In the painting by Edouard Manet (the photo is presented in the article) there is a praying monk. His posture expresses humility. The eyes are downcast. The priest would say that he lowered his eyes. This is a well-established expression that came from the depths of time.
In Orthodox treatises, it is often contrasted with the higher, that is, the higher, the valley, that is, the lower, earthly.
What is a dol? How long has this word been used in Russian and what are its roots? To answer this question, let's turn to dictionaries.
What the dictionaries say
A researcher of the Russian language and a close friend of A. S. Pushkin, the compiler of the dictionary V. I. Dal defined this word as “bottom”. Dol is any lowland, a valley between mountains, a depression in the ground. Depending on the territorial dialect, this is a ravine, a pit, a grave. The Ryazan word “expansion” is interesting, from which “expanse” came from - a place rich in valleys.
From the word "dol" came the expression "off your feet", that is, to fall. When they said to someone: “Go away!” - it meant "get down". The underwear was called "long". Dolovataya rye - the one that grows in the lowlands.
Phraseological dictionary mentions the expression "woe and down" thatmeans "everywhere":
Peruns sleep above and below…
In the church lexicon, valley means base. From here, to attract - to attract in base deeds, vanity. Shared passions are base passions.
In the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron there is another meaning of the word dol. This is a longitudinal groove along the blade of cold steel. The Slavs had just such swords, which had a dollar. This lightened their weight. As you can see, this word is quite ancient.
There is a forest and a valley
Describing Lukomorye, Alexander Sergeevich writes about visions of the forest and share. In folk mythology, in fact, there are fabulous creatures living in the forest or in the open field. They accompanied man everywhere, Pushkin well represented their diversity.
It is no coincidence that he describes the forest and valley inhabitants of fairy tales. Here is the goblin, and the Baba Yaga, and the Mermaid, and the magic Cat.
Samo Lukomorye is believed to be at the end of the world. Here stands the Tree of Life - the center of the universe.
A. S. Pushkin is not without reason considered the founder of modern Russian literature. How many words of the common people he brought into his works! Undoubtedly, "dol" is one of them.
Beyond the mountains, beyond the valleys
This is how many Russian fairy tales begin. Sometimes this proverb is added "beyond the wide seas." It means "very far". Why is this combination used? Apparently, these words briefly and poetically describe the relief of the earth. And yes, they rhyme. How can you not imagine an epic playing the harpand leading a leisurely story about the exploits of Russian heroes!
The opposition "mountains - valleys" is found in fairy tales, and in riddles, and in songs. What is a dol, it becomes intuitively clear - the area between the mountains. Now it is called the valley - big dol.
This word is used not only in folk art. Marina Tsvetaeva inserted it into the line “the valleys look into the water”, Lermontov and Nekrasov used it in their poems. Zeleniy Dol is the name of the Zelenodolsk city station.
Hemline
The district of Kyiv, called Podol, began to be settled before the founding of the city. What is the hem in a dress, everyone knows - this is the lower part of the dress. And what is a dol in the geographical sense? Who named this area?
As the researchers found out, the Slavs began to populate it in the IV-V centuries. AD Apparently, the area is named after the Slavic word "dol", which means "down". Down the river. But then another question arises: why did the truncated form of the word appear? After all, the areas of the Slavs, called lowland, woodlands, seaside, rivers, do not have this form.
There is a version that it was not without the influence of a non-Slavic language. For example, in the Indo-Iranian languages there is a lexeme pathulu, from the Kashmiri language it is translated as “lower reaches at the foot of a mountain or valley”. This is reminiscent of the Proto-Slavic padol. So perhaps the word actually has even more ancient roots.
Conclusion
This old word is hardly used anymore. Perhaps only connoisseurs of edged weapons can remember him. But it enteredinto the composition of some phraseological units that have survived to this day. It became a root in the words formed from it. The “Russian spirit” emanates from him, let's not completely forget what a dollar is.
