English origin. It is believed that the surname Houlihan was once borne by a famous London brawler who caused a lot of trouble for city residents and the police. The surname has become a common noun, and the word is international, characterizing a person who grossly violates public order.

Shit

The word “shit” comes from the Proto-Slavic “govno”, which means “cow” and was originally associated only with cow “patties”. “Beef” means “cattle”, hence “beef”, “beef”. By the way, from the same Indo-European root is the English name for a cow - cow, as well as for the shepherd of these cows - cowboy. That is, the expression “fucking cowboy” is not accidental, it contains a deep family connection.

Orange

Until the 16th century, Europeans had no idea about oranges at all. Russians - even more so. Oranges don't grow here! And then Portuguese sailors brought from eastern countries these orange delicious balls. And they began to trade them with their neighbors. They, of course, asked: “Where do the apples come from?” - because we haven’t heard of oranges, but the shape of this fruit is similar to an apple. The traders answered honestly: “The apples are from China, Chinese!” The Dutch word for apple is appel and the Chinese word is sien.

Doctor

In the old days, they treated with incantations, spells, and various whisperings. An ancient doctor or healer would say something like this to the patient: “Go away, disease, into the quicksand, into the dense forests...” And muttered various words over the sick person. Do you know how up to early XIX centuries called muttering, chatter? Muttering and chatter were then called lies. To mumble meant to lie. He who trumpets is a trumpeter, who weaves is a weaver, and who lies is a doctor.

Scammer

In Rus', swindlers were not called deceivers or thieves. This was the name of the craftsmen who made the purse, i.e. wallets.

Restaurant

The word "restaurant" means "strengthening" in French. This name was given to one of the Parisian taverns by its visitors in the 18th century after the owner of the establishment, Boulanger, introduced nutritious meat broth into the number of dishes offered.

Heaven

One version is that the Russian word "heaven" comes from "ne, no" and "besa, demons" - literally a place free of evil/demons. However, another interpretation is probably closer to the truth. Most Slavic languages ​​have words similar to "sky", and they most likely originate from the Latin word for "cloud" (nebula).

Slates

In the Soviet Union, a famous manufacturer of rubber slippers was the Polymer plant in the city of Slantsy. Leningrad region. Many buyers believed that the word “Shales” embossed on the soles was the name of the shoes. Then the word entered the active lexicon and has become synonymous with the word “slippers.”

Nonsense

At the end of the last century, the French doctor Gali Mathieu treated his patients with jokes.
He gained such popularity that he did not have time for all the visits and sent his healing puns by mail.
This is how the word “nonsense” arose, which at that time meant a healing joke, a pun.
The doctor immortalized his name, but nowadays this concept has a completely different meaning.

Everything in the world around us is given a name. The words represent plants, insects, birds and animals, mountains and rivers, oceans and seas, planets, stars, galaxies. We name not only real objects, but also invented, fictitious ones that do not exist in reality, but only in our imagination. Some names are common nouns (they serve as generalized names of objects), others are proper names (these are individual names of objects). Very often, common nouns become proper names, but it happens that proper names also become common nouns.

How are words and names born? Is it possible to unravel the mystery of the origin of a particular name? This is what linguists and etymologists do.

Etymology (Greek etymologia, from etymon - truth and logos - word, teaching) is a branch of linguistics (linguistics) that studies the origin of words, as well as a scientific research procedure aimed at revealing the origin of a word, and the result of such scientific research. They say: unclear etymology of a word, etymologically dark and etymologically transparent words; etymological research, etymologization of words, etymological analysis of words; etymologize, i.e. establish the etymology (origin) of a word; reveal, define, explain the etymology of the word. A special reference book, the etymological dictionary, provides information about the etymology of words. There are also many reference books that explain proper names - personal names of people, surnames and pseudonyms, geographical names, names of mythological characters, etc.

In the etymological dictionary of M. Vasmer, the word “life” is Old Slavonic in origin, and the “immediate” and “further” etymology of this word is also given:

« Closest etymology: live, ukr. live, live, blr. zhyts, old glory alive†, live zБn, o„ke‹n (Supr.), Bulgarian. zhivaya "I live", Serbo-Corpian. zhi°vjeti, “I live”, Slovenian. јiveґti, Czech. јiґti, јiji, slvts. јit", јijem, Polish z†ycґ, V. Luzh. јicґ, јiju.

Further etymology: Related to Old Prussian. giwa "lives", giwѓntei "alive", Old Indian. j–ґvati "lives", Avest. J,nvaiti (i.e. jn–vaiti) “lives”, lat. v–vЎ, Greek b…omai “I live”, zБn “to live”. From other Russian, Old Slav. live wed. lit. gyґti "to revive, to be reborn, to recover", lt. dzi^t, dzi^stu, dziju; see Meillet, MSL 16, 244; Trautman, BSW 76; Uhlenbeck, Aind. Wb. 101; M.--E. I, 559; Valde 846 et seq. Iter. - live wed. from lit. gyґvoti "to live", lt. dzi^va^t “to work, to live” (M.--E. I, 559).” This dictionary entry also proves that the word “life” was formed in the common Slavic language.

P.Ya. Chernykh in his “Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language” also identifies the root –zi– in words of common Slavic origin with the meaning “life”.

In the “School Etymological Dictionary” edited by N.M. Shansky’s word “life” is missing, but there is the word “Living - Obseslav. Indo-European character (cf. Lat. vivus “living”, Greek bios “life”, Lit. gývas “living”, etc.). Suf. derived from the same root as live.”

The word “life” itself is found in Old Slavonic written monuments, and before that the meaning of this word was conveyed through the words “zhiz”, “zhist”, “belly”, “life”. IN Ancient Rus' There is a saying among the people: “not to the stomach, but to death.” In modern Russian according to the dictionary of S.I. Ozhegov and N.Yu. Shvedova “the belly is the part of the body containing the digestive organs.” The word “belly” acquired this meaning already in the Old Russian language in the “Life” of Avvakum.

At first glance, there is nothing easier than to explain, for example, the origin of the word greasy - “greasy, shiny with dirt” (greasy sleeve, greasy hair). Naturally, most people will say that it goes back to the word lard (“a fatty deposit in the body of an animal or a product of this substance”)... and they will be wrong! The fact is that the science that studies the origin of words - etymology - should not rely on the first consonances that come across, as in this case, but should take into account all those laws (linguistic and non-linguistic) that took place in the history of not only one specific language , but also in the history of related languages. And the word greasy in the indicated meaning goes back not to the Russian word lard, but to the French sale - “dirty, indecent.” Another proof that the words greasy and lard are not related is the use in Russian of the adjective greasy in a meaning identical to the French sale: greasy (that is, indecent) anecdote, hint, joke... It’s unlikely that any of us, using the words pepper and gingerbread, suggests that these words are related. Naturally: what can be common between hot pepper and sweet gingerbread?! “Nothing,” you say.

“A lot,” the philologist will object to you. – These words go back to a common root. Pepper is a suffixal derivative of the Old Russian era (suffix -ььь > -ец) from the word ппьрь, which is a common Slavic borrowing from the Latin language, in which piper goes back to the Greek peperi, adopted from the ancient Indian language...And the philologist will invite you to go with him on a fascinating and educational journey -th journey through the Land of Etymology. So…

The term etymology comes from the Greek etymologia, formed from the words etymon (“truth”) + logos (“word, teaching”), and is now used in linguistics in two meanings: 1) a section of linguistics that studies the origin and history of individual words and morphemes; 2) the origin and history of words and morphemes.

This term appeared 2 thousand years ago.

Interest in etymology manifests itself in both adults and children: everyone wants to find out where this or that word came from and explain it in one way or another. It would seem that it would be easier to explain the origin of the word myopic: this is a person who cannot see further than his (outstretched) arm!
But, as we have already seen, it is easy to make a mistake... The lexeme myopic goes back to the Old Russian myopia - a compound word formed from the words close (close) and zorkyi ("seeing"). Even now in some Russian dialects you can find the word myopic, which also speaks in favor of our statement. The word myopic (myopic) over time lost one of the repeating syllables -zo-1 and, under the influence of folk (false) etymology2, became close to the word hand. Thus, the word myopic etymologically has no relation to the word hand.

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Do you need to study the grammar of your native language?

Proficiency in the native language - oral and, later, written - has at all times been the main indicator of the level of education and culture of a young person. Meanwhile, today's mass level of language proficiency (written, and, to an even greater extent, oral) is so low that we have to admit that the majority of our contemporaries lack both education and culture. And this is despite the fact that today in Russia dozens of methods have been created for teaching children Russian grammar.

And first of all, remember what grammar is?

The name “grammar” has disappeared from the modern school course of the Russian language. Apparently, it seemed too “scientific” and scary-sounding to modern methodologists. Meanwhile, the Russian language course is grammatical in principle, and at all stages of education - from elementary to graduate classes.

First of all, in common parlance, grammar refers to literate writing, or spelling. In this school sense, grammar is a set of rules and norms of a particular language (primarily written).

In a broader sense, grammar is a section of linguistics that describes the system of a language and the methods of inflection and word formation in this system.

In the broadest sense, the grammar of a particular subject (not only the Russian language) should be understood as the basic principles of any science or art. So, in my articles about the initial stage of learning, I will talk not only about the grammar of languages, but also about the grammar of mathematics, history, and natural sciences. This broad (and in some sense even metaphorical) meaning of the word “grammar” fully corresponds to its etymology (translated from Greek grâmma - letter, writing), and can be considered a semantic synonym for the word “alphabet” or even “copybook”, in the sense - “beginnings”, “basics”.

Why do we study Russian grammar?

Over the past ten years, this question has ceased to be rhetorical and has begun to be asked more and more often. In fact, with the massive spread of computer literacy and text editors, the need to know the rules of Russian grammar is becoming less and less obvious. In fact, why write out copybooks and cram the rules if, in the end, you still need to type text from the keyboard? Wouldn't it be more practical to learn typing and editing techniques instead of graphics and spelling?

At moments when such thoughts come to your mind, it is important not to succumb to the charm of the obviousness of the pragmatic approach and remember why you need to master normative language.

The fact is that language is the flesh and blood of thought. Not mastering the language means not mastering the thought. In this sense, a person who has not consciously mastered the grammar of his native language will never be able to express his thoughts clearly and consistently. The lack of ability to think, formulate thoughts, make meaningful speeches, constructively argue and meaningfully object, which our compatriots so often demonstrate now, is not associated with any mental disorders - they are primarily caused by the inability to speak, which, in turn, is associated with basic ignorance of basic facts and rules of Russian grammar. Secondly and thirdly, this “mental ignorance” is also associated with a lack of knowledge in the field of logic and rhetoric, but it all begins with ignorance of grammar.

And, of course, the purpose of studying a grammar course is not at all an infallible knowledge of dozens of rules of Russian spelling. The goal is to master the normative language in its written and oral versions.

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Related information.