Sometimes, you have to look in your head for the meaning of some expression. But he sank into the water! What does sunk mean? Why into the water? And isn't this the water of Lethe, the legendary river of oblivion in the realm of the dead?
And it is necessary to approach it with the thought: what is left as a legacy to descendants?
You can only sink into the past
The obsolete word "sink" has meanings in Russian:
- fall in the form of a drop, that is, simply drip;
- disappear without a trace, an abyss.
It should be noted that this archaism is used only in its perfect form. There is no word for this continuing action. In addition, the verb is used mainly in the 3rd person. You can’t say about yourself / us (chan / channel) and about you / you (channel / channel).
If you fail, you won't leave a trace
Suppose everything is clear with dripping: a tear dropped into the water, milk dripped into the glass, blood dripped onto the ground. In this case, no misunderstandings arise.
But why, if you get lost, then by all means in the water? And what does it mean, "as in watersunk"?
And maybe just because a single drop completely dissolves in the total volume of liquid, merges with it so that it can no longer be isolated in its original form. So is someone irretrievably missing and something that cannot be found in any way.
No wonder in this case they often use more and the verb has evaporated. Here, too, we are talking about a liquid that has ceased to be such, which no longer exists, as it were.
Usage examples:
- Beloved as if sunk into the water - neither hearing nor spirit.
- I'm looking for my passport everywhere, but it seems to have sunk into the water.
Similar expressions:
- he was the only one seen;
- and was like this;
- remember your name;
- and the trace caught a cold;
- just fell through the ground;
- as the wind blew away.
We are but drops in the river of oblivion
No less widespread is the expression "to sink into oblivion". Its meaning: to be forever erased from human memory, to retreat into the realm of half-forgotten legends, to be completely lost.
And here, too, water appears. After all, Leta is a river of oblivion in the underground kingdom of the dead - Hades, in the mythology of Ancient Greece. When a mortal who has ended his earthly journey arrives at this shore, he drinks the water from Lethe and forgets the past.
Leta (or the River of Oblivion) is the hallmark of the kingdom of death. That is, the dead are those who have lost their memory.
How to leave a good legacy?
The Russian language is rich in beautiful and precise expressions. In an age when they are more activedisplaced by foreign borrowings, professional words and jargon, it is not superfluous to regularly refresh their memory and periodically use them in speech.
Otherwise, their meaning will sink into oblivion. And that means that the descendants will be severely deprived of something undoubtedly valuable - in their native language.
