Obscene vocabulary in Russian

It has long been established that the Russian obscene lexicon has ancient Slavic and Indo-European roots. Modern researchers do not consider the unscientific idea that the obscene lexicon " was borrowed by the Russians from the" Tatar language " ^[2] during the Mongol-Tatar yoke, " which is common in the Russian people. At the same time, various variants of the etymology of the main derivational roots are proposed, but all of them, as a rule, go back to Indo-European or Proto-Slavic foundations.

So, for example, V.M. Mokienko writes ^[3] :

“The main“ three whales ”of the Russian mat ... etymologically deciphered quite decently: Slavic * jebti originally meant 'to beat, hit', * huj (related to needles) - 'needle of a coniferous tree, something caustic', * pisda - 'urethra' ' .

It is interesting to note that the semantic changes of the modern euphemism “fuck” practically repeat the history of the word * jebti.

In a functional aspect, as B. A. Uspensky points out, “swearing had a clearly pronounced cult function in Slavic paganism, <...> is widely represented in various kinds of ceremonies of clearly pagan origin — wedding, agricultural, etc. — that is, in ceremonies one way or another connected with fertility : swearing is a necessary component of ceremonies of this kind and is unconditionally ritual in nature ” ^[4] .

Obscene vocabulary in birch bark letters

Obscene vocabulary is found in 4 ancient Russian birch bark letters of the 12th — 13th centuries. from Novgorod and Staraya Russa:

• Diploma from Novgorod № 330 (XIII century.), Discovered in the late 1950s; This is a rhymed teaser, translated most likely: " ass ( tail ) fuck (another) ass, with his clothes pulled up ." By the way, the tongue is an obscure epithet of the sologai , which probably means “lying together,” “concubine” (cf. lat. Concubinus); Wed Czech soulož 'sex', souloh 'spouse'. The author used the effect of obscenity, multiplied by the effect of absurdity ^[5] .
• Letter from Staraya Russa № Art. R.35 (XII century.).

At the end of the note from Radoslav to Hoteslav with a request to take money from the merchant in another hand, it is attributed: “ ѧkovebrateebilileѧ ” (“Jacob, brother, ebi lying”). The approximate meaning of this tagging is “do not originate,” “be like everyone else.” Further to the address of Jacob, two more convoluted curses were added : ebekhota - lustful, and Aesov - the “egg master” ^[6] . According to one version, Jacob is the Christian name of Radoslav, and Hoteslav responded to his brother’s request in this way. On the other hand, Jacob is, on the contrary, Hodeslav, and Radoslav decided to add a rude-comic greeting to his brother to the message written by the scribe (this is supported by the fact that two abusive words resemble the name Hoteslav together ) ^[7] .

• Diploma from Novgorod number 955 (XII century.).

This letter from the matchmaker to Marene, a noble lady of ancient Novgorod, was found in 2005. The matchmaker Milusha writes that it would be time for Big Spit (apparently, the daughter of Marena) to marry a certain Snovid and adds: “Let them drink the vagina and the clitoris” ( sing pussy and sniff ). ; a similar text is found in the folk "shameful" ditties performed during the wedding, and from the lips of the matchmaker it is a wish for the wedding to take place ^[8] .

• Letter from Novgorod number 531 (beginning of the 13th century, [1] ).

One of the longest letters written on both sides of the birch bark. A certain Anna asks her brother to stand up in front of Kosnyatin for herself and her daughter. She complains that a certain Kosnyatin, having accused her of some kind of "surety" (probably of a financial nature), called her a curtain, and a daughter whores: "... you called her a cow and a docer ...". In the letter, the woman made a lot of misprints, skipping, in particular, in this phrase, the letter u in the word Kourovoy ^[9] and with sstroyu ; most likely, this suggests that we face an autograph written in emotional arousal. The word fuck (derived from fornication ) at that time was not obscene (it is also found in Church Slavonic texts), but a neutral designation of a prostitute, a harlot; publicly naming a married woman as a whore under Russian law was an insult to honor and dignity, cf. in the Russian Pravda : “How can anyone call a fucking wife, and there will be a boyar's wife, a great boyar, for sraem e 5 hryvnia gold, and a metropolitan 5 hryvnia gold, and the prince to execute; and there will be a minor boyar, for shame of it and 3 hryvnia of gold, and for a metropolitan, 3 hryvnia of gold; and Auger will be the town people, for the litter of 3 hryvnia Sberra or ruble, and the Metropolitan too; and the rural woman is 60, and the metropolitan is 3 hryvnia. ”

A.V. Chernyshev distributes "key terms of the obscene lexicon" into three groups:

• denoting male and female sexual organs and denoting sexual intercourse;
• transferring the value of the genital organs and sexual intercourse per person as a naming item;
• in a deliberately coarsened form of borrowing from the "cultural speech" ( condom , pederast ).

V.M. Mokienko considers this classification to be too generalized and offers its own, more detailed, classification of Russian swear words and phraseology. The terms “ expletive vocabulary ” and “ obscene vocabulary ” are understood as mutually intersecting, though not completely identical. Abusive words are offensive, abusive words, while obscene vocabulary is coarse vulgar expressions, taboo words. The main feature that inextricably links these two lexical groups is an emotionally expressive reaction to unexpected and unpleasant events, words, actions, etc.

The researcher classifies Russian language vocabulary by functional-thematic principle, highlighting the following main groups:

• Names of persons with markedly negative characteristics of the type:
  • stupid, incomprehensible man;
  • mean, low man;
  • worthless man, nothingness;
  • prostitute, sales woman.
• The names of "indecent", socially taboo body parts - "shameful words."
• Names of the process of committing sexual intercourse.
• Names of physiological functions (functions).
• The names of the "results" of physiological functions.

V.M. Mokienko indicates that these groups of expletive and obscene vocabulary are generally represented in almost all languages. As for the national peculiarities of expletive vocabulary, in his opinion, they are associated with combinatorics and the frequency of lexemes of a certain type in each specific language.

Based on these criteria, the author speaks of two main types of foul language of European languages:

• “Sexual” type (Sex-culture);
• “Anal-excremental” type (Scheiss-culture).

In this regard, in his opinion, the Russian , Serbian , Croatian , Bulgarian and other “obscene-expressive” lexical systems belong to the first type, while the Czech , German , English , French - to the second.

The national identity of the Russian language is not in the very set of vocabulary, but in its frequency distribution. The core of Russian swearing, as all researchers note, is a very frequent "sexual" triad (obscene triad): prick - cunt - fuck . The number of derivatives of the given derivational bases and the euphemisms used to replace them is truly incalculable, for they are constantly generated by lively speech. Extremely actively the same triad is used in phraseology.

V. I. Zhelvis distinguishes 27 functions of injective lexicon, although here primary and secondary functions are sometimes mixed, and the division sometimes looks too fractional ^[10] :

1. as a means of expressing the profane beginning opposed to the beginning of the sacred
2. cathartic ,
3. means of lowering the social status of the addressee,
4. a means of establishing contact between equal people
5. friendly teasing or cheering,
6. "Duel" means
7. expresses the ratio of the two to the third as a scapegoat,
8. cryptographic function (like a password)
9. for self-invigoration,
10. for self-deprecation,
11. Introduce yourself as a "man without prejudice,"
12. realization of the “elitism of the cultural position through its denial”,
13. a symbol of sympathy for the oppressed classes,
14. narrative group - drawing attention,
15. apotropic function - “confuse”,
16. transfer of the opponent to the power of evil forces
17. magic function
18. a sense of power over the "demon of sexuality"
19. demonstration of the gender of the speaker,
20. eschrological function (ritual speech invection),
21. in psychoanalysis is used to treat nerve disorders,
22. pathological foul language
23. Invective as art,
24. Invective as a riot,
25. as a means of verbal aggression,
26. division into allowed and unresolved groups,
27. as an interjection.

Scientists from the University of Kiel when studying the brain's reaction to foul language found that it helps reduce pain and increases its ability to overcome. In the course of the experiment, the subjects lowered their hands in ice-cold water (test for cold pressor pain resistance ) and pronounced curses at that time of their choice. Another group was forbidden to scold, but allowed to pronounce neutral words. The former were able to keep their hands in icy water for an average of two minutes, the latter - only 75 seconds. The conclusion of the researchers: obscene language may have analgesic effect ^[11] .

A strict ban on the public use of obscene vocabulary and phraseology , ideographically and semantically related to the forbidden topic of sex and the sexual sphere, was supported by the Orthodox Church, and in Modern times by the school and other cultural institutions.

Despite the prevalence of obscene expressions in all layers of Russian society at all stages of its history, in Russia there has traditionally been a taboo on the use of obscene vocabulary in printed form (hence, obviously, the name “obscene language” comes from). This taboo has weakened somewhat lately due to the democratization of society and the weakening of state control over the print sphere (the first in Russian history to abolish censorship for a long time), changes in public morality after the collapse of the USSR , the mass publication of literary works and correspondence of recognized Russian classics, writers -dissidents and current postmodernists. The lifting of the ban on coverage of certain topics and social groups has led to an expansion of the scope of acceptable vocabulary in writing. Mat and slang came into vogue , becoming one of the means of PR .

Using obscene vocabulary in art and media

Tabooing obscene vocabulary is a phenomenon relatively later: even in documents and correspondence of Peter the Great , it is found relatively freely. However, by the second half of the 18th century, its use in print media was no longer possible, and Ivan Barkov’s poems widely used in obscene language were distributed exclusively in lists. Throughout the 19th century, obscene vocabulary also remained the lot of the “unofficial” part of the creative heritage of poets and writers: obscene epigrams and satirical poems of Pushkin , Lermontov and other authors were not published by themselves and were not published in Russia in general (political emigrants from Russia began to publish them in Europe only in the second half of the XIX century). For example, one of Pushkin's obscene poems:

  At the Academy of Sciences
                Sits Prince Dunduk .
                They say, not according to merit
                Dunduk is such an honor.
                Why is he sitting?
                Because there is an ass.

The tasks of artistic development of obscene vocabulary were set by the writers of Russian samizdat , starting with Yuz Aleshkovsky .

Since the 1990s when censorship bans disappeared, obscene vocabulary penetrates literature more widely, being used in various functions. The simplest of these functions is a realistic transfer of colloquial speech: if people are cursing in life, then it would be strange if exactly the same people did not do this in books. Some authors do not abuse characters in obscene vocabulary (as in the books of Victor Pelevin, it is almost always present, but in very small quantities), in others characters abound in strong expressions (as in the novels of Bayan Shiryanov from the lives of drug addicts, heroes, in accordance with the principle of life truth do not hesitate in expressions). In a number of other cases, writers use obscene vocabulary with more complex goals: in Hermann Lukomnikov’s poetry, obscene vocabulary is often used to recreate the atmosphere of a carnival (as understood by M. M. Bakhtin ), while in Shish Bryansky’s poems an attempt is made to resurrect and at the same time parody the ancient sacral function invective lexicon, its relation to key pagan rituals (above all, initiation ). Obscene vocabulary in conjunction with the surzhik is present in the satirical and comedy plays of Les Podervyansky (in Ukrainian Les Poderviansky), where it helps to make them more real, to show that the heroes belong to certain segments of the population.

Obscene vocabulary in toponymy

According to the calculations of V. D. Nazarov ^[12] , an incomplete study of the sources of the XV - XVI centuries allows to identify for that time 67 Russian toponymic names (about 0.1%) derived from obscene vocabulary. Here are the main names given by him:

• Parish:
  • Elda (Uglichskiy uyezd)
  • Zalupitsy (Vyazemsky district).
• Localities (villages, repairs and former settlements - settlements and wastelands) :
  • Bezdelevo; Bzdihina Polyana (village), Bzdihino, Bzdunishka, Bzdunovo;
  • Govenkovo;
  • Perdilovo, Perdunov repairs, Perdunovo, Perdukhino, Perdyakin repairs;
  • Blyadtsovo;
  • Bezmudova;
  • Eldanitsy, Eldahova, Yeldeno;
  • Kujarovo;
  • Mandino, Mandyrevo;
  • Mudishchevo, Mudovo, Mudokovo, Mudynin fixes;
  • Pezdelka, Pezdelovo, Pezdlevo, Pezdlevo-Dolgoe, Pezdlevskaya (Pezdleva);
  • Pizdenkovo, Pizdino, Pizdoklein fixes, Pizdyurino;
  • Huikovo, Huyankov repairs;
  • Ebehovo (“Opikhalovo identity”), Ebshino;
  • Yerbalovo;
  • Pobitsitsa, Povyblo repairs.
• Rivers:
  • Blyadeya, Blyadka (she is Blyadeyka), Ebotenka, Eldakhova (cf. village), Mudovka, Fuck, Nenebuha, Pizdurk.
• Roads:
  • Bzdekhovskaya road, Mandinsky path.

Also mentioned is the terrain of Goveinov Zayolok and Blädeyskiy Otverkhek (ravine).

It should be noted that a number of names are formed from personal names, and thus give an idea also about obscene vocabulary in anthroponymy, telling us about the existence of people with names: Bzdiha, Perdun, Perdyak, Mudynya, Huyanok, etc.

As noted in the article of V.M. Mokienko “Russian expletive vocabulary: censorship and obscene” (1994), foreign researchers mainly engaged in active theoretical studies of Russian obscene vocabulary in the XX century. Since the late 1970s, a number of articles and monographs on this topic have been published in the West. Since the beginning of perestroika, several lexicographical reference books were issued in the USA - they were already characterized by practical orientation, the desire to “replenish lexical baggage” of Russian students studying standard literary Russian texts, to facilitate live communication with Russians for them.

The beginning of Russian research in this area was the work of B. A. Uspensky and V. Bykov, which also went abroad. An article by Yu. I. Levin “On obstennyh expressions of the Russian language”, first published abroad in 1986 and included in the Russian volume of selected works of the scientist (1998) ^[13] , is devoted to the structural analysis of obscenate statements. One of the first researchers of the Russian mat is T. V. Akhmetova, who in the sixties defended her thesis on this topic, which immediately after the defense was sent to the special storage of the Lenin Library and was issued only with special permission. In the seventies she defended her doctoral thesis on the same topic. In 1996 she published a book ^[14] . В 1998 российские исследователи Анатолий Баранов и Дмитрий Добровольский выпустили словарь «Русская заветная идиоматика».

В 1997 появилась в России научная монография, посвященная проблемам сквернословия, написанная доктором филологических наук профессором В. И. Жельвисом «Поле брани. Сквернословие как социальная проблема» (переиздана в 2001). Книга В. Ю. Михайлина «Русский мат как мужской обсценный код: проблема происхождения и эволюция статуса» вышла в 2003 году (журнальная публикация первой редакции — в 2000 г. в « Новом литературном обозрении »).

Критическому анализу словарей русского мата посвящена статья А. Плуцера-Сарно «Матерный словарь как феномен русской культуры». Здесь же приводится библиография лексикографических источников за период 1970—1996 годы. В 2001—2005 гг. Плуцер-Сарно издал первый («Лексические и фразеологические значения слова „хуй“») и второй («Опыт построения справочно-библиографической базы данных лексических и фразеологических значений слова „пизда“») тома 12-томного «Словаря русского мата», который он составляет в течение 25 лет.

Исследователь русского народного творчества А. Н. Афанасьев собрал матерные образцы русского фольклора и опубликовал в книге «Русские заветные сказки».

• Арго
• Обсценная лексика в берестяных грамотах
• Вульгаризм
• Латинская нецензурная лексика
• Русский мат
• Сленг

Список в основном взят из статьи В. М. Мокиенко

• Мат в каталоге ссылок Open Directory Project (dmoz)
• В. М. Мокиенко «Русская бранная лексика: цензурное и нецензурное» (Русистика. — Берлин, 1994, № 1/2)
• Цена слова , телепередача «Хмурое утро»
• ФЗ «О государственном языке Российской Федерации»
• Мат как инструмент современной журналистики (канал ТВ-6) на YouTube
• Почему мат не русский. Где лежат ключи к тайнам русского языка (День ТВ) на YouTube