Linguists consider language as a living, developing, constantly changing organism. And, indeed, today, for example, parts of the human body are called quite differently than a few centuries ago. Their former names can be found only in historical, fiction or films. Let's consider some of these obsolete words.
Apple of an eye, vezhdes and balls
This is the word that our ancestors used to call the eye. It has Indo-European roots, as well as some similar words in other languages, for example, oculus in Latin, auge in German, eye in English. "Eyelids" were once "eyelids", however, so were the eyes themselves. The noun "vezhdy" comes from the verb "to see". An interesting “symbiosis” is the adverb “obvious”, which is present in modern Russian. It includes both outdated "eyes" and modern "vision".
In sayings, such an expression as "the apple of an eye" remained, now it is "pupil" - a noun derived from "sight". The latter is a modern word, but comes from the obsolete verb "mature". The eyes also had such a name as "balls", obviously associated with the shape of this organ. It has come down to us in the saying “why did you roll out the balls?”, Which is sometimes used colloquially.
Mouth and mouth - what comes first?
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In fairy tales, in describing the appearance of a beautiful girl, you can find the expression "sugar lips", which speaks of her lovely lips. This word is associated with the noun "mouth". An interesting fact is that today the “mouth” has a different meaning than it used to be. Today, this lexeme designates a place that is the final section of a river, where it flows into another water body.
In Old Russian terminology, “mouth” and its related “mouth” were understood both as the beginning of a river and as its end. According to some scientists, at first there was a noun "mouth", and from it the "mouth" in the meaning of "source" was already formed. After all, lips can be considered as the source from which speech "flows". Others believe that, on the contrary, at first there was a "mouth", and only then a "mouth" was formed from it.
Hands, fingers and palms
In ancient Russia, each of the hands had its own name. The left one was called "shuitsa". This noun was formed from the adverb "shuiy", which means "left". The right hand was the "right hand", which has a connection with the Proto-Indo-European form daksinas in the meanings of "right" and "dexterous".
The palm was formerly called the hand. There is already a direct link between ancient and modern terminology. After all, the "palm" used to be a "dolly", which came from the "hand".
The fingers and toes were called fingers, and the little fingers were called diminutively - fingers. In the Old Prussian language there is the word pirsten, meaning "finger", and in Old High German - first, which means "roof ridge", "point". All these words go back to the ancient Indian pr̥ṣṭhám - "top", "ridge".
An interesting fact: the word "finger" is also ancient, but preserved in the modern Russian lexicon. It is directly related to the Proto-Slavic pal and to the Old Russian finger.
Other ancient terms
These include the following:
- Lanits - cheeks, from the Old Slavic form olnita, a part of the body that has a bend.
- Vyya - neck, associated with the Russian dialect word "zavoek" - "back of the head".
- Forehead - forehead, from Latin celsus - "high".
- Leg - infantry, otsuda and "infantry", "on foot". From Indo-European ēd - "foot", "leg".
- Hips and loins - loins, from the Proto-Slavic čerslo meaning "partition".
- The shoulder (from the Old Russian "shoulder" - "flat", "wide") used to be a frame.
Author: Olga Strelkova
