What is the meaning of swear words? The great and mighty Russian language: where did swear words come from?

As sad as it is to realize, swearing is an integral part of every language, without which it is impossible to imagine it. But for many centuries they actively fought against 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 obscenities appeared in the Russian language.

Why do people slander?

No matter what anyone says, absolutely all people without exception use curse words 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 poorly, but can also become offensive to others.

Several main reasons why people swear have been identified.

• Insulting an opponent.
• An attempt to make your own speech more emotional.
• As interjections.
• To relieve psychological or physical stress in the person speaking.
• As a manifestation of rebellion. An example of this behavior can be observed in the movie "Gender: The Secret Material". His main character(whom her father raised in a strict atmosphere, protecting her from everything), having learned that she could 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, in order to look special, use profanity in their songs.
• In order to successfully adapt to a certain environment in which curse words replace the usual ones.
• As a tribute to fashion.

I wonder which of these reasons you swear for?

Etymology

Before finding out how swear words appeared, it will be interesting to consider the history of the origin of the noun itself “swearing” or “swearing”.

It is generally accepted that it was derived from the term "mother". Linguists believe that this concept, so respected by everyone, turned into the name of obscene language due to the fact that the Slavs were the first to use curse words to insult their mothers. This is where the expressions “send to mother” and “swear” came from.

By the way, the antiquity of the term is evidenced by its presence in other Slavic languages. In modern Ukrainian, a similar name is used, “matyuki,” and in Belarusian, “mat” and “mataryzna.”

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

When considering the question of where mats came from, it is worth finding out what other peoples call their analogues. Thus, 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 curse words.

The most famous versions explaining where the mats came from

Historians have still not come to a consensus regarding the origin of the abuse. Reflecting on where mats came from, they agree that they were originally associated with religion.

Some believe that magical properties were attributed to swear words in ancient times. It’s not for nothing that one of the synonyms for swearing is curses. That is why their pronunciation was prohibited, as it could cause someone else’s or one’s own misfortune. Echoes of this belief can still be found today.

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

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

Despite the apparent delusion of this version, it is worth noting that it may be quite close to the truth, because it explains the appearance of sex-centric profanity.

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

Some believe that the curses were invented by the priests. And their “flock” were memorized like spells to be used as needed.

A Brief History of Obscene Language

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 take on a negative connotation. Swear words were prohibited, and persons uttering them were severely punished. Moreover, blasphemy was considered the most terrible. They could be expelled from the community, branded with a hot iron, or even executed.

At the same time, there was much less punishment for sexocentric, animalistic expressions or those related to bodily functions. And sometimes she was completely absent. This is probably why they were used more often and evolved, and their numbers grew.

With the spread of Christianity in Europe, another war was declared on 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 the French Revolution, when it was fashionable to vehemently criticize the monarchy and religion.

Despite the prohibitions, there were professional detractors in the armies of many European states. Their duties were to swear at enemies during battle and demonstrate their private 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, the last few decades have seen another transformation of swearing from taboo to something fashionable. Today they are everywhere - in songs, books, films and television. Moreover, millions of souvenirs with obscene inscriptions and signs are sold every year.

Features of swearing in the languages ​​of different nations

Although the attitude towards swearing in different countries in all centuries has been identical, each nation has formed its own list of swear words.

For example, traditional Ukrainian swearing is based on the names of the process of defecation and its product. In addition, the names of animals are used, most often dogs and pigs. The name of the tasty pig became obscene, probably during the Cossack period. The main enemies of the Cossacks were Turks and Tatars - that is, Muslims. And for them, a pig is an unclean animal, comparison with which is very offensive. Therefore, in order to provoke the enemy and throw him off balance, Ukrainian soldiers compared their enemies to pigs.

Many obscenities 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 curses were indeed borrowed from Latin - these are defecate (defecate), excrete (excrete), fornicate (fornicate) and copulate (copulate). As you can see, all words of this kind are old words that are not often used today.

But the no less popular noun ass is relatively young and became widely known only in the second half of the 19th century. thanks to sailors who accidentally twisted the pronunciation of the term "ass" (arse).

It is worth noting that in each English speaking country There are curse words 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.

Among the Arabs, you can go to jail for swearing, especially if you insult Allah or the Koran.

Where do 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 Russian swearing come from?

There is a version that the Mongol-Tatars taught their ancestors to swear. However, today it has already been proven that this theory is wrong. A number of written sources have been found from an earlier period (than the appearance of the horde on Slavic lands), which contain obscene expressions.

Thus, understanding where swearing came from in Rus', 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 fought 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, swear words were not mentioned in the official documentation, which makes it difficult to at least approximately establish where swearing in Rus' came from.

But if we consider that the most popular obscene words are found mainly only in Slavic languages, we can assume that they all originated 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 Proto-Slavic, which means they were in it from the very beginning.

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

Thus, to the question: “Where did swear words come from in the Russian language?”, we can safely answer that they were present in it already during the period of its formation.

It is interesting that no radical new expressions were subsequently invented. In fact, these words have become the core on which the entire system of Russian obscene language is built.

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

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

In particular, this is the word “gondon”, or “gondon” (linguists are still arguing about its spelling), derived from condom (condom). Interestingly, in English it is not a swear word. But in Russian it’s still the same. Therefore, when answering the question of where the Russian swear word came from, we should not forget that obscene expressions so common on our territory today also have foreign language roots.

Sin or not sin - that is the question!

When interested in the history of obscene language, people most often ask two questions: “Who invented obscenities?” and “Why do they say it’s 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 swearing sinful refer to its prohibition in the Bible.

Indeed, in the Old Testament slander is condemned more than once, and in most cases it is precisely this kind of slander that is meant, such as blasphemy - which is truly a sin.

The New Testament also clarifies that the Lord can forgive any blasphemy (slander), except that 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 less serious violations.

By the way, one should take into account the fact that not all swear words relate to the Lord and His blasphemy. Moreover, simple phrases-interjections: “My God!”, “God knows him,” “Oh, Lord!”, “Mother of God” and the like can technically 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 him unpunished who takes His name in vain" (Ex. 20:7).

But similar expressions (which do not carry any negative sentiment and are not curse words) exist in almost any language.

As for other Bible authors who condemn swearing, these are Solomon in Proverbs and the Apostle Paul in the Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians. In these cases, it was specifically about swear words, and not blasphemy. However, unlike the Ten Commandments, these passages in the Bible do not present swearing as a sin. 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 a 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 “brood of vipers” (brood of vipers), which was clearly not a compliment. By the way, John the Baptist also used the same curse. In total it appears in the New Testament 4 times. Draw your own conclusions...

Traditions of using obscenities in world literature

Although it was not welcomed either in the past or today, obscene language is 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 will not surprise anyone, but in the past it was rare and, as a rule, became the cause of scandals.

Another gem of world literature that is famous for its numerous use of swear words 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 the use of the word bloody, which was considered abusive in British English at that time.

Traditions of using swear words in Russian and Ukrainian literature

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

The modern Ukrainian literary language originates from the poem “Aeneid” by Ivan Kotlyarevsky. She can be considered a champion in the number of obscene expressions of the 19th century.

And although after the publication of this book, swearing continued to be a taboo for writers, this did not stop Les Podereviansky from becoming a classic of Ukrainian literature, which he continues to be to this day. But most of his grotesque plays are not only full of obscenities in which the characters simply talk, but also frankly politically incorrect.

Interesting facts

• In the modern world, swearing continues to be considered a negative phenomenon. At the same time, it is being actively studied and systematized. Therefore, collections of the most famous swear words have been created for almost every language. IN Russian Federation These are two dictionaries of obscenities written by Alexey Plutser-Sarno.
• As you know, the legislation of many countries prohibits the publication of photographs that depict obscene inscriptions. This was once used by Marilyn Manson, who was pestered by the paparazzi. He simply wrote a curse word on his own face with a marker. And although no one began to publish such photos, they still leaked onto 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 to designate mental deviations associated with swearing - coprolalia (an irresistible desire to swear for no reason), coprography (the desire to write profanity) and copropraxia (a painful desire to show indecent gestures).

When trying to discover the origin of Russian swearing, you first need to pay attention to the fact that millions of people do not know where this language came from. The phenomenon itself is incomprehensible. They talk, but they don’t know why they say that? This involuntarily draws attention. If the origin is unknown, then why is it used so persistently and consistently? At the same time, swearing cannot be considered exclusively Russian. It is in Jewish Yiddish. Many experts have long noticed a connection between the Hebrew and Slavic-Novgorod languages. This clearly points to common ancestors. Now the reason for this connection is not difficult to prove.

Swearing is considered obscene language. That is, prohibited for official use. From this we can make a fairly confident assumption that it is pre-literate. Orthodox Church He was always condemned and forbidden. Consequently, it appeared among our ancestors before Byzantine Orthodoxy was established everywhere in medieval Rus'. And, judging by the fact that Christianity came to Byzantium from Rome, where it appeared in the first centuries New era Therefore, among the Jews, swearing appeared before the emergence of this religion.

But here another question arises: the Novgorodians appeared no earlier than the 7th century. New era, and the Jews in Egypt and the Middle East are two to three thousand years earlier. How did both of them have the same language, about the origin of which neither one nor the other knows anything? This means that both had common ancestors who used this language.

A shallow study of Russian swearing allows us to conclude that its numerous expressions and words have only a few roots. Their semantic meaning changes depending on the endings and pronounced intonation. From one word you can make a dozen others.

Unfortunately for me, I don’t know how to explain another unknown without repeating past stories. Because that information is also unique. So I apologize for the repetitions.

To understand the world of the ancient pagans, you need to imagine what an Aryan dwelling with its chimney looked like. It was a dome-shaped structure similar to a Mongolian yurt. The poles, called rods, were stuck into the ground with thick ends in a circle. And in the dome, the thin ends converged on a special wheel, where they were tied with straps - a rope. Words familiar to everyone - springs, rope. This is where the concepts of spouse and the Old Slavonic rope - clan - come from.

The tip of each spring, sticking out inside the chimney wheel, had its own name and sign. The signs were carved on the staff of the tribal leader with “lines and cuts” and looked like bird tracks - piste. Hence epistola - letter. Each tip of the rod was also the bearer of a number, a syllable, a prayer, a name that was given to members of the clan.

In some Aryan clans, the leaders duplicated the names of the tips with a certain knot on a strap, which they constantly carried with them. It was the rope alphabet. Therefore, the words rope, rope, faith, top, twirl have the same root. From ver - circle, wheel.

Undoubtedly, using this wheel it was possible to create only a very simple language. But to create a new kind, the founder did not need anything else. The wheel was the matrix of the original language used to speak with hybrid mothers - women in labor. It’s not for nothing that swearing is called swearing. Or they say: “I swore at my mother.”

The word swearing also speaks of its origin from the Aryan smoke wheel. Details: mother-gina. Mat-stick, line. Er - wooden. That is, a pole, a spring, the end of which stuck out in the chimney wheel. The ending tire means a wheel or a round object. For example: reyshina - rey with a tire. A stick with a wheel. Eyelet, fascine, machine. Etc. In turn, ji-na is the sky on. The word "tire" speaks of a smoke wheel that is "in the sky."

To decrypt original meaning swear words, you can compile a small dictionary.
Ba – body.
Va, ka - together
Yes - throat.
E – top.
Idz\idzh – sky.
Y – tip.
P – attach, attach.
Ku – together, little one
La – lips, fingers.
Ma - body.
Man – wheel, circle, round.
T – stand.

Now we put together p-idz - yes - the throat put to the sky. Smoke hole of an Aryan dwelling.
Let’s double-check: man-da – wheel-throat. It was used to give names and create clans, which is why in some languages ​​man means “man.”

The word checkmate itself means everything that is worth. This is the herb - mint, and the hair by which a woman was distinguished from a man. Hence the words mat and mother sound the same. Mat is also just a stick.

The most commonly used obscene name for the male genital organ comes from two words-syllables ku - y. Ku - together, th - tip. Along with the tip.
Composing a language template was not particularly difficult. Therefore, the Aryan tribal leaders, having the skill, easily constructed new languages. They used this primitive language in communicating with women in labor. They, in turn, passed it on to their children.

With the increase in the number of genera and with the complexity of life in general, languages ​​were replenished with new constructed words based on the original template. The Aryans created enclaves all over the world. Therefore, these template words can be found in completely different languages. For example, in Chechen there is a word bud, meaning female genital organ. In the Russian booth, wake-up call. The capital of Hungary is Budapest. The Tibetan religion is called Buddhism.

What is the connection, you ask? - Yes, because bud is one of the synonyms that the Aryans used to call the smoke hole of their home. Bud-ka - with a hole together. Po-bud-ka - there is a hole on top together. A smoke hole from which in the morning the tribal leader moved the hatch with a long hatch, announcing in a booth.

The toponym Buda - Pest directly points to the bud of the furnace. That is, the round chimney wheel, through which the Aryans gave names to members of the clan. In this case, the name means “ancestral dwelling” or “ancestral dwellings.” The gigantic city began with several clans created here by Aryan leaders.

In ancient Turkic the word “budun” means “people”. Bud-un - one hole. And Russian "means nation - above the genus." The Wheel of the Family, according to which names were given to members of the family.
About the fact that names were given on this wheel. says the famous surname Budanov. It comes from bud-an - hole on top.

In past centuries, in Dagestan villages there was a public position “budun”. This man was obliged to monitor the night time and ensure that the sentries guarding the village did not sleep. He tracked time by the stars and, at exactly the same time, woke up the people by rattling his baton into a suspended copper basin.

The name of the religion with the root bud says that in connection with the smoke wheel a rather complex body of knowledge has developed. To understand the origin of the god Buddha himself, it is enough to read my decoding of the myth of Jesus Christ. These are two different descriptions of the appearance of the first light after the polar night in the smoke holes of the Aryan polar dwellings. Only in the first case it was called idz-uz - the sky is narrow. And in the second buddha there is a round hole.

A common curse word used to call walkers and women in general is another synonym for a smoke hole. Lyada is still called the entrance to the attic of a house in the south. B-yad - body of yad, body-hole. Kolyada - the name of the few hours of the evening before Christmas comes from ko-lyada - circle of lyada. That is, an open smoke wheel, yada.

That's all. There are a couple more swear words. Use the dictionary yourself. You can do it.
I was always surprised that not a single philologist wrote me a single word about such things. Even swearing. True, one day a doctor of science from a well-known university noticed that my text had spelling errors and incorrect punctuation. Very useful note. I wanted to immediately go to high school finish your studies It’s a pity that he didn’t take the elephant....., sorry, didn’t notice.

(By the way! The word min-et consists of min-hole, et - from above. That is, mouth. A medieval tunnel under the walls of a besieged fortress - mine. The same hole. Titles of the Chinese emperors of the Ming dynasty and name Egyptian god The mine comes from the hole in the smoke wheel of the Aryan dwelling. The only source of light in the dark hall is a headlight. Hence the fara-on. round headlight.

As a child, I heard the following story from the old people of our village: During Russian-Turkish war 1877 - 1878 Cossacks asked the Bulgarians: “Why do you laugh when someone asks for a match?” They replied that in their language the word “pichka” means the female genital organ. From the proto-language this can be translated as p-idzh-ka - put the sky together. Still the same smoke hole of an Aryan home. As a result, it turns out that no matter how much you avoid using swear words, you will still sometimes unwittingly do it by mentioning an ordinary match in a conversation. If in one of the related Slavic languages ​​“pichka” is the very place in a woman, then a wooden stick with a tip made of red sulfur is a male organ, which is intended for this place.

Gentlemen philologists! Study the saw of logos more carefully! And when your great and mighty reaches the proper height, you will understand the difference between a bunk house and a condom. And at the same time, learn to distinguish a pick from a kick.

Than from social status and age.

The widespread belief that teenagers swear many times more than mature people fails on Russian roads, in auto repair shops and undignified drinking establishments. Here people do not restrain impulses that come from the heart, splashing out a wave of their negativity on their interlocutor and those around them. In most cases, the use of a mat is associated with a disadvantage vocabulary or with the fact that a person is not able to express his words and thoughts in a more cultural form.

From the point of view of esotericism and religion, a scolding person decomposes himself from the inside and has a bad influence on the surrounding space, releasing negative energy. It is believed that these people get sick more often than those who keep their tongues clean.

Obscene language can be heard in completely different layers. Often in the media you can find reports about yet another scandal involving famous politicians or movie and show business stars who publicly used profanity. The paradox is that even those who use swear words to connect words in a sentence condemn this behavior of celebrities and consider it unacceptable.

The attitude of the law towards the use of profanity

Code of administrative offenses clearly regulates the use of swear words and expressions in public place. A violator of peace and order must pay a fine, and in some cases, a foul speaker may be subject to administrative arrest. However, in Russia and most CIS countries, this law is observed only when swear words were used by a law enforcement officer.

People use foul language regardless of profession, income and level of education. However, for many, the presence of elderly people, young children and work that requires polite communication with people is a deterrent.

Resourceful people a couple of decades ago found a way out of the situation: along with swearing in oral speech his surrogate appeared. The words “damn”, “star”, “to get out” do not seem to be obscenities in the literal sense of the word and cannot fall under the corresponding article by definition, but they carry the same meaning and the same negative as their predecessors, and such words are constantly being replenished.

On forums and in news discussions, the use of strong words is usually prohibited, but surrogates successfully bypassed this barrier. Thanks to the emergence of an obscene surrogate, parents no longer hesitate to use it in the presence of children, harming the cultural development of their child, introducing the immature to the use of swear words.

Taboo vocabulary includes certain layers of vocabulary that are prohibited due to religious, mystical, political, moral and other reasons. What are the prerequisites for its occurrence?

Types of taboo vocabulary

Among the subtypes of taboo vocabulary, one can consider sacred taboos (on pronouncing the name of the creator in Judaism). The anathema to pronouncing the name of the intended game during a hunt belongs to a mystical taboo layer. It is for this reason that the bear is called “master” in baiting, and the word “bear” itself is derived from the phrase “in charge of honey.”

Obscene vocabulary

.

One of the most significant species Taboo vocabulary is obscene or vocabulary, in common parlance – swearing. From the history of the emergence of Russian obscene vocabulary, three main versions can be distinguished. Proponents of the first hypothesis argue that Russian swearing arose as a legacy of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Which in itself is controversial, given that most obscene roots go back to Proto-Slavic origins. According to the second version, swear lexemes once had several lexical meanings, one of which over time supplanted all the others and became attached to the word. The third theory states that swear words were once a significant component of occult rituals of the pre-Christian period.

Let's consider lexical metamorphoses using the example of the most iconic formulations. It is known that in ancient times, “poherit” meant “to cross out a cross.” Accordingly, the cross was called “dick”. The expression “fuck you all” was introduced into use by ardent supporters of paganism. Thus, they wished Christians to die on the cross by analogy with their own god. Needless to say, current users of the language use this word in a completely different context.

Swearing also played an important role in rites and rituals of pagan origin, usually associated with fertility. In addition, it should be noted that most conspiracies for death, illness, love spells, etc. abound in obscene lexemes.

It is known that many lexical units, now considered obscene, were not such until the 18th century. These were completely ordinary words that denoted parts (or features of the physiological structure) of the human body and more. Thus, the Proto-Slavic “jebti” originally meant “to hit, strike”, “huj” - “needle” coniferous tree, something sharp and caustic.” The word “pisda” was used to mean “urinary organ.” Let us remember that the verb “whore” once meant “to talk idle talk, to lie.” “Fornication” is “deviation from the established path”, as well as “illegal cohabitation”. Later both verbs merged into one.

It is believed that before the invasion of Napoleonic troops in 1812, swear words were not particularly in demand in society. However, as it turned out in the process, hazing was much more effective in the trenches. Since then, swearing has confidently taken root as the main form of communication among the troops. Over time, the officer stratum of society popularized obscene language to such an extent that it became urban slang.

Video on the topic

Sources:

• how swearing (taboo vocabulary) appeared in 2019
• Taboo words and euphemisms (profanity) in 2019
• (OBVIOUS SPEECH AND OBVIOUS USE) in 2019

Modern dictionaries and reference books explain the term “expletive language” as a category of language related to obscene language. Often a parallel is drawn, or even a complete synonymization of the concepts of “abusive language” and “obscene”. It is assumed that swear words include only obscene, obscenely vile, vulgar words and expressions. And abusive language itself is regarded as a spontaneous reaction to certain events or sensations.

Instructions

According to the definition of swear words as part of obscene language, there is a certain thematic classification of swear words and expressions:
- emphasized negative characteristics of a person, including obscene definitions;
- names of taboo body parts;
- obscene names of sexual intercourse;
- names of physiological acts and the results of their administration.

Everything would be too simple and clear if not for one “but”. You don’t need to be a professional linguist not to trace the similarities in words and expressions: “abusive”, “self-assembly”, “battlefield”, “decoration”. Some linguists explain this similarity by its origin in the vocabulary of the predecessor of the Indo-European language. The lexical unit of the proto-language - “br”, could mean the common property of the tribe, food, and was the basis for the word formation of many terms from which the words “take”, “brushna”, as well as “bor”, “bee-keeper” were derived. It is assumed that the expression “abuse” could come from military spoils, and “battlefield” is a field of spoils. Hence the “self-assembled tablecloth” and, characteristically, “burden/pregnancy/pregnancy”, as well as agricultural terms - “harrow”, “furrow”.

Over time, words associated with the reproduction of offspring were grouped into the category of “swear words,” but they did not belong to obscenity vocabulary. Swear words were classified as taboo; only priests could use them and only in cases prescribed by custom, mainly in erotic rituals associated with agricultural magic. This guides the hypothesis about the origin of the word “mate” - agriculture - “swear words” - “mother - cheese”.

With the adoption of Christianity, the use of swear words was completely prohibited, but among the people, most words in this category were not positioned as offensive. Until the 18th century, modern swear words were used as an equal part of the Russian language.

Video on the topic

note

The list of swear words is not constant - some words go away or lose their negative connotation, such as the word “ud”, which is not perceived by contemporaries as anything other than the root of the word “fishing rod”, but in the 19th century was prohibited for use at the legislative level as a designation of male sexual organ.

The list of dirty words is quite wide. Surely you have had to catch such constructions in the speech of your interlocutor: “in general”, “as if”, “this”, “well”, “so to speak”, “this is the same”, “what’s his name”. Among the youth in Lately The word Ok (“okay”), which came from the English language, has become very widespread.

Weedy words are an indicator of general and speech culture

Among the verbal garbage there is also something that is considered indecent in any cultural society. It's about about profanity. Elements of obscene language, without a doubt, indicate an extremely low level of general culture. Swearing carries a very strong expressive charge. In some cases, socially acceptable substitutes are used obscene words, for example, “Christmas tree-sticks”. It is better to refrain from even such seemingly harmless expressions, even if the situation encourages an emotional reaction.

If you notice signs of dirty words in your speech, try to take control of them. Awareness of a speech deficiency is the first step towards eliminating it. Constantly monitoring the quality of your speech will help you express your thoughts more accurately and become a pleasant conversationalist.

Video on the topic

Related article

Psychologists believe that foul language is excellent remedy to relieve stress and restore energy. Some historians consider Russian swearing to be a consequence of the destruction of taboos. In the meantime, while experts are engaged in professional disputes, the people “don’t swear, they speak it.” Today we are talking about the origin of Russian swearing.

There is an opinion that in pre-Tatar Rus' they did not know “strong words”, and when swearing, they compared each other to various domestic animals. However, linguists and philologists do not agree with this statement. Archaeologists claim that the Russian mat was first mentioned in a birch bark document beginning of XII century. It is true that archaeologists will not make public what exactly was written in that document. Let's try to understand the intricacies of profanity, which is an integral part of the Russian language.

As a rule, when speaking about mat and its origin, linguists and philologists distinguish three main derived words. These derivatives include the name of the male genital organ, the name of the female genital organ, and the name of what happens under a successful combination of circumstances between the male and female genital organs. Some linguists add a social derivative to the anatomical and physiological derivatives, namely, the word that is used to call lung woman behavior. Of course, there are other obscene roots, but these four are the most productive and effective among the people.

Delight, surprise, agreement and more

Perhaps the most frequently used word among profanity, the word that is most often written on fences throughout Russia, denotes the male genital organ. Linguists have never agreed on where this word came from. Some experts attribute Old Church Slavonic roots to the word, arguing that in ancient times it meant “to hide” and sounded like “to hove.” And the word “forge” in the imperative mood sounded like “kuy.” Another theory attributes the word to Proto-Indo-European roots. In which the root "hu" meant "shoot".
Today it is extremely difficult to talk about the credibility of each of the theories. What can be stated unequivocally is that this word is very ancient, no matter how people with diosyncratic obscene vocabulary would like it. It is also worth noting that “this very word” of three letters is the most productive root that forms new words in the Russian language. This word can express doubt, surprise, indignation, delight, refusal, threat, agreement, despondency, encouragement, etc., etc. The Wikipedia article of the same name alone lists more than seven dozen idioms and words that are derived from this root.

Theft, fighting and death

The word denoting female genital organs in Russian obscene vocabulary is less productive than the word - representative of the stronger sex. Nevertheless, this word has given the Russian language quite a lot of expressions that perfectly reflect the harshness of Russian reality. Thus, words with the same root from this well-known word often mean: lie, mislead, beat, steal, talk incessantly. Set expressions, as a rule, denote a course of events that does not unfold according to plan, an educational process, a fight, a beating, failure, and even a breakdown or death.
Some particularly ardent linguists attribute the origin of this word to Sanskrit. However, this theory does not stand up to even the most humane criticism. The most convincing theory, researchers believe, is the origin of Proto-Indo-European languages. There, according to scientists, the words with the same root as the second most popular word in Russian language meant “saddle”, “what they sit on”, “garden” and “nest”. It is also worth noting that this word can have both a strictly negative and positive connotation.

About sexual intercourse and not only about it

The word that today in obscene vocabulary denotes sexual intercourse comes from the Proto-Indo-European language (jebh-/oibh- or *ojebh) and in its pure form means “to perform a sexual act.” In the Russian language, this word has given rise to a huge number of very popular idioms. One of the most popular is the phrase “fuck your mother.” Linguists claim that the ancient Slavs used this expression in the context of “Yes, I am fit to be your father!” Other expressions with this verb are also known today, meaning to mislead, express indifference, or make claims.

Devaluation of the mat

To be fair, it is worth noting that many Russian writers were distinguished by their ability to insert a “strong word” into their speech. There was swearing even in some poems. Of course, we are not talking about fairy tales or love lyrics, but about friendly epigrams and satirical works. And it is worth noting that the great Pushkin masters swear words organically and skillfully:

Be quiet, godfather; and you, like me, are sinners,
And you will offend everyone with words;
You see a straw in someone else's pussy,
And you don’t even see a log!
(“From the All-Night Vigil...”)

The trouble with the modern Russian language is that today, due to various circumstances, there is a devaluation of obscenities. It is used so widely that the expression of expressions and the very essence of swearing are lost. As a result, this impoverishes the Russian language and, oddly enough, the culture of speech. The words spoken by another famous poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky, are suitable for today’s situation.

In 2013, March 19 State Duma The Russian Federation adopted a bill banning obscene language in the media. Those media outlets that still risk using this or that “strong” word will have to pay a fine of about 200 thousand rubles. It is noteworthy that deputies from the faction “ United Russia", who commented on their actions as a desire to protect the country's population from the immoral information environment. However, most Russians believe that fighting with swearing is useless. Neither campaigning nor fines will help with this. The main thing is internal culture and education.

The opinion has taken root in the popular consciousness that swear words are of Turkic origin and penetrated into the Russian language during the dark times of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. Many even claim that before the Tatars came to Rus', Russians did not swear at all, and when swearing, they called each other only dogs, goats and sheep. Is this really so, we will try to figure it out.

Three letter word.

The most important swear word in the Russian language is rightfully considered to be the same three-letter word that is found on the walls and fences of the entire civilized world. When did this three-letter word appear? Isn’t it in Tatar-Mongol times? To answer this question, let's compare this word with its Turkic counterparts. In those same Tatar-Mongolian languages, this object is denoted by the word “kutah”. Many people have a surname derived from this word and do not consider it in the least dissonant. One of these carriers was even the commander-in-chief of the Air Force, the famous ace of the Second World War, twice Hero Soviet Union, Air Chief Marshal Pavel Stepanovich Kutakhov. During the war, he made 367 combat missions, conducted 63 air battles, in which he personally shot down 14 enemy aircraft and 24 in a group. Did this native of the village of Malokirsanovka, Matveevo-Kurgan district, know Rostov region, what is the translation of his surname, which he immortalized with his heroism?

The most reliable version seems to be that the three-letter word itself arose as a euphemism to replace the taboo root pes-. It corresponds to the Sanskrit पसस्, the ancient Greek πέος (peos), the Latin penis and the Old English fæsl, as well as the Russian words “púsat” and “dog”. This word came from the verb peseti, which denoted the primary function of this organ - to emit urine. According to this version, the three-letter word is a sound imitation of the sound of the pipe, which the god of sex and fertility had with him and which looked like a penis.
What was the name of the reproductive organ in ancient times? Before late XVIII For centuries it has been designated by the word “ud”, from which, by the way, comes a quite decent and censored fishing rod. However, this two-letter word already served as a literary analogue of the well-known three-letter word, which has long been replaced by various euphemisms (from the Greek ευφήμη - “prudence”).

The word "dick"

One of such euphemisms is, for example, the word “dick”. Most literate people know that this was the name of the 23rd letter of the Cyrillic alphabet, which turned into the letter “ha” after the revolution. To those who know this, it seems obvious that the word "dick" is a euphemistic replacement, arising from the fact that the word being replaced begins with that letter. However, in reality it is not so simple. The fact is that those who think so do not ask the question, why, in fact, is the letter “X” called dick? After all, all the letters of the Cyrillic alphabet are named by Slavic words, the meaning of most of which is clear to the modern Russian-speaking public without translation. What did this word mean before it became a letter? In the Indo-European base language, which was spoken by the distant ancestors of the Slavs, Balts, Germans and others European peoples, this word meant a goat. This word is related to the Armenian որոճ, Lithuanian ėriukas, and Latvian. jērs, Old Prussian еristian and Latin hircus. In modern Russian, the word “harya” remains a related word. Until recently, this word was used to describe goat masks used by mummers during carols. The similarity of this letter to a goat was obvious to the Slavs in the 9th century. The top two sticks are his horns, and the bottom two are his legs. Then, in prehistoric times, the goat symbolized fertility, and the god of fertility was depicted as a two-legged goat. The attribute of this god was an object that bore the same name in the Proto-European language as in the modern Russian swear word. However, this object was not what was later designated by the word "ud". Judging by the surviving images, it was a wind instrument like a primitive pipe. The now well-known word arose as a designation for the sound made by this pipe. However, this onomatopoeia was also initially applied to the penis as a euphemism. But here the question immediately arises, what was it called before? In the base Indo-European language this part of the body was called paesus. It corresponds to Sanskrit पसस्, Ancient Greek πέος (peos), Latin penis and Old English fæsl. This word came from the verb peseti, which denoted the primary function of this organ - to emit urine. The word “fart” is also of Indo-European origin. It comes from the ancient Indo-European root perd-. In Sanskrit it corresponds to the word पर्दते (párdate), in ancient Greek - πέρδομαι (perdomai), and in Old English, in which all the ancient Indo-European “p”s were replaced by “f”, it corresponds to the verb feortan, which in modern English turned into the verb to fart. Here we need to remind our readers that the ending –an in Old English meant the same thing as the particle –т in modern Russian or the particle to in modern English. She denoted the infinitive, that is, the indefinite form of the verb. And if you remove it from the word feortan, and replace “f” with the common Indo-European “p”, then you get “fart” again.
Recently, opponents of the reviving Rodnoverie, in order to discredit it, have launched the thesis that the god Perun is nothing more than a fart. In fact, the word “Perun” comes from the word “percus”, which meant oak - that very symbolic world tree, the roots of which go to the Underworld, and the branches, performing a load-bearing function, support the vault of heaven.

Word for female vagina

The word for the female vagina is also of absolutely Indo-European origin. It also has nothing to do with its Turkic name “am”. True, from modern languages this word is preserved only in Latvian and Lithuanian, but the Greek word pωσικά is slightly similar to it. But the modern one English word cunt is of later origin. It first appears in the name of the London street Gropecuntelane, on which brothels have been located since 1230. The name of this street literally translates from Old English as Vaginal Row. After all, we have Karetny and Okhotny rows in Moscow. So why shouldn't there be a Vaginal in London? This street was located between Aldermanbury and Coleman Street, and now the Swiss Bank stands in its place. Oxford linguists believe that this word comes from the ancient Germanic verb kuntan, meaning to clean, but Cambridge professors, arguing with Oxford ones, argue that the word cunt comes from the Latin cunnus, meaning sheath. Until recently, in British English there was also the term cunning, which meant both beating of the thumbs and sexual intercourse. However, in the post-war period, this word was supplanted by the American faq.

The word "fucking"