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Where did mats come from: history, origin and interesting facts. Russian mat: the history and meaning of obscene words

About Latin, we smoothly move on to talking about Russian mat.

Surprised? Me too. But I really want to swear...

Meanwhile, between Latin and Russian obscenities, there is both common features, as well as differences.

What is common ?, you ask ... I will answer: officially Latin language is not used anywhere, with a very rare exception, which I mentioned in an article about Latin. Mat, as you know, too.

And the difference is that they study Latin, but they don’t really know it, they don’t teach obscenities anywhere, but they know everything perfectly ... Our people, of course ... Even those who are jarred foul language who blushes, plugs his ears and never "expresses himself" - having heard "three-story", they understand everything perfectly without an interpreter.

Russian mat - some own thoughts

Sometimes I have a question - "Why?". Why, for example, when speaking about the male genital organ, we can use someone else's term "penis", and this is perceived normally, but we cannot use our word from three letters- "y", "y" and "x". After all, we are talking about the same thing ... And words are just combinations of sounds. So one combination is perceived adequately, and the other is not. Why?!

What is it about these combinations that they are tabooed? Who and when came up with these rules? And why, in order to express certain actions, we are forced, instead of our Russian words, to resort to words borrowed from a foreign language: “penis”, “vagina” ...

Naturally, in order to answer these questions, it was necessary to understand how the mat and, in fact, obscene words appeared in general.

How did the Russian mat appear

The answer to this question would clarify a lot.

Once upon a time, Russian linguists and historians spread two versions of the appearance of the mat: the first - the Russians adopted the mat from the Tatar-Mongols during the Tatar-Mongol yoke, and the second - swearing - supposedly a product of Slavic paganism. Somewhat later, additional hypotheses appeared.

Let's take a look at them briefly.

The Russians adopted the mat from the Tatar-Mongols

Well, of course, the Tatar-Mongols! Who else could teach us such indecency? I can clearly see how the Tatars, together with the Mongols, arrived in Russia, saw what was happening here and how, and how they began to swear out of annoyance ...

In fact, this theory is based on the coincidence of a single word "eble". In Turkic it meant simply to marry. The Tatar, capturing the girl, said that he "eble" her, that is, he takes her type as his wife. But for any Russian who had his daughter, wife, sister taken away, he committed violence against a woman, and as a result, this word acquired the meaning we know.

And it seems to be a folding version, and it sounds plausible, but it is absolutely not true.

The fact is that neither in the language of the Turks, nor in the language of the Mongols, there are any obscenities. But the most important argument against this version is Novgorod birch-bark letters with obscenities. And these letters are much older than the arrival of the Tatars in Russia.

Mat - a product of Slavic paganism

Here is the essence of the version briefly: mat is the language of spells of some pagan priests of the ancient Slavs. With its help, special magical rites, cast out evil spirits, treated, etc.

But indeed, it is known that on the temples dedicated to certain pagan gods, idols had pronounced phallic features. Not without reason.

There is also documentary evidence

For example, in the work of V.A. Chudinov "The oldest Slavic text in the territory of Eurasia" describes a figurine found at the Brehat-Ram site dating back to the Paleolithic era, on which a text was found describing a rite called the PERUN GAME.
In this text, there is a recommendation for a man in relation to a woman - "EBI AT SOLIDAYS", and the male genital organ is called "HVUY".

Merry, however, were the games of the ancient Slavs. And given that this text describes the Christmas rite, it can be assumed that the words given above had a sacred meaning for the Slavs. I would say - magical or rather sacred. For, on the one hand, spells and rituals using the mat were intended to resist dark forces, or interact with them, and on the other hand, they affected the emotional and energetic essence of a person, thereby strengthening him.

At the same time, one must understand that such “sacred” vocabulary should not have been used in vain. Only in certain situations. Otherwise, its influence would lose its power.

taboo mat

And now it becomes clear how this taboo appeared. It was imposed during the period of the baptism of Russia: the church in every possible way eradicated paganism and everything connected with it. Here is your ban.

But since the nature of us, the Russians, is very peculiar, it turned out that nothing could be eradicated. To ban - yes, to eradicate - they ran into the wrong ones. So we left with mermaids, goblin, mermen, brownies, navi and swear words.

Of course, this is a very superficially presented version, but it explains almost everything. And personally, I find it more believable.

However, these are not all versions of the origin of the Russian mat.

Russian mat we have from the Hungarians

There is another people in Europe, besides the Russians, who have been swearing for a thousand years - and with the same Russian obscenities.

Here's what I was able to find:

For the first time, Russian historians learned about the Hungarian mats quite recently - and were extremely surprised: after all, the Hungarians are not Slavs, but Finno-Ugric peoples. Yes, and they were not under any "Tatar-Mongol yoke", because they left the Volga for Central Europe centuries before the birth of Genghis Khan and Batu.

And then it is concluded that the mats of the Hungarians are absolutely identical to the mats of the Russians because these are Finno-Ugric mats. Hmm... Well, if we accept as true that Hungarians, Estonians, Finns and Russians are one and the same Finnish ethnic group, then it's quite a version. The Russians, however, partly assimilated with the Slavs (who is probably not to be understood). But studies of the gene pool of the Russian nation, conducted in 2000-2006 by the Russian Academy of Sciences, showed that Russians are absolutely identical in genes to the Finnish ethnic group: Mordovians, Komi, Estonians, Finns and Hungarians.

Yes, and toponyms again ... All Central Russia (historical Muscovy) is the land of the Finnish peoples, and all its toponyms are Finnish: Moscow (Moksha people), Ryazan (Erzya people), Murom (Murom people), Perm (Perm people ) etc.

Version justification

Within the framework of this version, there is an assumption that in the Finno-Ugric ethnic groups mats could give birth precisely to the Ugrians. That is, the Hungarians and those who remained to live in the lands of the future Muscovy are related to them. Here are the arguments:

The Ugric group of languages ​​today includes only the Hungarian language and the Ob-Ugric Khanty and Mansi. In the past, this group was much more powerful, including, presumably, the people of the Pechenegs, who went with the Hungarians to Central Europe and along the way settled widely over the Crimea and in the steppes of the Don (they were allegedly exterminated by the Tatars). In Muscovy itself, the main ethnos was the Mordovian ethnos Moksha (Moksel in its language), which gave the name to the Moksva River (Moks moksha + Va water), changed in the Kiev language to the more harmonious Slavs "Moscow". And the Erzya ethnic group (with the capital Erzya and the state of Great Erzya, later changed to Ryazan). In the Permian group of Komi and Udmurts, the state of Great Permia stood out. All this - historical territory the original distribution of mats.

Well, maybe, maybe... But then why is there no confirmation of mating in ancient Estonia and Finland? There and now do not swear. And what are these "Hungarians and the related peoples who remained to live in the lands of the future Muscovy"?

And one more thing: somehow it doesn’t fit with me that Russians and “hot Finnish guys” are one and the same ... But even if so, what side are the Ugrians here, that is, the Hungarians?

There are other versions

There were quite a lot of them, contrary to expectations. Some with a church bias, they say everything is from demons, some even with a political one - they all seemed to me unintelligible. For this reason, I will not publish them here.

In my amateurish opinion, the most acceptable version is: mate is a product of Slavic paganism. It is not for nothing that in our time there is a belief that the mat frightens off all otherworldly evil spirits. Even the participants in the Battle of Psychics confirmed this.

What is a Russian mat

A somewhat belated question, I should have started with it. I'm not talking about the definition that may be available on Wikipedia, no. I didn't look there. I'm talking about the essence.

I never thought about it, but recently I came across an interesting idea: Russian mat consists of only three words. The first word symbolizes the masculine principle. The second is female. The third is the combination of male and female principles (the creation of life).

Based on my rich experience and deep knowledge in this area, I tried to complete the trio at least up to a quartet, but nothing happened to me.

Yes, there are a few more words, but they are classified as swear words and are not obscene. It’s just that they are tabooed along with the obscenity and are already perceived by us as a mat.

Here is one example - erroneously, a word denoting a “mistaken” woman, which is not such and comes from the verb “to wander”, that is, to be mistaken, to be mistaken, is mistakenly considered to be abusive words.

And the apparent set of swear words in most cases is a set of multi-variant modifications of the three main words.

For example, let's take a word denoting the feminine principle ... Except direct meaning, it is variably used in completely unrelated areas and can replace the concepts: “steal”, “beat”, “lie” ...

I don't remember if I told this joke somewhere...

There is a world philological conference. The origin of the word "to steal" is discussed... The representative of the Italian delegation claims that this word is of Italian origin, they say, in ancient times there was a place on the Tiber River where all merchants gathered and carried out bargaining. And now, allegedly, goods began to disappear from the merchants there. From this and went - stibrit.

Question from the audience from the Russian delegation: - Excuse me, but did you accidentally lose anything in the city of Pisa?

The uniqueness of the Russian mat

I can imagine how wary you read the article, if at all, waiting for me to start cursing. Calm down, I'll start right now.

What is the uniqueness (this is not a mate yet), you ask? One aspect is the multivariance of modifications of each word, which makes it possible to use it to denote a multitude of concepts that are not even related by a close meaning. Well, in what language is this possible?

And the second aspect is universality, which directly follows from the first and allows using just one swear word to build whole sentences and even phrases.

Let's take the shortest of the swear words - the one that consists of three letters and denotes the masculine principle. But so that the last readers do not run away from me, we will replace the first letter in it “ X» on the letter « b". Get "buoy". It’s quite a normal word: “Do not swim behind the buoys” ... This is the modified word I use in the following example ...

I remember from my cadet youth, we did something there at the training ground and the officer who arrived to check our work issued: - “ On the b ya up b ya on b pissed off? Ras b yell at b wow k b wow!»

How poetic!

Do I need a Russian mat

As I wrote above, the mat carries a huge emotional and energy charge. But it cannot be used in vain - all power is lost. The mat is just what is needed in emergency, critical situations. It's like a capacitor. Under normal conditions, the body consumes energy, like a battery, slowly. But at a critical moment, the mat works like a capacitor - it discharges instantly. And this burst of energy works wonders.

I read an interesting comparison on one of the sites:

Slavic culture
Here you stand on the battlefield, wounded, exhausted, and staggering, leaning on your sword. And enemies are on you. For them, and even for you, the outcome of the meeting is obvious. But you raise your head, look at them for a long time and say: “Come on, b-di, so you are re-done!!”. And a miracle happens. opens up in you wild force. And your sword whistled like helicopter blades, and the heads of your enemies rolled with astonished expressions on their faces. You then surprise yourself. That's what a mat is, that's why it's needed.

And imagine that the mat is used constantly in ordinary speech, by the way, after all, it was the same - in order to combat obscenities, it was proposed to introduce obscene words into ordinary use, stop considering them obscene ... And then what?

Slavic culture
You stand on the battlefield, wounded, exhausted, and leaning staggeringly on your sword. And enemies are on you. For them, and even for you, the outcome of the meeting is obvious. But you raise your head, look at them for a long time and say: “Come on, b-di, so you will be reshuffled. And then another peretak.” And the miracle doesn't happen. There is no energy in these words. These words sound like: something the weather has deteriorated. You don't have a hidden reserve. And they take you warm and rape your wife in front of you, and take your children into slavery.

Yes ... Our history is difficult and who knows, maybe thanks to the mat they survived and survived as a people. Not my idea, but there is something in it!

And finally

Here is such a small digression into the Russian mat. Do not touch the exhibits!

In Russia, swearing has been fought since the 10th century. First, the clergy, who tried to eradicate paganism and everything that accompanies it, then the rulers. So, in 1480, Prince Vasily III, along with dry law, demanded that the Muscovites stop swearing. Then Ivan the Terrible ordered to “click on the auctions” so that the Muscovites “would not scold and reproach each other with all sorts of obscene speeches.”

In 1648, Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich conceived “to exterminate the infection” and gave a royal decree that “they shouldn’t sing demonic songs, swear words and all obscene barking ... Christian law for the fury of being from Us in great disgrace and in cruel punishment.

But for some reason, all attempts were unsuccessful. What can I say, even if the luminary of Russian poetry, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, wrote poetry using profanity.

Some of them were even included in collections of compositions - “A violinist once came to a castrato”, “The Cart of Life”, etc. Pushkin himself called obscene expressions a “Russian title”. So, sending the text of the poem "The Cart of Life" in a letter to Vyazemsky, he wrote: "You can print it, skipping the Russian title."

Russian obscenity called a system of words that have a negative color (cursing, name-calling), which are not accepted by the norms of public morality. In other words, swearing is profanity. Where did the Russian mat come from?

Origin of the word "mate"

There is a version that the very word "mate" has the meaning of "voice". But more researchers are sure that "mat" came from "mother" and is an abbreviated expression "swear", "send to mother".

The origin of the Russian mat

Where did the mat in Russian come from?

  • First, some of the swear words were borrowed from other languages ​​(for example, Latin). There were versions that the mat also came to the Russian language from the Tatar (during the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars). But these assumptions have been refuted.
  • Secondly, most of the swear words and curses came from the Proto-Indo-European language, as well as Old Slavonic. Thus, the mat in the Russian language is still “one’s own”, from the ancestors.

There are also certain versions of the origin, where did the swear words come from in the Russian language. Here are some of them:

  • Earth related.
  • Associated with parents.
  • Associated with the sinking of the earth, earthquakes.

There is an opinion that many swear words were used by pagan Slavs in their rites and rituals to protect against evil forces. This point of view is quite viable. Also, the pagans used the mat in wedding ceremonies, agricultural. But they did not have any great semantic load, especially swearing.

The lexical composition of Russian obscenities

The researchers noticed that the number of swear words is high. But, if you are more careful, you can see: the root of the words is often common, only the ending changes or prefixes and suffixes are added. Most of the words in Russian mate are connected in one way or another with the sexual sphere, the genitals. It is important that these words have no neutral analogues in the literature. More often they are simply replaced with words with the same meaning, but in Latin. The peculiarity of the Russian mat is its richness and diversity. This can be said about the Russian language as a whole.

Russian mat in a historical aspect

Since the adoption of Christianity in Russia, there have been decrees regulating the use of obscenities. This, of course, was an initiative on the part of the church. In general, in Christianity, swearing is a sin. But the swearing managed to penetrate so much into all segments of the population that Taken measures were completely ineffective.

Letters of the twelfth century contain obscene words in the form of rhymes. Mat was used in various notes, ditties, letters. Of course, many words that have now become obscene, used to have a milder meaning. According to sources of the fifteenth century, then there was a large number of swear words that even called rivers and villages.

After a couple of centuries, swearing became very widespread. Swearing finally became "obscene" in the eighteenth century. This is due to the fact that during this period there was a separation of the literary language from the spoken language. In the Soviet Union, the fight against swearing was very stubborn. This was expressed in penalties for foul language in public places. However, this has rarely been done in practice.

Today in Russia there is also a fight against swearing, especially on television and in the media.

Sidorov G.A. about the origin of the Russian mat.

The origin of the Russian mat. Magazine Life is Interesting.

Russian mat, as a phenomenon of the national language and culture, has its roots in ancient times. The word mat itself, according to some philologists and linguists, comes from the word mother. Mother (word) was not previously used outside the verbal construction Yo ... your mother. Only after the introduction by Catherine II of the restriction on the use of obscene expressions in society, the word mother acquired a slightly different meaning. And by the eighteenth century, affectionate derivatives of this word appeared - mother, mother, mother, mother, and so on.

Other scientists (including the famous researcher of Russian mat A. Plutzer-Sarno) believe that the word mat meant a loud cry, the cry of animals during the period of mating flirtations or the process of copulation itself.

Why did the Russian rulers send swear words that have been used in Everyday life to designate their mental states as unacceptable and forbidden can, perhaps, be explained only by European influence. Insofar as foreign culture, primarily German and French, and their words and expressions penetrated into Russia and were adopted by the ruling class, traditionally Russian words and expressions disappeared in this environment.

Gradually, only the lower classes of Russian society began to use obscenities in their speech, where the expression “e ... t - dig” was used on a par with “give us daily bread today”. But among the nobles and the higher clergy, the mat went into the realm of gloomy legends and historicisms. And if one of the nobles did not refrain from using a “strong” word in speech, then this was considered bad form and ignorance. In French, please. Just not as Russian men say. This was how the tabooing of obscenities was introduced. And he himself began to be considered obscene vocabulary. It was in the noble environment that swear words were considered a forbidden curse. It was there that he acquired his “bad” reputation as something vile and overly negative.

But, nevertheless, despite official prohibitions and moral protests, the mat survived. Moreover, it has developed and matured. This was largely facilitated by Russian enlighteners and writers, digging out piles of hitherto unknown literature and philological emeralds among the dusty historical evidence. The expressions dug out in this way were used by the writers themselves in friendly correspondence, where they wanted to outdo each other in the art of selective Russian swearing. A special contribution to the popularization of the mat was made by such writers as Pushkin, Lermontov, Barkov, Alexei Tolstoy, Zhemchuzhnikovs, Yesenin and many others.

AT modern Russia the mat is also taboo. Everyone swears and yet, well, or almost everyone, advocates the complete eradication of swearing, cutting the defenders of obscene vocabulary with the penultimate words.

Everyday mat, which we meet here and there has nothing to do with literary obscenities. Today's swearing has become so boring that you involuntarily do not notice it at all. Gradually swear words lose their social function expressions of discontent and protest and pass into the category of everyday words and expressions. This is facilitated by the extraordinary flexibility of "matyukov". In separate words, you can express almost anything, including concepts and phenomena that are opposite in meaning and meaning.

Swearing and swearing is actually all. Even young, unintelligent children are attracted by the unpretentious philosophy of swear words. But only a few of this number swear in a florid, long, competent, funny way and in accordance with all the rules of the Russian language. Cursing correctly is a big science that requires detailed and in-depth study.

Mat can be expressed in separate words, in phrases containing up to five obscene words, and maybe in the bends. The obscene bend is of several types.
So, they distinguish between a small obscene bend, a large obscene bend, a large Petrovsky bend, a small sea and a large sea bend, and so on.
The obscene bend is the simplest and at the same time rigid and extensive scheme, according to which the swear sentence is being constructed.
The bend is distinguished by its strength. One word is hardly replaced in it by another.

Obscene bends (large and small) differ, first of all, in the number of non-formatted words contained in them. A small bend should include from fifteen to twenty words (prepositions and conjunctions are not among them). Large, respectively, contains thirty or more words. There are known bends in the number of obscene words, which reach one and a half hundred and even more. Such works of folk art look colorful and are usually voiced with a tongue twister.

There are also unverified rumors about the existence Great Petrovsky Bend, which contains several hundred fixed phrases and is a model for building nine-story mats. It seems that this work can be attributed for the most part to the field of legends and legends. Although you can often find something similar. Paraphrase of Peter's curse.

Skilled swearers were highly honored in Russia and were invited to all mass celebrations in order to appease the ears of tipsy hosts and guests with their dashing abuse. Speaking in curves back then was like having a flashing beacon on your car today. That is, those who possessed such talents could practically freely enter any establishments and attend any events. Today, championships and competitions are often held among the bearers of the “great and mighty”.

So, ladies and gentlemen, learn Russian. It may be of use to you.

As sad as it is to realize, mat is an integral part of every language, without which it is impossible to imagine it. But for many centuries they actively fought with obscene language, but they could not win this battle. Let's look at the history of the emergence of swearing in general, and also find out how mats appeared in the Russian language.

Why do people slander?

No matter what anyone says, absolutely all people, without exception, use swearing in their speech. Another thing is that someone does this very rarely or uses relatively harmless expressions.

For many years, psychologists have been studying the reasons why we swear, although we know that this not only characterizes us badly, but can also become offensive to others.

Several main motives why people swear are highlighted.

  • Insulting an opponent.
  • An attempt to make one's own speech more emotional.
  • As an interjection.
  • To relieve psychological or physical stress from the one who speaks.
  • as a manifestation of rebellion. An example of this behavior can be seen in the movie "Paul: The Secret Material". His main character(whom her father brought up in a strict atmosphere, protecting from everything), having learned that it is possible to swear, she began to actively use swear words. And sometimes out of place or in strange combinations, which looked very comical.
  • To attract attention. Many musicians use profanity in their songs to make themselves look special.
  • In order to successfully adapt to a certain environment in which swear words replace ordinary ones.
  • As a tribute to fashion.

I wonder which of these reasons you swear?

Etymology

Before finding out how swear words appeared, it will be interesting to consider the history of the emergence of the noun "mat" or "swearing" itself.

It is generally accepted that it was formed from the term "mother". Linguists believe that this concept, so respected by all, turned into the name of obscene language due to the fact that the first curses among the Slavs were aimed at insulting their mothers. It was from here that the expressions "send to the mother" and "swear" came from.

By the way, the antiquity of the term is evidenced by its presence in other Slavic languages. Modern Ukrainian uses similar name"matyuki", and in Belarusian - "mat" and "mataryzna".

Some scholars are trying to connect this word with its homonym from chess. They claim that it was borrowed from Arabic through intermediary French and means "death of the king". However, this version is highly doubtful, since in this sense the word appeared in Russian only in the 18th century.

Considering the question of where the mats came from, it is worth finding out what other nations call their counterparts. So, the Poles use the expressions plugawy język (dirty language) and wulgaryzmy (vulgarisms), the British - profanity (blasphemy), the French - impiété (disrespect), and the Germans - Gottlosigkeit (godlessness).

Thus, studying the names of the very concept of "checkmate" in different languages, you can find out exactly what types of words were considered the first curses.

The most famous versions explaining where mats came from

Historians have not yet come to a unified decision regarding the origin of the battle. Reflecting on where mats came from, they agree that they were originally associated with religion.

Some believe that swear words in ancient times were attributed magical properties. No wonder one of the synonyms for swearing is curses. That is why their pronunciation was forbidden, as it could cause someone else's or one's own misfortune. Echoes of this belief can be found today.

Others believe that for the ancestors, the mat was a kind of weapon against enemies. During disputes or battles, it was customary to blaspheme the gods protecting opponents, supposedly this made them weaker.

There is also a third theory that tries to explain where mats came from. According to her, curses related to the genitals and sex were not curses, but, on the contrary, prayers to the ancient pagan gods of fertility. That is why they were said in difficult times. That is, in fact, they were an analogue of the modern interjection: "Oh, God!"

Despite the apparent delusional nature of this version, it is worth noting that it can be quite close to the truth, because it explains the appearance of sexocentric profanity.

Unfortunately, none of the above theories gives an unambiguous answer to the question: "Who created the swear words?" It is generally accepted that they are the fruit of folk art.

Some believe that curses were invented by priests. And their "flock" were memorized as spells to use, as needed.

A Brief History of Profanity

Having considered theories about who invented swear words and why, it is worth tracing their evolution in society.

After people came out of the caves, began to build cities and organize states with all their attributes, the attitude towards swearing began to acquire a negative connotation. Swear words were forbidden, and those who uttered them were severely punished. Moreover, blasphemy was considered the most terrible. For them, they could be expelled from the community, branded with a red-hot iron, or even executed.

At the same time, for sex-centric, animalistic expressions or those associated with bodily functions, the punishment was much less. And sometimes it was completely absent. This is probably why they were used more often and evolved, and their number grew.

With the spread of Christianity in Europe, another war was declared against obscene language, which was also lost.

It is interesting that, in some countries, as soon as the power of the church began to weaken, the use of obscenities became a symbol of free thought. This happened during French Revolution when it was fashionable to vehemently scold the monarchy and religion.

Contrary to prohibitions, in the armies of many European states were professional detractors. Their duties were to curse enemies during the battle and demonstrate intimate organs for greater persuasiveness.

Today, obscene language continues to be condemned by most religions, but is not punished as severely as it was centuries ago. Their public use is punishable by small fines.

Despite this, in the last few decades, one can observe another transformation of swearing from taboo into something fashionable. Today they are everywhere - in songs, books, films and television. Moreover, millions of souvenirs with obscene inscriptions and signs are sold annually.

Features of the mat in the languages ​​of different peoples

Although attitudes towards swearing in different countries in all ages it was identical, each nation formed its own list of swear words.

For example, traditional Ukrainian swearing is built on the basis of the names of the defecation process and its product. In addition, animal names are used, most commonly dogs and pigs. The name of the delicious pig became obscene, probably during the period of the Cossacks. The main enemies of the Cossacks were Turks and Tatars - that is, Muslims. And for them, the pig is an unclean animal, comparison with which is very insulting. Therefore, in order to provoke the enemy and unbalance him, Ukrainian soldiers compared the enemies with pigs.

Many mats in English came to it from German. For example, these are the words shit and fuck. Who would have thought!

At the same time, less popular swear words were indeed borrowed from Latin - these are defecate (to defecate), excrete (to excrete), fornicate (to fornicate) and copulate (to copulate). As you can see, all words of this kind are junk that is not often used today.

But the no less popular noun ass is relatively young and became widely known only from the second half of XIX in. thanks to sailors who accidentally distorted the pronunciation of the term "ass" (arse).

It is worth noting that in every English-speaking country there are curses that are specific to its inhabitants. For example, the above word is popular in the USA.

As for other countries, in Germany and France, most obscene expressions are associated with dirt or sloppiness.

Arabs can go to jail for mating, especially if they offend Allah or the Koran.

Where did swear words come from in Russian

Having dealt with other languages, it is worth paying attention to Russian. After all, it is in it that obscene language is actually slang.

So, where did the Russian mate come from?

There is a version that the Mongol-Tatars taught the ancestors to swear. However, today it has already been proven that this theory is erroneous. A number of written sources have been found early period(than the appearance of a horde in the Slavic lands), in which obscene expressions are recorded.

Thus, understanding where the mat came from in Russia, we can conclude that it has existed here since time immemorial.

By the way, in many ancient chronicles there are references to the fact that princes often quarreled with each other. It does not indicate which words they used.

It is possible that the ban on swearing existed even before the advent of Christianity. Therefore, in the official documentation, swearing was not mentioned, which makes it difficult to at least approximately establish where the mate in Russia came from.

But if we take into account that the most popular obscene words are found mainly only in Slavic languages, we can assume that they all arose in Proto-Slavic. Apparently, the ancestors slandered no less than their descendants.

It is difficult to say when they appeared in Russian. After all, the most popular of them were inherited from the Proto-Slavic, which means they were in it from the very beginning.

Words that are consonant with some of the curses so popular today, which we will not quote for ethical reasons, can be found in birch bark letters of the 12th-13th centuries.

Thus, to the question: "Where did obscenities come from in the Russian language?", we can safely answer that they were already present in it during the formation period.

It is interesting that in the future, radically new expressions were not invented. In fact, these words have become the core on which the entire system of Russian obscene language is built.

But on their basis, hundreds of words and expressions of the same root were created over the next centuries, which almost every Russian is so proud of today.

Speaking about where the Russian mat came from, one cannot fail to mention borrowings from other languages. This is especially true for the present. After the collapse of the USSR, an active penetration into the speech of Anglicisms and Americanisms began. Among them were obscene ones.

In particular, this word "gondon", or "gandon" (linguists still argue about its spelling), formed from condom (condom). Interestingly, in English it is not obscene. But in Russian still how. Therefore, when answering the question of where the Russian obscenity came from, one should not forget that obscene expressions so common today in our territory also have foreign roots.

To sin or not to sin - that is the question!

Interested in the history of obscene language, most often people ask two questions: "Who invented swearing?" and "Why is it said that it is a sin to use swear words?"

If we have dealt with the first question, then it's time to move on to the second.

So, those who call the habit of scolding - sinful, refer to its prohibition in the Bible.

Indeed, in the Old Testament, slander is condemned more than once, while in most cases it refers to just such a variety of it as blasphemy - which is indeed a sin.

Also in the New Testament it is specified that any blasphemy (slander) can be forgiven by the Lord, except for the one directed at the Holy Spirit (Gospel of Mark 3:28-29). That is, it is swearing directed against God that is again condemned, while its other types are considered not so serious violations.

By the way, one should take into account the fact that not all obscenities relate to the Lord and His blasphemy. Moreover, simple phrases-interjections: "My God!", "God knows", "Oh, Lord!", "Mother of God" and similar technically can also be considered a sin based on the commandment: "Do not pronounce the name of the Lord, God yours, in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain" (Ex. 20:7).

But such expressions (which do not carry any negative attitude and are not curses) are found in almost any language.

As for the other authors of the Bible who condemn the mat, it is Solomon in the "Proverbs" and the Apostle Paul in the epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. In these cases, it was about swear words, and not blasphemy. However, unlike the Ten Commandments, swearing is not presented as a sin in these passages of the Bible. It is positioned as a negative phenomenon that should be avoided.

Following this logic, it turns out that from the point of view of the Holy Scriptures, only blasphemous obscenities, as well as those exclamation expressions in which the Almighty is somehow mentioned (including interjections) can be considered sin. But other curses, even those that contain references to demons and other evil spirits (if they do not blaspheme the Creator in any way), are a negative phenomenon, but technically they cannot be considered a full-fledged sin.

Moreover, the Bible mentions cases when Christ Himself scolded, calling the Pharisees "spawn of vipers" (spawn of vipers), which was clearly not a compliment. By the way, John the Baptist also used the same curse. In total, it occurs 4 times in the New Testament. Draw your own conclusions...

Traditions of the use of mats in world literature

Although it was not welcome either in the past or today, obscene expressions are often used by writers. Most often, this is done in order to create an appropriate atmosphere in your book or to distinguish a character from others.

Today, this is no surprise to anyone, but in the past it was a rarity and, as a rule, became the cause of scandals.

Another gem of world literature, which is known for its numerous use of swearing, is Jerome Salinger's novel "The Catcher in the Rye".

By the way, the play "Pygmalion" by Bernard Shaw was also criticized at one time for using the word bloody, which was considered abusive in British English of that time.

Traditions of using obscenities in Russian and Ukrainian literature

As for Russian literature, Pushkin also "dabbled" in obscenities, composing rhymed epigrams, while Mayakovsky actively used them without hesitation.

Modern Ukrainian literary language originates from the poem "Aeneid" by Ivan Kotlyarevsky. She can be considered the champion in the number of obscene expressions of the 19th century.

And although after the release of this book, swearing continued to be a taboo for writers, this did not prevent Les Poderevyansky from turning into a classic. Ukrainian literature which he continues to be to this day. But most of his grotesque plays are not only full of obscene language, in which the characters simply talk, but are also frankly politically incorrect.

Interesting facts

  • In the modern world, swearing continues to be considered a negative phenomenon. At the same time, it is actively studied and systematized. Therefore, collections of the most famous curses have been created for almost every language. AT Russian Federation these are two mating dictionaries written by Alexey Plutser-Sarno.
  • As you know, the legislation of many countries prohibits the publication of photographs that depict indecent inscriptions. Marilyn Manson once took advantage of this, who got the paparazzi. He just wrote the swear word on his own face with a marker. And although no one began to publish such photos, they still leaked to the Internet.
  • Anyone who likes to use profanity for no apparent reason should think about their own mental health. The fact is that this may not be a harmless habit, but one of the symptoms of schizophrenia, progressive paralysis or Tourette's syndrome. In medicine, there are even several special terms for mental deviations associated with swearing - coprolalia (an irresistible desire to swear for no reason), coprography (an attraction to writing profanity) and copropraxia (a painful desire to show obscene gestures).

RUSSIAN MAT

Every person in Russia from the very early childhood begins to hear words that he calls obscene, obscene, obscene. Even if a child grows up in a family where swearing is not used, he still hears it on the street, becomes interested in the meaning of these words, and pretty soon his peers interpret swear words and expressions for him. In Russia, attempts have been repeatedly made to combat the use of obscene words, fines have been introduced for swearing in public places, but to no avail. There is an opinion that swearing in Russia flourishes due to the low cultural level of the population, however, I can name many names of highly cultured people of the past and present, who belonged and belong to the most highly intelligent and cultured elite and at the same time are big swearers in everyday life and not shy away from obscenities in their works. I do not justify them and do not urge everyone to use the mat. God forbid! I am categorically against swearing in public places, against the use of obscene words in works of art and especially on television. However, the mat exists, lives and is not going to die, no matter how we protest against its use. And you don't have to be hypocrites, close your eyes, you need to study this phenomenon both from the psychological side and from the point of view of linguistics.

I started collecting, studying and interpreting swear words as a student in the sixties. The defense of my Ph.D. thesis was held in such secrecy, as if it were about the latest nuclear research, and immediately after the defense of the thesis, the dissertation went into the special libraries of libraries. Later, in the seventies, when I was preparing my doctoral dissertation, it was necessary to clarify some words, and I could not get my dissertation from the Lenin Library without special permission from the authorities. So it was quite recently, when, as in a well-known anecdote, everyone pretended that they knew diamat, although no one knew him, but everyone knew mat, and pretended that they did not know him.

Currently, every second writer uses obscene words in his works, we hear swearing from the television screen, but for several years not a single publishing house that I proposed to publish a scientific explanatory dictionary of swear words decided to release it. And only the dictionary, shortened and adapted for a wide range of readers, saw the light of day.

To illustrate the words in this dictionary, I widely used folklore: obscene jokes, ditties that have long lived among the people were often used, but were published in last years, as well as quotes from the classics of Russian literature from Alexander Pushkin to Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Many quotes are taken from the poems of Sergei Yesenin, Alexander Galich, Alexander Tvardovsky, Vladimir Vysotsky and other poets. Of course, I could not do without the works of Ivan Barkov, without the "Russian cherished tales" by A. I. Afanasiev, without folk obscene songs, poems and poems, without contemporary writers such as Yuz Aleshkovsky and Eduard Limonov. A treasure trove for researchers of Russian swearing is a cycle of hooligan novels by Pyotr Aleshkin, which are almost entirely written in obscene words. I could illustrate this dictionary only with quotations from his works.

The dictionary is intended for a wide range of readers: for those who are interested in swear words, for literary editors, for translators from the Russian language, etc.

In this dictionary, I did not indicate in what environment the word functions: whether it refers to criminal jargon, youth slang or jargon sexual minorities because the boundaries between them are rather shaky. There are no words that would be used in one environment. I also indicated only the obscene meaning of the word, leaving other, ordinary meanings outside of it.

And the last. You hold in your hands the explanatory dictionary "Russian obscenities"! Remember that it contains only obscene, obscene, obscene words. You will not meet others!

Professor Tatyana Akhmetova.

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