Who washes the bones of writers? “Wash the bones”: the meaning of phraseology. What does it mean to “wash the bones”. Mentions in literary texts

Where did the expression “to wash the bones” (gossip) come from? and got the best answer

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The modern form of the phraseological fusion to wash the bones, synonymous with the verbs to gossip, slander, gossip (about someone), has replaced the older one to wash the bones, known back in the 19th century. It was this old form that was the basis for the formation of the word bone “to scold.”
The phrase "wash the bones" as sustainable combination words was born on the basis of a variable phrase associated with the existence in ancient times among the Slavs of the ritual of the so-called secondary burial, which was carried out several years after the funeral of the deceased to cleanse him of sins and remove the spell from him. Before the secondary burial, the excavated remains (i.e., bones) were washed, which, naturally, was accompanied by memories of the deceased, an assessment of his character, actions and deeds. This was the reason for the figurative and metaphorical rethinking of the words to wash bones, which originally had the most direct, literal meaning.
The expressions “to bone” and “to wash the bones” have the meaning of “gossip, slander, gossip about someone; scold, vilify, especially behind the scenes.” Their origin is connected with the ritual of secondary burial of the dead that existed among the ancient Slavs: A few years after the funeral, the bones of the deceased were removed from the ground and carefully washed so that the soul of the deceased was cleansed of sins. The Slavs also believed that the ritual of washing cleanses a person from various kinds of spells. Washing the remains was accompanied by memories of the deceased, an assessment of his character, the actions he committed during his lifetime, etc. Nowadays, the expression “washing the bones” has a negative connotation and implies slander, although in ancient times it was considered to speak badly about the deceased during the ritual blasphemy. But the etymology of the word “bone” is still not clear: this verb could come not only from the noun “bone”, but also from the words “blasphemous”, “dirty”, etc.

WASH THE BONES

The etymological and cultural-historical roots of many expressions of the Russian literary language go back to deep, pre-literate antiquity. Restore the complete semantic history of these expressions at all stages of their oral, folk and literary usage It turns out to be far from always possible. Very often one has to be content with only more or less plausible guesses. The degree of reliability of these hypotheses depends on the morphological and semantic quality of the corresponding material, which is extracted - on the basis of comparative historical study - not only from Russian, but also from other related languages. Sometimes this material reflects very clearly different stages understanding the same word or expression. But often in the existing linguistic tradition the traces of the ancient, original understanding of a linguistic fact are almost completely erased. Only data from material and spiritual culture in connection with those semantic hints contained in the semantic structure of an expression help to reconstruct its “prehistory”. Example - the fate of an expression wash the bones -"gossip, gossip." Along with this form, but extremely rarely, there is another, seemingly less expressive - wash the bones. Thus, in N.V. Pomyalovsky’s essays “Porechane”: “... finally, Porechanki, due to the general weakness of women - wash bones neighbor, they loved to chat in Krutogorsk during the hike” (1965, 2, p. 276).

Expression wash the bones was not registered in explanatory dictionaries of the Russian literary language up to and including Dahl’s dictionary. Meanwhile, it has been noted in the language of Russian realistic artistic and narrative literature since the middle of the 19th century. One might think that around this time it came into Russian literary language from popular speech. Thus, in Saltykov-Shchedrin’s “Provincial Sketches”: “... Marya Ivanovna is not averse to gossip sometimes, or, as they say in Krutogorsk, wash neighbor bones"(1965, 2, Essay 2). “... Anfisa Ivanovna... is absolutely sure that I am currently white-hot I'm washing up with you bones our neighbors..." (2, Essay 7). In Melnikov-Pechersky’s novel “On the Mountains” (1963): “...To everyone washed the bones, everyone got a lot of money - it’s a well-known fact that you can’t escape from gossip, falsehoods, and gossip either on foot or on horseback” Part 4, Ch. 6). In his “Grandmother’s Tales”: “Already washed Well they are for her bones: what kind of gossip they didn’t invent... so that somehow her honor and good name could be discredited...” (chapter 2). At Gl. Uspensky in the essays “From a Village Diary”: “When we, thus (calling someone either a fool or a scoundrel) washed up to all our friends bones... the conversation was silent for a minute.” In Stanyukovich’s story “Vasily Ivanovich”: “ ...washed the bones to the admiral..." In Chekhov’s story “From the Notes of a Hot-tempered Man”: “...One of the girls gets up and leaves. The rest begin wash the bones gone. Everyone finds her stupid, obnoxious, ugly...” In Boborykin’s story “At the Stove”: “They, at tea, washed to her bones; more, however, Ustinya, and Epifan at first only grinned at her poisonous antics...” (chapter 7).

Thus, in the Russian literary language of the second half of the 19th century. three variants of this expression were used, or rather three verbs with different prefixes, derived from wash, as part of this expression: wash out (wash out)(to someone) bones(a particularly common formula), rinse (rinse)(to someone) bones And wash(to someone) bones. Chekhov has another similar expression: sort out the bones, clearly of secondary origin. So, in the story “Zinochka”: “After there were the bones have been sorted out all the ladies I knew and a hundred jokes were told...”

The academic dictionary indicates another synonym - shake bones(someone's) (“about gossip”). But not a single example of the use of this expression in the Russian language literature of the 19th century and XX centuries are not given. Under the word bone marked expressions: moo, shake, flutter your(old) bones And shake the bones(about laughter, laughter; with illustrations from Derzhavin’s works) (words by Grot–Shakhmatov, vol. 4, issue 8, pp. 2400 and 2421). It is difficult to doubt that the expression shake bones(someone's) was not very relevant in speech activity and was not included in the phraseological fund of the Russian literary language. An even later and almost purely literary education, which arose under the influence of the expression wash out(to someone) bones or sort through(to someone) bones, is the phrase pick apart, which apparently meant not only “discuss in detail, subject to comprehensive analysis, critical evaluation,” but also “condemn, criticize in every possible way.” Thus, in Grigorovich’s “Country Roads”: “The exact same incident occurred in the venerable house of the most venerable Aristarkh Fedorovich. When dismantled to pieces Bobokhov and nothing new was found, a complete calm set in” (Part 1, Chapter 4). In Karatygin’s “Notes”: “Both of them did not skimp here on ridicule and dismantled to pieces newbie..." (chapter 9).

The phraseological unity should be compared with this expression take it apart thread by thread. For example, in Goncharov’s critical sketch “A Million Torments”: “...she [Sophia] did not realize the blindness of her feelings for Molchalin, and even, dismantling the latter, in the scene with Chatsky, by thread, I didn’t see it on my own.” One might think that an independent individual formation, not related to this phraseological sphere and far from expressions take apart piece by piece, piece by thread, is the expression knead in “Crime and Punishment” by F. M. Dostoevsky: “Day and night must have proven to him: “You are a murderer, you are a murderer...” - well, and now, as he has already confessed, you are him again knead the bones you start: “You’re lying, they say, you’re not the murderer!” You couldn’t be him!’” (Part 4, Chapter 6). There is no doubt that from this series of phraseological unities, the expression especially stands out both in frequency of use and proximity to the general literary norm wash the bones(to someone). On its basis, obviously, arose and were used in individual styles phrases rinse the seeds And wash the bones.

To explain the origin and semantic development of the expression wash the bones(someone's and someone's) it is necessary to dwell on the use and meaning of its constituent lexical parts. First of all, it is striking that the verb wash - wash(as well as wash and other derivatives from it) in another connection is not used to figuratively represent the meaning of “gossip, gossip, gossip” (cf. the absence of phraseological units like wash or wash out(someone's) skin, joints or joints etc.). But cf. count the bones And count the ribs in the meaning of “beat”; So, in Grigorovich’s “Migrants”: “And they... just turn up, we’ll show him everything Let's count the dice"(Part 4, Chapter 5). It follows that either modern meaning expressions wash the bones arose through a figurative rethinking of an integral real term (or everyday name of an action) - wash out(or wash) bones - in its direct nominative application, or in phraseological unity wash the bones the role of the central core image belongs to the word bones.

Word bones and him endearment form bones in Russian folk and literary languages they are used - in application to a person - in addition to their direct nominative meaning, mainly to designate a corpse, the ashes of the deceased. True, in a certain, limited range of phraseological units, the word bone also applies to the physical being of a living human person. Yes, in a collective sense bone in singular forms figuratively characterizes a person’s physique. For example, " bone folded and good-looking" (Novikov: "The Adventures of Ivan the Terrible Son"), cf. in Nekrasov's song:

Marya wide boned,

Tall, stately, smooth!

(Matchmaker and groom, stanza 2)

See also popular expression by the bone(by figure, by waist) fits well;for example, in “Afanasyev’s Tales”: “I want your dresses off the bone"(Examples from Novikov's story and Afanasyev's fairy tale are taken from the words of Grot-Shakhmatov, vol. 4, issue 8). Somewhat punning and ambiguous - with a bias towards a different meaning of the word bone -“social origin” - this expression was used by N. S. Leskov in the novel “On Knives”: “... and slightly boasted of her new acquaintances in the social circle, which he had previously run away from, but which was still more important to him by the bone and in liking than the one from where he delighted his wife...” Affectionate diminutive form bones is not associated with this value except the expression by the bone(gets dressed) (words by Grota–Shakhmatov, vol. 4, issue 8). This meaning is also associated with another figurative use of the word bone in a closed phraseological chain of expressions: white bone; military bone; noble, high, noble, princely etc. bone; master's, soldier's, Russian bone and some others. In this case bone denotes social origin, the social nature of a person, and then one person or collectively the entire corresponding social circle - from the point of view of his origin, his class, professional, and generally social group qualities (cf. the Mongolian division of the people into “bones”, i.e. . for childbirth) (ibid.). And in this case the word bone used only in singular forms. For example, in Dahl’s “Proverbs of the Russian People”: “ Russian bone loves warmly” (1862, p. 1019). The diminutive form was also used in the same meaning bone, but also only in the singular. For example, military bone(cf. Derzhavin in the comic opera “The Fool is Smarter than the Clever”: craftsman bone, soldier bone, white noble bone etc. (see the words of Grot–Shakhmatov, vol. 4, issue 8). See Turgenev’s prose poem “Sphinx”: “Bah! Yes, I recognize these features... Yes, it’s you, Karp, Sidor, Semyon, Yaroslavl, Ryazan peasant, my compatriot, Russian bone! Obviously, this is also an application of the word bone does not clarify anything in the semantic structure of the expression wash the bones.

Beyond these two meanings, the word bone is part of many figurative, proverbial expressions that characterize or depict different states, experiences and actions of a person. In all these turns, the figurative meaning of phraseological unity grows on the basis of the basic, direct meaning of the word bone. For example, drag your bones -“it is difficult to walk due to decrepitude, frailty”; pick your old bones; you can't collect bones, you can't find them!: “threat to beat or kill”; to the bones get wet, get cold, freeze, get cold; to the core to be spoiled, etc.; just bones, skin and bones“about a very thin or thin person.” It is curious that the diminutive form bones can only be stated in expressions pick your old bones And just bones.

Wed. in Benediktov’s poem “Next Thought”:

And a new woman is following me, -

In whiteness she appears

And dry, dry - just bones.

Wed. also in Koltsov’s poem “Night”:

By bones mine

The frost has passed...

Marlinsky: “...the cold crawled like a snake to the bones..."(1981, 1, p. 274). See Chekhov’s story “In the Ravine” “(in Lipa’s speech): “They (Anisim) didn’t offend me at all, but as soon as they came close to me, I felt a chill all over me, all over the bones» . The only parallel to the expression wash out(to someone) bones could serve as a phrase found in Saltykov-Shchedrin take a steam bath(to anyone) bones in meaning “flog”, “flog with rods, whips.” In “Poshekhon Antiquity” (chapter 8): “Look at the meat! Here I am for you I'll steam the bones...» . But this analogy, in essence, does not explain anything - not in the very process of formation of phraseological unity - wash the bones, nor in its “internal form” (cf. Gogol in “The Night Before Christmas”: “... the poor devil began to run, like a man who had just evaporated assessor".

Thus, it remains to assume that the expression wash the bones was originally associated with that meaning bones (bones), which referred to the remains of the dead. This meaning is very ancient (cf. lie down with your bones, lay down your bones; Wed use of form bones in the language of “Russian Pravda”, in “The Tale of Bygone Years”, etc. (see Sreznevsky, 1, pp. 1297–1298). Wed. from Karamzin (“Sensitive and Cold”): “Erast returned to his fatherland so as not to leave bones our own in a foreign land." In Gogol’s story “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala”: “... the Cossack rains will wash away bones and the whirlwind will dry them up." But if you go further along this path, then you should look for the custom of washing the bones of the deceased, having found it, you need to determine its semantic essence, its cultural and everyday foundations, and from here deduce the further semantic history of the expression wash the bones. In “History of the Russian Church” academician. E. E. Golubinsky describes the custom of the Greek church regarding the storage of the remains of the dead: “We bury the dead in the ground and leave them in it forever. In Greece, it’s not like that: first they bury the dead in the ground, and then after three years or another certain, slightly shorter, slightly longer period, their bones are dug out of the ground and placed in a special room - the kimitirium ( κοιμητήριον ) or tomb. The digging up and placement of bones in the kimithiria constitutes a special rite, which serves as a continuation or completion of the funeral: a priest is called and while he sings a small requiem, the bones are removed from the ground; having been taken out, they are washed with water and wine, put into a small box and brought into the church, where the funeral liturgy and great requiem are sung over them; after that they are taken to the kimitirium. This last one is special house or a house or barn at a church, in which there is, firstly, a large pit (in the middle) or a large chest for pouring the bones of poor people, and secondly, scales with boxes or shelves for the bones of rich people who want to store them specially (on inscriptions are made on turtles, who they belonged to and when their owners died).

When the custom became more or less a general custom among the Greeks, we cannot say; but on Athos it appeared or began sometime before the second half of the 11th century... If, after three years, they tore up the grave and found the body not decomposed and inflated ( τυμπανατος ), then this was considered a sign that the person died without permission from the oath: a bishop or priest was called for permission, and the body was again buried in the ground for a while.

In our country, this custom of tearing out the remains of the dead from their graves was accepted for a more or less long time in the Pechersk Monastery, for which there was also a practical incentive due to the limited nature of its cemeteries, located in its caves. But for it to spread in any way at all in Russia, we have absolutely no indication of this” (Golubinsky, 1, pp. 454–455). However, the expression wash the bones(someone's or someone's) serves as evidence of a wider application and spread of this custom than Acad. Golubinsky.

The second burial place (“dvostruko sahraivaje”) existed in Serbia until recently. T. Smilanih-Bradina says that in Southern Serbia the custom of digging up the remains of relatives is maintained, usually three or seven years after the funeral. The preserved bones are removed from the coffin and washed, washed with fresh water, and then with wine and - according to a special ritual - buried again. The water with which the bones are washed is considered healing. Associated with this digging is a peculiar belief that if the body of a dead man has not decayed, then this is a sign of a grave unredeemed sinner.

Edmund Šneevajs, in his work on the rituals and customs associated with ("Glavni elementi samrtnih običa kod Srba i Hrvat"), also dwells on the second burial ("drugo sohraivaje") among the Serbs and Croats. Among the Croats, the excavation of the remains of the dead occurs 18 years after the first burial. It is noted that the found bones are washed with water and poured over with wine, then wrapped in white linen and buried (sometimes together with the new deceased). E. Shneevajs points out the connection of this custom with the belief in vampires. “When a dead man is found undecayed, they believe that he was a great sinner or that a spell lies on him” (“Let the earth not eat you” - “Yes, those earths will not go away”). “They have long believed and still believe that such undecayed dead are vampires.” All these facts indicate that the expression wash bones originally had a direct real meaning. It belonged to the rite of “second burial”. Superstitious and mythological ideas about ghouls, vampires, werewolves, ghouls (wolf-laks, wolf-laks, vurkolaks) emerging from graves and sucking human blood. Wash the bones meant indirectly: “to make sure that the deceased is not under a spell, that he is not werewolf, Not ghoul, not an unrepentant sinner, to discuss and thereby establish the true properties and qualities of a person.”

As already mentioned, the Serbs maintained the custom of digging up a grave and making sure that the deceased was not ghoul, wash its bones and bury it again. Thus, in order to remove the suspicion of werewolf from the deceased, that he, like ghoul, sucks human blood and destroys living people, it was considered necessary to examine the remains of the deceased and wash the bones of someone from whom nothing else remained. Ghoul drove himself into the grave aspen stake. The behavior of a ghoul is depicted by Pushkin in “Songs of the Western Slavs”. So, in the 6th song “Marko Yakubovich”:

A week goes by, then another,

Mark’s son began to lose weight;

He stopped running and frolicking,

Everyone lay on the matting and groaned.

The kaluer comes to Yakubovich, -

He looked at the child and said:

“Your son is sick with a dangerous disease;

Look at his white neck:

Do you see the bloody wound?

This is a tooth ghoul, trust me".

The whole village is behind Elder Kaluer

I immediately went to the cemetery;

There the grave of a passer-by was dug up,

They see the corpse is ruddy and fresh,

Nails grew like crow's claws

And his face is overgrown with a beard,

Lips smeared with scarlet blood,

The deep grave is full of blood.

Poor Marco swung his stake,

But the dead man screamed and quickly

He ran from the grave into the forest.

He ran faster than a horse

Sharp stirrups hurt;

And the bushes bent under him,

And the tree branches were cracking,

Breaking like frozen rods.

belief about ghoul, ghoul is also reflected in the 13th song of the “Western Slavs” “Vurdalak” (“Poor Vanya was a coward”): Vanya, returning home through the cemetery, hears that someone is gnawing on a bone:

Vanya became; – can’t step.

God! the poor man thinks

It's true, it's eating my bones

Red-lipped ghoul.

Woe! I'm small and not strong;

Will eat ghoul me completely

If the earth itself is grave

I won’t eat with prayer.

See also V.I. Dahl’s story “The Ghoul”. Ukrainian legend. (Dal 1898, 7, pp. 16–30).

According to the superstitious beliefs of many peoples, dead vampires have blooming species and do not decompose, since they rise from their graves at night and suck blood from sleeping people, causing them severe illness and death. Get rid of ghoul possible, by popular belief, if you dig up his corpse and pierce it with an aspen stake or burn it. Medicine for a bite ghoul the soil taken from his grave serves.” In general, aspen stakes, according to legend, were a well-known preventive measure against the dead who brought misfortune. E. Vsevolozhskaya talks about the life of Samara peasants at the end of the last century: “When a drought sets in and a drunkard was recently buried in a common cemetery, he is considered the cause of the lack of rain, and the whole society, with the headman and other authorities at the head, secretly tear out the coffin at night and take it out the deceased is thrown into a pond, into the water, or buried in a neighboring property, and an aspen stake is driven into his back so that he does not leave.” Sometimes aspen stakes were driven into the ground around the grave. Thus, in the Simbirsk province, the coffin is drunk, “in disgust of the upcoming misfortunes, they do not let it go... into the grave, but throw it there, sticking aspen stakes around the coffin” (Zelenin, issue 1, p. 66). E.I. Stogov in his “Notes” paints such a picture of Russian life in early XIX in.: “In Mozhaisk, behind the Moscow outpost, by left side high road, there was a cemetery for sorcerers, who were buried in no other way than by driving a large aspen stake into the back of the deceased. They were very afraid of this cemetery at night” (Russian Starina, 1903, No. 1, p. 134).

Of the words associated with ideas about the bones and preserved body of the deceased, about the spirits of the dead, only werewolf And ghoul. Ghoul And vampire - borrowed. Name ghoul is a book modification of the word werewolf – wolfclaw, vurkolak(cf. werewolf – Ukrainian, Belarusian, regional Russian; Wed Slovenian volkodlák, vulkodlak; Serbian vukodlak; Polish wilkołak; Wed Bulgarian vrkolak. The word is werewolf formed from addition wolf (vьlk) And (d)varnish –“hair color”, “wool” (cf. Serbo-Croatian. dläka –“hair”, “wool”, Slovenian. dláka –"wool"). "Thus, wolfhound means “wolf fur, wolf skin inside out” (see Preobrazhensky, 1, issue 1, p. 91; Berneker. Вd. 1, S. 208), “a werewolf in wolf skin.” In Russian book language the word wolfhound (werewolf) came from the south Slavic languages(cf. Church Slav. vlkodlak) (cf. Vostokov, sl. ts.-sl. lang., 1, p. 44). Word dlaka–“wool, hair” - also found only in South Slavic languages (cf. in Russian - Tserkovoslav. dlaka – city, color). Borrowed from Slavic languages by Greek βουλκόλακας – vampire (cf. Vasmer, Greco-Slavic studies, I // Izv. ORYAS, 1906, vol. 11, book 2, p. 403), from Greek the Bulgarian was again borrowed. vrkolak, frkolak(cf. Church Slav. vourkolak). Form ghoul strengthened in the language of Russian fiction in the 20s and 30s years XIX V.

Word vampire - branch of the word ghoul. It was formed on Serbian-Bulgarian soil and from here in the 17th–18th centuries. penetrates Western European languages. During the period of enthusiasm for romantic literature at the beginning of the 19th century. it also passed into the Russian literary language (in zoology to designate a breed of bat Vampyrus –“vampire” was also used at the end of the 18th century). Academician A. I. Sobolevsky, pointing out the widespread use of the word ghoul in the Old Russian language, writes: “Modern Russian dialects know only the word ghoul, with the meaning: a dead man rising from the grave and drinking the blood of living people; Moreover, Little Russian dialects have a word ghoul, with the same meaning. IN Polish language Russian ghoul corresponds not only upir, but also upior; in Czech – upir: in Bulgarian – vampire, vampire Judging by the data of the Bulgarian language, Polish words were borrowed by the Poles from the Russians (meaning the absence of a nasal sound, which is preserved in the original Polish words. – V.V.). The Germans have their say Wampir with approximately the same value. It is difficult to doubt its Slavic origin. Apparently, the Germans got it from the Polish or Polabian language, where it sounded with a nasal vowel. End yr modern Great Russian word was influenced by words on yr, just like in monastery, psalter. The original form of the word is " feast; the original meaning is “a spirit that sucks the blood of sleeping people at night.” Ivan the Terrible used the word upir as if cursed. In his message to the abbot of the Kirillov Belozersky Monastery, he called let's put our foot down Khabarova. For the purple complexion? . Thus, A.I. Sobolevsky considers the word ghoul (" feast) common Slavic. He proves the continuity of its use in Russian folk dialects. Western European vampire, according to Sobolevsky, is a borrowing (through German mediation) from the Polish or Polabian language.

In the “Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française” (O. Bloch, 2, p. 357) it is noted that the word vampire (vatrire) in French, where it came from German, dates back to the first third of the 18th century. ( Vampirisme – 1732). In Voltaire it is already used in a figurative, figurative sense. At the same time, “Dictionnaire étymologique” Osc. Bloch notes that in the Dictionnaire de Trevoux (1704, 1721, et suiv.) there is the form oupire, upire, coming from Russian, Polish or Czech language, and what is dumb. Vampire contacts Serbian. vampire. In the 18th century topic vampire And vampirism was extremely popular. Buffon named the bat roussette – vespertiliovampyrus or wampire. These facts undermine the etymology of Acad. Sobolevsky.

Preobrazhensky, following Miklosic, counts the word ghoul borrowed from northern Turkic. uber (ubyr) –"witch". But how from go crazy, go crazy(cf. Ukrainian whore, Polish upior) it worked vampire(cf. Bulgarian vampire, vampire himself“I am a ghost”; Serbian vampire), remains unclear. A. S. Preobrazhensky only reproduces the opinion of Miklosic (1886, pp. 374–375), that in Serbian and Russian the word ghoul, vampire merged into one concept with volkodlak, vukodlak, and indicates that the word is “used. in Europe languages: fr. vampire(mot venu d"Allemagne, mais à ce qu"on dit d"origine Serbe. Shel. EF. 455) etc. uatriro German vâmpyr or vampire... Russian “vampire” is a new borrowing from Western Europe. – fr. or dumb." (1, p. 64). Thus, neither the formation of the word vampire, nor the ways of its spread in Western European languages are explained here. The etymology of the word itself ghoul and the connection with words vampire remain unclear. All these circumstances prompted prof. A. Vayana dedicate to the word ghoul, vampire special article. A. Vaillant counts the word vampire modification of the Slavic word iriri“ghoul”, which arose on Serbian soil in the 16th–17th centuries. (cf. in the Bulgarian language Serbism vpir, vepir). In the Serbian language, the insertion of a nasal sound also occurred. From Serbian language form vampire passed into Bulgarian, Greek, and then in the 17th–18th centuries. into European languages. According to A. Vaillant, * iriri – a root Slavic word that includes the root *per- (cf. parity). Initially upir meant a dead man who runs away, disappears from his grave, a ghost, a ghost. The image of a werewolf sucking human blood, especially tightly, almost inseparably connected with the word vampire under the influence of romanticism. In popular Slavic beliefs, the meaning ghoul wider. This is generally a wandering, mocking, joking with people and harming them dead man, a ghost (drinking human blood was only one of many activities ghoul) .

Whatever the etymology of the word ghoul there is no doubt that the word vampire arose from it, and at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. was also included in the Russian language. So complex and diverse is the circle of words and ideas associated with the expression wash bones (bones). One must think that in the popular language the expression wash the bones(to someone) (cf. also pick apart) also received a figurative meaning: “to analyze in detail all the properties and shortcomings of someone”; “to gossip about someone”, “to gossip.” Diminutive form bones gave special poignancy to this metaphor.

Published in “Reports and communications of the Institute of Linguistics of the USSR Academy of Sciences” (1954, No. 6) along with the articles “History of the Word dupe" and "History of the word horizon"under the general title "From the history of Russian vocabulary and phraseology." Much space in the article is given to the description of superstitious and mythological ideas about ghouls, vampires, werewolves, which is a separate independent study.

The archive preserves the manuscript - 29 sheets of different formats. The manuscript was written at different times. The sheets are written in different inks and pencils and have inserts and additions.

Here it is printed according to the impression, verified with the manuscript, with the necessary clarifications made. – IN. P.

They make our speech more interesting. Any, even the most ordinary conversation can become a magnificent example of the richness of our language. We’ll talk about one of the popular phraseological units today in our article.

How often do we get together to wash the bones of mutual friends? Such topics are considered bad form. But at least we're doing it casually. Briefly, the meaning of a phraseological unit can be conveyed as “discussion behind a person’s back.” Without going into the moral side of the process now, let's consider the expression from a philological point of view.

Modern meaning of the expression

Since the phraseological unit has an indirect meaning, at least at the current stage of its use, that is what interests us.

Thus, the main meanings of “washing the bones” on modern stage- "discussion behind one's back, gossip." An extremely negative expression is “to slander.” In general, it is always either to discuss a person’s character traits without his presence, or his specific actions.

We also note that in general the modern meaning has a negative emotional connotation. Sometimes there are exceptions when discussing a person behind his back happens on the positive side.

Origin of phraseology

Like many others, “washing the bones” has its own very interesting origin story. Let's start with the fact that this combination in itself sounds very ominous. So where did this expression come from?

The history of phraseological units begins in ancient times, the sphere of education is Orthodox Greek ritual culture, which has passed to some extent into Slavic culture. The expression is associated with the following eerie burial ritual.

So, according to ancient traditions, there was a secondary burial. This ritual involved taking the bones of a deceased person from the grave, washing them with water and wine, and then putting them back into the grave. Hence we have the direct meaning of the expression “to wash the bones.” Phraseologism, which now exists with a specific meaning, came into use through its direct meaning.

The question remains open about the purpose for which that ritual was carried out. Open sources give this explanation.

The bones were washed to ensure that the body was not cursed. The damned dead come out of their graves at night (vampires, ghouls, ghouls) and destroy people, taking their blood to the last drop. Such bodies lie in graves undecayed, only swollen and darkened.

Mentions of the expression in written sources

Researchers of oral folk art did not divert attention from phraseological units and did not miss the opportunity to record them in their works. However, the expression “wash the bones” (the meaning of the phraseological unit and its origin) was not mentioned in scientific literature right up to the dictionary created by Dahl.

But already in Dahl’s work both an interpretation of the expression and a historical reference to its origin are given.

Mentions in literary texts

Although the topic of our discussion began to arise quite late in scientific research, the art of words was one step ahead. IN fiction the texts contain this expression, and it occurs quite often.

In works of Russian literature starting from the 19th century, we meet it in various contexts. Based on this, researchers suggest that it was during that period that phraseological units entered the literary layer of the Russian language from colloquial speech.

Among the writers whose works this expression is noted are Saltykov-Shchedrin (his “Provincial Sketches”), Melnikov-Pechersky with his novel “On the Mountains”, “Grandmother’s Stories”. Chekhov also decorated his stories with folk expressions (for example, “From the Notes of a Hot-tempered Man”).

Expression options

Phraseological units, like words of a language, have their own synonyms and are used in various forms. The latter may be varying degrees similar to “washing the bones”. We discussed the meaning of phraseological units at the present stage above; everything happened historically in the same way.

Thus, in written sources of the literary Russian language of the 19th century there are three variants, slightly different morphological form. The meaning remains the same, but the verbs have different prefixes. The original word is the infinitive verb "to wash". With prefixes it forms the following variants: “to rewash” (in fact, we consider it in our article as the most common), “to wash” (it was much less common, today you won’t hear it at all), “to wash” (today it is also unlikely you will hear).

In one of Chekhov's works (the story "Zinochka") we observe another form, similar to "wash the bones", but derived from another root: "sort out". It is considered secondary, most likely a purely author’s decision on a par with the author’s neologisms.

Synonyms of expression

There are not so many synonyms for the phraseological unit “to wash the bones”, modern ones and those that are found only in fiction and scientific literature. Interesting fact: The academic dictionary lists the expression “to shake the bones” (meaning “to gossip”) as synonymous, however, according to available data, literary texts of the 19th and 20th centuries do not contain such a form.

Another, more understandable example with synonyms of the phraseological unit in question, based on the expression “take apart to the bones.” It is almost purely literary, because there is no information about what was used in this form in popular speech. This phrase arose clearly under the influence of “to wash (sort out) the bones.” The meanings converge in some cases or are close in others: “to discuss something or someone in detail”, “to subject to detailed analysis, criticism”, also “to condemn, criticize”.

In the famous “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky, an excellent form of expression is also used: “knead the bones,” which means “to wash the bones.” The essence is the same, only the imagery is partially changed.

On a par with the phraseological unit “to wash the bones” is placed another – “to take apart the threads”. Their meaning is the same, but the imagery is different.

Conclusions

So, in our article we tried to comprehensively and as interestingly cover what it means to “wash the bones.” The main thing we were going to extract from the discussion was its meaning: “to discuss, gossip about a person in his absence.”

Historical development of meaning given expression many stages have passed. Initially it was literal and reflected a ritual action, then it moved on to an analysis of a person’s character. Today we have a familiar context and meaning, which we put into it on an intuitive level.

WASH THE BONES to whom. WASH THE BONES to whom. Razg. Express Gossiping, gossiping for a long time and with ecstasy, slandering someone. - When we, thus, washed the bones of all our friends, when we talked about all the village affairs and trifles, the conversation fell silent for a minute(Ch. Uspensky. From a village diary). - Initially, the expression had a direct meaning - to wash or wash the bones, bones (remains) of the dead - and was associated with the ritual of the so-called second burial, which existed in the distant past among some peoples. According to the superstitious beliefs of some Slavic peoples, every unrepentant sinner, if a spell weighs on him, after death usually comes out of the grave in the form of a ghoul, vampire, werewolf, ghoul and destroys people by sucking their blood. This continues supposedly until this spell is lifted from the deceased, until the remains of the deceased are dug up several years after burial, and the remaining bones are washed clean water or wine and buried again. The ritual itself gradually began to be associated with analysis and assessment of various aspects of the character of the deceased person and his actions during life. This is where the rethinking of the expression itself comes from. Lit.: Vinogradov V.V. From the history of Russian vocabulary and phraseology // Dokl. and message Institute of Linguistics. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. - 1954. - Issue. 6. - P. 3.

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WASH THE BONES (BONES) (UNAPPROVED)

slander, gossip, gossip about someone. The expression is associated with the ancient ritual of secondary burial of the deceased. According to the ideas of some peoples, every unrepentant sinner, if a curse weighs on him, after death comes out of the grave in the form of a ghoul, vampire, ghoul and destroys people. To remove the spell, you need to dig up the remains of the deceased and wash the preserved bones with clean water. Over time, this ritual began to be associated with the analysis of actions and various aspects of a person’s character.

Handbook of phraseology. 2012