Since people began to regularly cultivate fields and eat cereal crops, it became necessary to build reliable storage facilities in which to store the resulting crop. Everywhere bread was stored in special buildings, where optimal conditions were maintained. Barns were an indispensable addition to peasant life, the life and work of farmers were inextricably linked with them. In folklore, the ancient name of a wooden box for storing grain, installed in warehouse buildings, is often mentioned. We will talk about him further.
Importance of cereals to humans
A possible reason for such a high popularity of cereals among ancient people is the sufficient content of carbohydrates,and, consequently, good saturation. It was this factor that could serve as a good reason for the widespread cultivation of crops.
In the old days, the main crop grown by the peasant farmers was zhito. This common name for all grain bread could mean wheat, barley, or rye. Therefore, buildings designed to preserve stocks of grain crops were called a granary. These buildings had special bins (the old name for a wooden box) for storing supplies.
Magic rituals and wedding ceremonies were often held in barns. Probably, the choice of a place for carrying out these actions was not accidental - for a plowman it was closely associated with the image of fertility.
Grain storage facilities
Grain was everywhere kept in high barns, which were built from various materials, depending on the geography of location - natural stone, wood, clay, adobe. From the inside, the structures were divided into compartments.
Grain grain was initially stored in a variety of utensils - wooden vats, tubs, hollowed-out logs hollowed out from logs, as well as in baskets woven from twigs and smeared with clay. Later, a separate box for storing grain began to be placed in the granaries, the old name of which is still found in Russian folk tales or floorboards.
Grain bins
The main concern of the peasant, after the grown crop is harvested, is its safety. It had to be protected from moisture, frost, heat androdents, which could ruin all stocks. In order to provide the necessary conditions, the peasants poured grain crops into a chest (this is the old name for a wooden box for storing grain).
Later, the most reliable and convenient part of the storage was recognized as a specially designated place in the barn: the barn (barn, bins). Particular attention was paid to fire safety when arranging a place for grain. That is why it was not customary to pour the entire crop into one storage. The grain barns stood a little further from the main estate. The worst was the destruction of seed stocks in the event of a fire. By saving the grain for planting, one could hope for a harvest.
Where was the grain stored?
Which word - "chest", "bin" or "bottleneck" - is the defining ancient name of a wooden box for storing grain? Let's try to figure it out.
- A chest is a wooden box of a special shape where various things can be stored, as well as grain.
- Susek - a fenced-off chest made of tightly fitted boards, used for pouring cereals or flour. Related word "compartment".
- Zokrom - a synonym for the bottom of the barrel, originates from "edge", "edge".
It turns out that all these definitions are the old name for a wooden box for grain.
The same design principles were used in the construction of these storage sites. An important condition was their manufacture from tightly fittingboards to each other, in order to avoid spilling supplies. The bottom, for the convenience of moving bulk products, could be sloped. Ventilation elements may also have been present to allow air to circulate.
Kolobok
The ancient name of a wooden box for storing grain, as we have already said, is often found in folk tales, proverbs, sayings. Most often, the Kolobok is remembered, which the old woman baked from dough, implicated in the fact that "she scratched the bottom of the barrel." Only the remains of flour or grain can be scraped together in a large chest for storing bulk products. The narrator proves with a clear example that these peasants lead a very poor lifestyle.
In Russian folklore, there are many proverbs and sayings related to the definition of a storage box:
- Beginning of summer - there is no bread in the bins.
- The rich man's bottoms are full.
- If the snow is wet in winter, then the barrel will be smooth.
- Not the bread in the field, but the bread in the bin.
Over time, in any language, old words are replaced by new ones or even become obsolete. This is a natural process, and it can occur for various reasons. In this case, these words are gradually being squeezed out of speech because boxes where grain is stored are not used everywhere in the modern world. Although archaisms do not completely disappear from colloquial speech, obsolete expressions can be found in historical materials and works.
