The perception of color in society depends on many factors. The same color designation for different ethnic cultures can be associated with both positive and negative connotations. The metaphorical and symbolic color designation, entrenched in the linguistic consciousness of one people, will be incomprehensible without comments to representatives of another. The figurative meanings that are attached to colors and are reflected in folklore and in phraseological units may differ in different linguistic cultures.
Symbolism of red in the Russian cultural and historical tradition
In the Russian language consciousness, there is a rather large semantic range associated with the adjective "red". It includes both positive and negative connotations, however, we can say that the positive symbolism of all shades of red in the Russian cultural and historical tradition still prevails. There was a period when “red” became a rather ideologically aggressive color, but at the moment it has been completely rehabilitated: politically engaged redis no longer.
In folklore, the epithet "red" was traditionally used when talking about young, beautiful and he althy characters. In fairy tales and epics, the expression “beautiful girl” was used as an equivalent to the modern “beautiful young lady”. The good fellow was sometimes also “red”, although the synonym “kind” was more often used: a positive assessment was preserved. The same fellow as a positive character - "such a pretty one" - appeared in the village songs "in a red shirt".
In magical rites, the word “red” was also used to achieve a therapeutic effect in conspiracies and spells: the tradition of using amulets of exactly red color has survived to this day, preserving the memory of the sacred functions of this color.
In connection with such good reputational resources of the adjective "red", it becomes clear why even in serious research papers, in a number of examples of its use in a positive sense, there is also a "red word".
Eloquence and well-spokenness
Automatic transfer of everything positive that is associated with red to this phraseological turn is not quite right. From the time of Ancient Russia, oratory was, first of all, represented by homiletics - church rhetoric. It was then that the rhetorical ideal was formed, which later became characteristic of the entire Russian speech culture. In many ways, its formation was influenced by the Byzantine tradition, which, inin turn, originated from Ancient Greece. Starting with Socrates, the main criterion for exemplary speech was its truth. And decorations, all sorts of rhetorical figures were perceived as an attempt to hide the truth. Beauty was allowed into the speech of medieval rhetors only when it manifested itself in expediency, functionality and strict harmony, and not in decoration and prettiness.
It was from that time that it was customary to be wary of those who speak red. The now widespread term "eloquence" in the time of Yaroslav the Wise was considered almost abusive. Kindness, blessing, zlatouste were welcomed. Each speech was supposed to bring good, educate, and not impress with the “weaving of words.”
In the literature of Ancient Russia there was also no clear boundary between aesthetics and ethics, which in the future will become consonant with the ideas about art among representatives of Russian classics, in particular, Leo Tolstoy. The criterion of general accessibility and intelligibility in relation to the rhetorical ideal for Tolstoy also became one of the main ones. He spoke sharply about all kinds of ornamental types of speech: “When people speak intricately, cunningly and eloquently, they either want to deceive or want to be proud. Such people should not be trusted, should not be imitated.”
For medieval authors, the evaluation of words spoken in front of any audience depended on whether these words aroused worthy and moral feelings in the listeners or not.
The theme of laughter, embodying danger, has repeatedly met in Russian classics. Leonid Andreev connects this phenomenon with color - also withred: in his famous work of the same name, red laughter becomes an exaggeration of the image of horror.
The "red word" was associated by transference with the physiological reaction of the body that it could cause - a blush of shame or embarrassment from something unworthy or indecent.
Laughing right is not a sin, at everything that seems funny
Modern phraseological dictionaries do not focus on the negative consequences that a “red word” can produce on listeners, emphasizing only that this is a witty, well-aimed expression; bright expressive words. In Ancient Russia, whose culture was subordinated to the church, laughter was not only not welcomed, but was associated with the diabolical principle. Of course, those who allowed themselves jokes and jokes were condemned. Since then, the proverbs “For the sake of a red word, he will not spare his father”, “For a red word, he will not spare either mother or father” have become widespread. They are still popular today.
The words of I. Ilf and E. Petrov, sensitive to semantics, in their famous novel "The Twelve Chairs" when characterizing one of the characters - Absalom Iznurenkov, a professional humorist, emphasize that he "never joked aimlessly, for the sake of a red word". This term in the novel refers to a joke for the sake of a joke.
In modern speech culture, there are less strict rules governing the content of what you can and cannot laugh at, in what circumstances it is appropriate to do it, and in what - not. We can say that for the domestic communicativeconsciousness in relation to the "red word" is the principle that was formulated at the end of the 18th century by N. Karamzin in his "Message to A. A. Pleshcheev": "It is not a sin to laugh right, over everything that seems funny."
