Features of human character often take on hyperbolic, too exaggerated forms. Have you ever met greedy people who refuse to share elementary things with their neighbor, even if they return? The highest degree of evolution of those is hoarding. "Miser" is a capacious term, often used in everyday life and in fiction. But contemporaries gradually lost their understanding of the word.
Where did the hoarding come from?
It is impossible to reliably establish the etymology. Philologists have gone through a lot of historical documents in search of answers. There is an assumption that "miser" is a term that speaks of an incredible strength of mind, a person whose main goal is the need not to spend a single extra penny. Various experts offer its ascent to different European languages and explain the evolution of the definition in their own way:
- "skra" - "heap, stone";
- hide;
- sker - "cut";
- schrok - "glutton";
- screnkan - "to deceive", etc.
Differences in phonetic nature do not allow us to accurately correlate words with each other, but the semantic similarity is obvious. If a person is a miser, a miser, then neitherpitiful entreaties, nor severe necessity, will force him to open his purse. The money will remain in the chest, which, if possible, he will bury far from his home so that no one will find it.
How bad is this?
The term implies excessive stinginess. To such an extent that a character trait becomes indecent in the eyes of others, and no justification can be found for it. History knows many examples when millionaires wore their clothes to holes or altered them. Moreover, they did not turn to professional tailors, but with their own hands, with the help of a needle and thread, they eliminated the holes. Such a prototype is a canonical, everyday miser.
The most famous greedy is Getty Green, who was born and lived in we alth, married a millionaire, but all this time persistently soaked and smoothed disposable napkins for reuse, diligently extinguished candles even before the guests left. And the cinders went to the market the next morning, in order to benefit and replenish family capital even in such an unsightly form. Her worn-out heels were legendary.
Who can be called that?
Neglected cases on the verge of a comedic plot and mental insanity are almost never found. For the inhabitants of the 21st century, "miser" is a synonym for "greedy", and it is most often used by representatives of the older generation. The word is brighter, sonorous. But say it only when you want to prick the interlocutor, or in an ironickey, ridiculing the excessive frugality of a loved one. Otherwise, refrain from negative characterization, as such a definition can offend.
