Many, as it were, native words of the Russian language, are conditionally understandable. This means that we intuitively understand the meaning of words, while it will be difficult to explain the meaning of the concept. At the same time, even a seemingly correct concept can be fundamentally wrong.
One of these words is "temnik". This is not a dark room at all, as many of our contemporaries think, it has nothing to do with basements and attics. It would be a mistake to attribute the meaning of the word to places of detention: although this concept is consonant with the word "dungeon". Let's see what it means.
Origin of the word
Any elementary school student, when parsing the word "temnik", will highlight the root -them-. The first thing that comes to mind is that the root is a direct synonym for the words "darkness" or "darkness". In this case, the root has nothing to do with the words "twilight" or "darkness". Its origins lie in a completely different area.
A thousand years ago, the word "darkness" meant "ten thousand". It was a quantitative noun, a synonym for the word "a lot." And even now we sometimes say "the darkness of the people", meaning a huge crowd of people. Usually such crowds do not gather just like that: they definitely need a leader.
Most often in ancient times people gathered to carry out military campaigns or to repelenemy advance. And so the first meaning of “temnik” appeared - this is a commander, organizer and leader. Such people commanded a certain detachment, which was called tumen. It numbered 10 thousand soldiers, and the temnik was directly subordinate only to the khan. The Eastern Slavs, who constantly suffered from the raids of the Khan's detachments, changed this word in their own way: this is how it appeared in the Old Russian language.
The fact that the leader of this army commanded a ten thousandth army of fighters also played its role: this number in Russia was called, as we remember, "darkness".
Temnik in primordial Russia
The famous compilers of the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary agree with this opinion. In their opinion, the word "temnik" in Ancient Russia was called the leader of the Horde detachment. In the Horde, the temniks enjoyed great influence, were closely related to the khans, and played a significant role in the politics of Saray.
The later word temnik began to mean not only the Horde commander, but also the leader of the Russian princely squads. From here, from the original meaning, numerous surnames Temnik and derivatives from them went. The name of Terenty Temnik, who held a significant post in Veliky Novgorod, has been preserved in history. Perhaps the name of the river Temnik, which flows in Buryatia, has a similar origin.
Changing the meaning of a word
Over time, the meaning of the word has changed a little. In the Late Middle Ages, a temnik is a secret decree, an order that gaveruler to his general or courtier. This implies a new meaning of this concept: the word "temnik" is a paper, a circular, and maybe even a denunciation. From the secret orders of the ruler to the commander, the temnik gradually turned into a document that should be hidden from prying eyes. Such circulars are common in the Russian Empire of the 18th and 19th centuries. Temnik has retained this meaning to this day.
Temnik in modern edition
The further fate of this word in the present and the recent past is interesting. Quite recently, you can again hear the word "temnik", but its origin is from a completely different root - "theme". This was the name of the materials that were sent by the government to all media editors with recommendations for covering a particular news.
Such recommendations offered to talk about the event in the right way, so as not to stain the reputation of the "right" people. The main emphasis was to ensure that even unfavorable news properly covered the leadership of the political elite and created the impression that political opponents were to blame for all the misfortunes of the country.
It is clear that such “temniki” had nothing to do with democracy and freedom of speech, but obstinate editors who preferred to spread an objective opinion were soon deprived of their jobs.
Temnik of students and graduate students
Now students and high school students are well aware of what “temnik” means. Such a name on the Internet received special sites. It can be downloaded or purchased forsmall money ready-made collections of term papers and essays. This meaning can also be found among scientists: in this environment, the meaning of the word "temnik": a collection of related projects and intermediate results that contribute to solving the main research question.
As you can see, the word for warlord a thousand years ago has completely changed its meaning. In literary works, the temnik is still the master of 10 thousand spears, the devoted slave of the khan. For journalists and writers, the temnik serves as a constant reminder that even opposition publications are secretly curated by the government.
In modern speech and blogs, temnik is a collection of articles and abstracts necessary for writing future scientific work.
