When we hear "katavasia", it evokes various associations. For example, knowing what this word is, we mean: it is probably Russian and appeared in ancient times in the villages, when people watched the cat Vaska chase mice. This is where the "catastrophe" came in. Is it so? No. How it really happened, the one who reads the information below will find out.
Cat Vaska has absolutely nothing to do with it
Yes, our ties with Greek are not as unbreakable and strong as with French. But some related words still occur. That is our subject today. Katavasia is the word that came to us from those places where many tourists like to go on vacation. Let's take a closer look at the story.
The etymological dictionary states that the noun katabasion is an ecclesiastical term, which originally meant “the gathering of two choirs placed on choirs (as the elevations on both sides of the altar for church singers are called), in the middle of the churchfor general singing.”
Question: How did confusion come to mean confusion? Very simple. Remember birthdays and festivities, chaos always reigns there. So in the old days, when two choirs gathered, it was already difficult to organize people, and a mess began.
Meaning
In the previous section, we jumped ahead a bit and revealed the cards to the reader. Indeed, katavasia is “disorder, turmoil,” as the explanatory dictionary says. At the same time, there is a note that the word is playful and colloquial. That is, it cannot be used when discussing serious political issues. For example, the president, meeting the next minister, cannot ask him: “Well, report back, what kind of mess is going on there?” Such treatment would be too free.
On the other hand, if we take, for example, any soap opera, then poor screenwriters, when they write the next 538th episode, they, of course, on the contrary, think about how to make all this mess prolong, because for them "the continuation of the banquet" is a matter of keeping their jobs.
If we take a detective, for example, the series "Colombo". A person who is not too sensitive can say that everything that happens there also perfectly characterizes the object of study. In general, a quiet life is boring. Chaos is another matter. It immediately seems that it is synonymous with intrigue and movement. True, for the seething of life, some kind of breakdown, rupture, shift is necessary - the death of a person or another non-standard event. Of course we leave asidehousehold catavasias: they are uninteresting. Although, if the reader has a different opinion, he can remember the incidents discussed by the eternal guardians of our yards - grandmothers on a bench. Think it's funny? It is thanks to them that the level of crime has not yet burst its banks, so our respect and low bow to the grannies.
Synonyms
Since we mentioned the synonyms for the meaning of the word "katavasia", let's continue the topic and provide the reader with the necessary list:
- vanity;
- bustle;
- mess;
- chaos;
- confusion;
- mess;
- singing.
Yes, the last synonym is a tribute to historical significance. True, now it has been forgotten, but we are working precisely in order to resurrect knowledge about it. And one more thing: if someone still thought that the word is colloquial, then he was deeply mistaken, because the noun has noble, Greek roots.
Chickens and cats
The story of the cat Vaska, who had absolutely nothing to do with it, awakened in my memory one more church word “to play tricks”. Maybe we are talking about chickens, which the forest? “Forest of chickens” sounds reassuring and appetizing. But that is not the real story at all. There was a Greek phrase kuri eleeson, that is, "Lord have mercy." The people did not know Greek, so people associated the word with non-standard behavior, such as discordant singing in the church, which was firmly connected in their minds with the overseas phrase.
In general, if you put chickens and cats inone room, then a real mess will begin. A word from the words of the priest, perhaps borrowed, and this is amazing. It is amazing how folk and church cultures are intertwined.
