If we hear an incredible, false, or just not too clever statement from someone's lips, we exclaim: “Come on! This is bullshit! " Who is this "gray mare" and what does the word "delirium" actually mean?
"Delirium" from "wandering" or from "shaving"?
First, let's figure out the etymology of the first word in this expression. According to most linguists, "delirium" is derived from the verb "wander" (or "wander"). The author of the etymological dictionary G. A. Krylov also thinks so. What does "wander" mean? The famous researcher of the Russian language V. I. Dal pointed out that most often this verb is used to define walking in different directions, staggering, and, often without any purpose.
However, L. A. Vvedenskaya and N. P. Kolesnikov in the textbook "Etymology" mention the article by A. I. Kornev, who argued that the word "delirium" came from the verb "shave" (that is, "cut"). According to Kornev's assumption, initially various weeds were called nonsense, waste that remained after processing hemp. And only over time, the meaning of the concept was transformed and any stupidity, absurdity, nonsense began to be called nonsense.
Be that as it may, in both the first and second versions, over time, delirium acquired the very meaning that it carries to this day. Delirium is nonsense, nonsense, nonsense.
Gray gelding - stupid gelding
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In the Russian language there is at least one more phraseological unit in which a gray-colored horse appears. This expression "Lies like a gray gelding." In fact, in terms of its meaning, it can be equated with the "delirium of a gray mare." Why was the mysterious gray suit so often presented by our ancestors not in the most favorable light? The fact is that a gray-colored horse (that is, gray with an admixture of any other shades) was considered not very attractive, stupid and indiscriminate even in nutrition.
The peasants never harnessed a gray horse in order to make the first furrow in the field. It used to be thought that a horse of this color was simply not able to do it the way it should. In addition, it was the gray mare, seen in a dream, that foreshadowed, according to legends, lies and deception in reality.
With that old
The term "gray" also means "gray hair", that is, the fact that the horse is already at an advanced age and is incapacitated. In the old days, elderly people were compared with geldings (castrated horses) of gray color, who were not always, as they say, in their minds, uttered absurd, incoherent speeches, often having nothing to do with reality, real events.
In addition, sometimes not too honest peasants who wanted to sell an old mare passed off her gray hair for a gray color. Thus, they deceived naive buyers, who believed that they were acquiring a young horse only of a slightly nondescript color. Such a deliberately dishonest deal can also be called a lie, that is, one of the meanings of the expression "bullshit."