Phraseological turns make our speech more interesting. Any, the most ordinary conversation can become a magnificent example of the richness of our language. We will talk about one of the most popular phraseological units today in our article.
How often do we get together to wash the bones of common acquaintances? Such topics are considered bad manners. But at least by chance we do it. Briefly, the meaning of a phraseological unit can be conveyed as "a discussion behind a person's back." Without going into the moral side of the process now, consider the expression from a philological point of view.
So, further in our article we will try to tell what it means to "wash the bones", and also consider some points in the history of this phraseological unit.
Modern meaning of expression
Since the phraseologism has an indirect meaning, at least at the current stage of its use, we are just interested in it.
So, the main values"washing bones" at the present stage - "discussion behind the back, gossip." Extremely negative expression - "slander". In general, it is always - either to discuss the traits of a person without his presence, or his specific actions.
Also note that in general, the modern meaning has a negative emotional connotation. Sometimes there are exceptions when the discussion of a person behind his back is on the positive side.
Origin of phraseologism
Like many other set expressions, "wash the bones" has its own very interesting history of origin. Let's start with the fact that in itself this combination sounds very ominous. So where did this expression come from?
The history of phraseology begins in ancient times, the sphere of education is the Orthodox Greek ritual culture, which has passed to some extent into the Slavic. Associated with the following creepy burial ritual.
So, according to ancient traditions, there was a secondary burial. This ritual included actions when the bones of a deceased person were taken out of the grave, washed with water and wine, and then laid back in the grave. Hence we have the direct meaning of the expression "to wash the bones." Phraseologism, which now exists with a specific meaning, came into use through direct meaning.
The question of the purpose for which that ritual was performed remains open. Open sources provide this explanation.
Washing was carried outbones to make sure the body is not cursed. The damned dead come out of the graves at night (vampires, ghouls, ghouls) and destroy people, taking their blood to the last drop. Such bodies in the graves lie undecayed, only swollen and darkened.
Mentions of the expression in written sources
Researchers of oral folklore did not divert attention from phraseological units and did not miss the opportunity to fix them in their writings. However, the expression "to wash the bones" (the meaning of the phraseological unit and its origin) was not mentioned in the scientific literature until the dictionary created by Dahl.
But already in Dahl's work both an interpretation of the expression and a historical reference to its origin are given.
Mentions in literary texts
Although the topic of our discussions began to rise rather late in scientific research, the art of the word was one step ahead. In fiction, texts contain this expression, and it occurs quite often.
In the works of Russian literature since the 19th century, we already meet him in various contexts. On the basis of this, the researchers suggest that it was during that period that phraseology entered the literary layer of the Russian language from colloquial speech.
Among the writers who have this expression in their works are S altykov-Shchedrin (his "Provincial Essays"), Melnikov-Pechersky with his novel "On the Mountains", "Babushkinsstories". Chekhov also embellished his stories with folk expressions (for example, "From the Notes of a Hot-tempered Man").
Expression options
Phraseological units, like the words of a language, have their synonyms and are used in various forms. The latter can be of varying degrees of similarity with "washing the bones." We analyzed the meaning of phraseology at the present stage above, everything happened historically in the same way.
Thus, in the written sources of the literary Russian language of the 19th century, there are three variants that differ slightly in morphological form. The meaning remains the same, but the verbs have different prefixes. The source word is the infinitive verb "to wash". With prefixes, it forms the following options: “wash” (in fact, we consider it in our article as the most common), “wash” (it was much less common, today you won’t hear it at all), “wash” (today it’s also unlikely hear).
In one of Chekhov's works (the story "Zinochka") we observe another form similar to "wash the bones", but a derivative of another root: "to sort through". It is considered secondary, most likely, a purely author's decision on a par with author's neologisms.
Expression synonyms
There are not so many synonyms for the phraseologism "to wash the bones", modern and those that are found only in fiction and scientific literature. Interesting fact: academicthe dictionary lists the expression "to shake the bones" (meaning "to gossip") as synonymous, however, according to reports, literary texts of the 19th and 20th centuries do not contain this form.
Another, more understandable example with synonyms of the phraseological unit under consideration, based on the expression "disassemble it by bones". It is almost purely literary, because there is no information that it was used in this form in folk speech. This phrase arose clearly under the influence of "wash (sort out) the bones." The meanings converge in some cases or are close in others: "discuss something or someone in detail", "subject to a detailed analysis, criticism", also "condemn, criticize".
In the famous "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky, an excellent form of the expression is also used: "knead the bones", which means "wash the bones". The essence is the same, the imagery is only partially changed.
In line with the phraseological unit "to wash the bones" is put another - "take apart by a thread." Their meaning converges, but the imagery is different.
Conclusions
So, in our article we tried to comprehensively and most interestingly highlight what it means to "wash the bones." The main thing that we were going to extract from the discussion was its meaning: "to discuss, gossip about a person in his absence".
The historical development of the meaning of this expression has passed a lotstages. Initially, it was literal and reflected a ritual action, then it moved to an analysis of a person's character. Today we have a familiar context and the meaning that we put into it on an intuitive level.
