Frustic frost: winter in the eyes of philologist

When we think about winter, we imagine first of all? "Frost and sun, wonderful day"? Our ancestors in the perception of this time of year were not so enthusiastic. Proof of this – a lot of words and phraseological units associated with winter and preserved negative shades of value.

Let us remember the expression "Ice Heart", "coldly reply", "feelings are cooled". These language metaphors clearly show that the cold in our consciousness is associated with something not very pleasant. The figurative meaning of the above expressions we are quite aware. But there are words that were also originally with such metaphors, only now we do not think about it.

freezing

Now the word "frost" is quite neutral. But once it was the foundation for the education of the adjective, which has acquired a bright negative meaning. We are talking about the word "nasty". Yes, there is the same root as in the word "frost", and the "frozen" person is literally "frosty", "cold" man. And from the same basis, curses occurred (will have to lead them for science) "scumbags" and "scum".

Such variations of the root – frost / Merz / Mraz are not surprising, typical of Russian language. Something similar, for example, we see in the roots of milk / malk (milk / mammal, Milky Way), voice / voice, shore / Breg. And the options that we perceive as truncated – the legacy of the Old Slavonic language, in which "frost" sounded rather unallowdly for the modern ear: "Mraz".

Exactly the same alternations, we will see in the story about the next root.

Winter – the time when it darkens early, so "darkness" and "twilight" – also a kind of "winter" words. And they have very unexpected relatives! "Mrak", "Furk", "Twilight", "Fork", "flicker" – a chain of historically single words.

The alternation of EP / RA / ORO should not be embarrassed: the same we have just observed in the words "frozen" / "Murzen" / "Moroz" / "Frost". It turns out that from the point of view of the language "Faw" – nothing else like "to dark". And "flickering" – not so much "constantly burn", how much "all the time to go out", "flicker".

Stew

And again before us "winter" the word for which an unexpected unpleasant descendant appeared.

"Footage" – of course, the same root, that and "put up". But once this word sounded somewhat differently: "Shame". Over time, "D" in this verb for obvious reasons was lost (try to say "Shame" – "D" merges with "H"), but the sound has been preserved in other single words – for example, to "cool" and in that language bastard.

You probably have already guessed: we are talking about the word "shame". It turns out, shame initially comprehended as a cool feeling, chilling. In ancient Russian, he also sounded as "study", and the alternation of U / s is a frequent story, as in "Dry / Dropping".

Chills

And the etymology of this word shows how far the values ​​of one root can dispense – right up to the opposite!

Oddly enough, the root in the word "chills" is the same as in the word "heat". But the logic of the language is not so paradoxical: because chills often occurs during a fever when it throws not only in the cold, but also in the heat. And in some dialects, the word "stern", which can mean both "cold", and "hot". Perhaps "Chink" once had the same double meaning.

Shy

And this "winter" word has a completely amazing relative. The same root. In the word "tooth"! No, not because, when someone is angry, he is knocking his teeth. History is much confusing.

It is curious that the current meaning of the word "chopping" appeared only in the XVIII century, and before it meant "grow". And the initial meaning of the word "tooth" is what has grown. We installed the semantic connection, but where did the meaning of "frozen" the word "ignite"?

The most common version is as follows: before the teeth also called the kidney of plants, and they appear they begin in pretty cool time in our latitudes – in early spring. This period was called the "Chicken" first due to the appearance of the kidneys, and later the value was transformed and transferred to the weather designation, temperatures: Choose – Cold. And the migratory bird was called the finch, because she flies at the very dark time.

Well, alternation I [‘A] / y ("chopping" / "tooth") is not unique: the same apparently in the words "link" / "sound", "knit" / "bonds", "Dirt" / "Immerse "," Traction "/" tight "and t. D.

And finally, in fact, about "winter". This is a very ancient word that rises to the basis of the Pyranceo European language, the ancestor of most languages ​​of Europe, the Slavic and Baltic, as well as Indoran languages ​​(Sanskrit, for example). And this Pyranceo-European base sounded like * Gheim (the asterisk shows that we have reconstructions made by scientists) and had the same meaning: "Winter", "Snow time".

She has a lot of descendants, but at first glance on relatives they are not at all similar: the combination of GH has not survived almost anywhere. The consonants could merge; So it turned out and the word "winter", and, for example, "Himalayas": on Sanskrit Himalayah literally – "Resident Snow".

The same combination of HIM we see in another amazing at first view of a relative – the word "chimer". In general, in ancient Greece, so first called only the one-year-old goat – perhaps because they considered the winter years, and winter in ancient Greek – heima (in simplified spelling). But later, the name was transferred to the mythical monster with the body of a goat, a lion head and a dragon tail.

It is curious that English Winter was formed from another Pyranceo European root * WED. Its value without changes has been preserved in the Russian descendant – the word "water". Indeed, the English winters are rather not snowy, but wet.

But they are also not very loved. Although even children in England have supercoperators to walk in shorts at a minus temperature, and the word Cool ("cool") there are something cool there, yet the British are also talking to Freeze (Someone’s) Blood ("scare", literally "cry" ").

So from the point of view of language memory Winter is not the most pleasant time of year. Who knows: Maybe global warming is under force to fix it?