Friday, March 29

10 words out of use

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Any language is constantly changing – new words appear in it and old words disappear. What were they like, and why don’t we use them anymore? And when else is it better to find out, if not on November 22, the traditional holiday of Russian literature?

In the Russian language there are words that are not used without “not”. But once they just appeared by attaching “not” to completely independent words that are already outdated and not used today.

So, the word “liza” was a form of the dative case of the noun “liga”, which meant “freedom”. His relatives are well known to us: “privilege”, “benefit”, “easy” and, of course, “impossible”, formed by adding “not” and “lie”.

Ivan the Terrible’s phrase from the film “Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession” is well known to everyone: “What a beauty!
Perhaps it is thanks to this bright hero that many have known the noun “lepota” since childhood. It means “beauty, splendor”, and the word “bold”, which was common earlier, meant “beautiful”. The root here is the same as in the verb “sculpt”.
Now the adjective “stupid” is a thing of the past, but the adjective “ridiculous” formed from it is still actively used, although it has slightly changed its original meaning. Now it is no longer “ugly”, but “meaningless, devoid of reasonable grounds” and also “awkward, clumsy”.

A similar example is the word “kluzhy”, which comes from the noun “klud”, meaning “beauty” and “order”. Accordingly, “kluzhy” is “handsome, stately”. From it was once formed “clumsy”, and later – “clumsy”.

“Vzrachny” is another now-deceased synonym for “beautiful”. It comes from the obsolete “zrak” (“pupil”). Compare with the expression “a prominent person”: the semantics of vision here is associated with a pleasant appearance. Of course, we don’t call anyone “Vzrachny” now, but the “nondescript” formed from him is more alive than all the living.

It is impossible not to note the word “arc”, which used to mean “strength, health”, and from which the noun “ailment” was also formed. In modern usage, you can find the adjective “hefty”, which came from “arc”.

The word “ryakha” used to be called a neatly dressed person, which was formed from the verb “to dress up”. We lost “Ryakhu” in this meaning over time, but we still use its antonym – “slob”.
By the way, in the traditional culture of the peoples of Europe there was a so–called “mummery” – a ritual transformation of a person’s appearance with masks, clothing and other attributes, which was characteristic of the Christmas Fast, Maslenitsa and especially Yuletide.

Emphasis should also be placed on the noun “uryaditsa”, which once meant “order”. Now we can only remember this word when we turn to its antonym – “disorder”.

The history of the word “godyai”, which is an old form of the participle from the verb “fit”, also seems curious. In modern Russian, the form “suitable” is used, and the word “scoundrel” came from the disappeared variant once upon a time. Initially, this was the name of a person who was not fit for military service.

The adverb “start” once meant “intentionally”. It has the same root as in the words “hour”, “expectation”, “tea” (but not a drink, but an introductory word — “tea, see you”). Now we no longer use “start”, but the “accidentally” formed from it is very popular.

And finally, the adjective “happy”, derived from the verb “to rejoice”. It is related to the word “glad”, meaning “diligence, diligence, work”. From him the word “happy” was formed, that is, “diligent, diligent”. But his antonym – “negligent” – has slightly changed its meaning and is still alive.

As you can understand, even though some words are forgotten, the vocabulary of the language does not get any poorer from this, since neologisms come to replace outdated lexemes – new linguistic units created to denote new objects that have entered everyday use. The latter also lose their novelty status over time and become familiar words for people. Like their predecessors, which have fallen out of use, sometime in the future they may also sink into oblivion and end up on the pages of the dictionary with archaisms.

Author of the article: Varvara Kartushina

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