There are quite a lot of words for a woman of easy virtue in Russian. Some of them are common, others are swear words. Also, some words came from the past and are now perceived by native speakers as an outdated lexical layer. An example of such a phenomenon is the "harlot". Let's get acquainted with the shades of the meaning of this word.
General interpretation
A harlot is a woman leading a depraved, vicious lifestyle, in this sense the word was first used in the Bible. At the same time, debauchery meant not so much promiscuity as idolatry and the rejection of the Christian faith. The word "fornication" comes from the Proto-Slavic root, in many Slavic languages there are other derivatives:
- Means "mistake" in Slovenian and Croatian.
- In Czech and Polish - "delusion".
In Russian, there are words with the same root without abusive connotation: get lost, wander, delusion.
Concept
What is a "harlot" in the understanding of past eras and in the modern sense? According to Scripture, this is a woman who betraysvices and violates divine records.
In today's world, a harlot is a woman who leads an inappropriate lifestyle - cheating on her husband or engaging in promiscuity. The male version is a fornicator. Note that the biblical meaning has been changed and specified - if in ancient times many vices were attributed to harlots, then our contemporaries perceive only one - lust.
A whole class of "obscene women" - courtesans - existed in Palestine, Sumer, Babylon. Often they were pushed down this path by extreme poverty.
Whore of Babylon
This character is widely known in the Bible even now. Who is this? For the first time this symbolic image appears in the Revelation of John the Theologian. An angel appeared to the apostle and showed him her trial in the wilderness. In this case, the harlot is a woman in luxurious attire, sitting on a terrible beast. Holding the bowl in her hands, she embodied all human vices.
What did the Whore of Babylon look like?
- A woman sat on a crimson seven-headed beast,
- The harlot's garment is purple and purple, richly adorned with gold and jewels. Crimson is an outer garment, similar in cut to a mantle, which was worn by noble people for solemn occasions. Her main color is purple. Porfira - a cloak with long sleeves, an attribute of the rich and monarchs.
- The beast had 10 horns, symbolizing 10 kings who "will take power for an hour".
Often artistswho decided to embody the image of the Babylonian harlot wife in their canvases and engravings, painted her as a very bright and attractive woman.
Interpretations of the image
However, the angel explained to John that he sees not an ordinary woman, but a symbol of a great city that will face a difficult fate. The city itself is not named in the prophecy, so its name causes different versions among researchers:
- Rome, less often - the Roman Empire itself. Researchers provide a number of evidence arguing the hypothesis: the seven heads of the beast were interpreted as seven hills on which the great city was located. Also, the heads were identified with the Roman emperors of that time, of which there were actually seven (more precisely, nine, but two ruled for a very short time and did nothing significant). John Chrysostom wrote that Rome would fall under the yoke of the Antichrist, who himself would be defeated by Christ. Researchers believe that since Revelation was written during the period of persecution of Christians, it was Rome that acted in their minds as the main stronghold of the Antichrist the beast.
- Jerusalem. This ancient city was also located on seven mountains and was destroyed, coinciding in time with the Apocalypse.
- Generalized concept of the city, the whole world.
The image of a Babylonian woman is still considered one of the most difficult to interpret: there is no single version that explains its meaning. And the word "harlot" itself is a concept that is quite rare in the speech of modern native speakers, most often used in an ironic context according totowards a woman of easy virtue.