Of all the many things I love about Russian — right up there with the fun of studying grammar, learning spelling rules, and memorizing irregular verb conjugations ?€” is etymology: tracing a word from its origins to its present meaning and usage. Suddenly a word that made no sense becomes transparent, or a concept is rounded out with layers of meaning from the past.
Take a phrase that I never quite understood ?€” ?? ?????°?»?µ. It means being out of favor, usually politically but sometimes figuratively. You could say, only partially in jest: ???µ ?????°?·?°?? ?¶?µ???µ, ?????¶ ?????????» ???µ?€???µ???µ??. ???? ?‚?µ???µ?€?? ?? ?????°?»?µ. (Without telling his wife, a man bought a Mercedes. Now he's in the dog house.) But where does this strange phrase come from?
The key is when the word appeared in Russian ?€” in the Muscovy period before Peter the Great. It was then that English merchants appeared in Moscow, and among the first presents the English traders brought the tsar were opals. Opals are strange stones; they have such high water content that they are considered "amorphous," and if not properly cared for, can turn milky and lose their value. The Russians borrowed the English word "opal" for the expression "?? ?????°?»?µ," that is, like a milky opal, worthless, out of favor with the tsar.
Another interesting case is the mystery of the verbs ???µ???‚?? (to sit down) and ?????µ???‚?? (to eat), the bane of Russian language students, who have to remember which verb gets the hard sign. For many years I thought it was purely coincidental that the verbs were so similar. But it turns out that they came from the same original verb. In old Russian ?€” and old Russia ?€” life was an endless round of work, and people were on their feet all day. The only time they paused to sit down was at mealtime. So "to sit" began to acquire a second meaning of "to sit and eat," which over time morphed into "to eat." The hard sign was put in to distinguish the verbs from one another.
And while we're on the subject of eating ?€” have you ever wondered about the word ???????°?‚?? (to eat)? At some time or other you've probably been scolded by someone in the older generation for using ???????°?‚?? in reference to people. You'll be told: ???????°???‚ ?‚???»?????? ????????????, ?»?????? ?µ?????‚ (Only pigs feed; people eat.) Apparently, the verb ???????°?‚?? is derived from the Russian word for corn, ?????????€???·?° ?€” the letters ?? and ?? often alternate ?€” and corn was first imported and then grown solely as fodder for livestock. So ???????°?‚?? carries echoes of pigs slurping down corn mash at the trough, and hence is not the verb to use for a dinner party.
And then there's an interesting story about another word commonly used around the kitchen ?€” ???¶???? (dinner). ???¶???? is both the evening meal and the food served at it. In Russia, as in many other countries, the biggest meal of the day was eaten mid-day. This was often a huge meal with soup and several meat courses, which got the name ???±?µ?? as a short form of ??! ?‘?µ???°! (Oh! How terrible!). ???¶???? was ???¶?µ ?€” more narrow, a lighter meal before retiring.
And finally, one other interesting phrase: ?? ?????‘?? ?????€?°???°! (April Fool's Day!). Not a single word of this was true ?€” except for the bit about loving grammar.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.