What does this mysterious addition of a consonant with a hyphen mean at the end of various words found when reading classics, as well as in films about Russian history? It's simple. "Yes, sir" means nothing more than "yes, sir," and "if you please" is simply "if you please, madam."
Respectful and self-deprecating
The addresses "sir" and "madam" were a polite, respectful form of naming an interlocutor in 19th century Russia. This was the name given to colleagues, friends, and completely unfamiliar people. Studying the etymology of these words, we see that they are abbreviations from "sovereign" and "empress". Using them in communication, a well-mannered person paid tribute to the interlocutor, expressed his respect.
However, by the end of the 19th century, the use of such words began to express, first of all, the currying of the speaker. He seemed to be showing self-deprecation. There was something servile in the addition of such a particle to words, when the person using it tried to emphasize his inequality with the one to whom he was addressing. So the desire and willingness to serve the "tall person" were paraded.
How worders became archaism
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The Great October Socialist Revolution abolished both "gentlemen" and "sovereigns" and "sir" and "madam". Gradually, the described form of words faded into oblivion.
However, representatives of the intelligentsia sometimes continued to cling to the addition to the words in the form of the ending -с. Thus, they tried to distance themselves from socialist innovations spreading in all areas of life and strata of the population.
The medical subculture has also maintained such momentum for a long time. Doctors turned to patients in this way in order to give themselves additional authority and solidity. And besides, for many patients who were accustomed to such communication before the revolution, it had a pacifying effect.
Now worders have been almost completely supplanted from Russian speech. And rarely does anyone know that this word "worders" itself was formed from two letters: "s" (or as it was called in the old alphabet - "word") and "ep" (this is how Kommersant was denoted, which was placed after the letter " c "in the cases described here.
Ekaterina Steponaitis