Slavic swear words. Old Russian curses

The Russian language is damn rich, including swearing, name-calling and offensive epithets. And in our speech we use only a small part of the opportunities provided to us. Well, who can you surprise with a “fool”, “beast” or “stupid”. Or you can call a person (only the one who really deserves it, of course) in such a way that he will definitely understand that he has just been called, but who exactly is not entirely clear. You are guaranteed to be taken aback, attract attention, interest, and then respect and admiration if you use in your speech the riches that the ancient Russian language and various dialects gave us.

Name calling about intelligence

Balamoshka - crazy, fool

Divine - thin-minded, bad

Bozhedurie- a fool by nature

Korolovy - strong-headed, stupid, stupid

Lobodyrny is an imbecile

Mezheumok - a person of very average intelligence

Mordofilya is a fool, and a arrogant one at that

Negorazdok- narrow-minded

Name calling about appearance

Pentyukh - a pot-bellied man with a prominent stern in addition

Bezpelyuha, tyuryukhailo- slob

Vile - disgusting, smelly

Zatetekha - a portly woman

Zaguzastka - a round, fat woman with a big butt

Erpyl - short

Sloth - unkempt, slob, disheveled

Shpyn head- a man with a mess on his head

Fuflyga - a nondescript little man

Name calling about character

Marakusha is a nasty person

Khobyak, Mikhryutka, Sivolap - clumsy, awkward

The wee-tail is a fidgety girl, she has an itching in one place (the tail is the butt). She's the Squealer

Ashcheul - mockingbird, scoffer

Wind racer - a cantankerous woman

Balyaba - weakling, weakling

Belebenya, Lyabzya - empty weaver

Bobynya, Bunya - inflated, swaggering

Delirious - talkative, talkative (from the word “delirium”, as you understand)

Kolotovka is a pugnacious and grumpy woman. She is also Kulda

Guzynya or Ryuma - crybaby, roar

Pynya - a proud, inflated, inaccessible woman

Pyatiguz- an unreliable person, literally can be translated as “five-ass”

Raschekolda - talkative woman

Popreshnitsa is a woman whom you don’t feed with bread, let me bet

Sumumu - falsely wise

Kosterya, kropot, skapyzhnik - grouch, grumbler

Shinora - sneaky

Name calling about behavior

Volochayka, Gulnya, Yonda, Bezsoromna - all this splendor of epithets is dedicated to dissolute women

Bzyrya, Whore, Buslay - a mad rake, a reveler

Valandai, Kolobrod, Muhoblud- slacker, lazybones

Eyeball - curious

Stove sled - lazy

Corpse - a clumsy woman

Darkness - active ignoramus

Erohvost - bully, arguer

Yora is a mischievous, quick-tongued woman

Kiselyay, kolupai - a sluggish, slow person

Shlynda - tramp, parasite

Potatouy - sycophant

Nasupa- gloomy, gloomy

And more good synonyms for familiar words

Vymesok is a geek

Whipping - half-baked

Sdergoumka - idiot

Knitting tail- gossip girl

Loja is a fool

Dumbfounded, dumbfounded, nonsensical, half-hearted - a fool

Shavrik is a piece of shit

Okay - scumbag

Kuroshup is a womanizer

The rope devil is a psycho

Oblud, blown - a liar

Oguryala, okhalnik - a disgrace and a hooligan

Snyagolov - daredevil

Fast-spitting - chatterbox

Tartyga - drunkard

Tues - stupid

Even before the “invention” swear words in Rus' there was a huge layer of vocabulary that was used for swearing. She was in use like ordinary people(craftsmen, peasants, servants in the chambers of the nobility), and among more educated, even high-ranking persons (interpreters (translators), teachers, boyars, princes). These words were not indecent or taboo vocabulary, so they were freely used in everyday life.

From the animal world

The simplest curses were formed from the names of animals (“cattle”, “worm”, “dog”, “goat”, etc.). If a person used one or more such curses in relation to any person, he equated the latter with a creature of lower development and considered him unworthy high rank person. Low people were usually condemned this way moral qualities or insufficient mental development of the person being called names.

Otherworldly forces

Very carefully, but still, words denoting otherworldly forces were used for curses: “witch”, “devil”, “demon”, etc. But they tried not to overuse such words so as not to cause trouble. It was believed that remembering the name of the unclean could attract him to this world, to the person who called him. A woman could be called a “witch” only in their hearts, when they became very angry, when emotions clearly prevailed over caution.

Unique tokens

In addition to the names of animals, the Slavs widely used unique “abusive” vocabulary. For example, such as “ashcheul” (snarler and mocker), “basalai” ( rude man, ignorant, rude). These words had a bright emotional coloring for our ancestors, but over the centuries they stopped being used and lost their flavor and meaning. Many of the ancient Slavic curses are completely incomprehensible to modern people.

Very small quantity words are still used in different dialects, and their speakers understand perfectly well what they are talking about. For example: “balamoshka” (crazy, stupid, fool), “pentyukh” (a fat, flabby man with a big belly and large buttocks), etc. Other – unique and very colorful – words gradually lost their meaning and were forgotten. It is only thanks to philologists and researchers of the Russian language that they have now been restored:

Bozhedurie(also: lud, stupid, foolish, stupid, dumbfounded, thick-headed, slut) - a fool from God, a fool, an idiot;
Balakhvost- a man who chases after all the women in a row;
Bezpelyuha- a clumsy person, and also a slob;
Bzyrya- reveler, rake;
Boldir(aka eropka or bunya) - a person with huge conceit, arrogant and inflated;
Brydly- disgusting person, vile;
Valandai is a quitter;
Squealer(aka sverbiguzka) - a young girl who cannot sit still, a fidget;

Vymesok- moral monster, degenerate;
Knitting tail- a woman who spreads gossip throughout the area;
Eyesaw– the one who stares is overly curious;
Gulnya(aka yonda, volochayka, shlenda, mommy, plekha and bezsoromna baba) - a walking woman, literally a prostitute;
Furtail- the one who doesn’t need bread, but just let him argue on any topic;
Erpyl- a short, hasty little man;
Zaguzatka - a fat girl (or married woman) with a huge butt;
Zavinnik- the one who squeezes the girls behind the barn is a red tape man;
Zatetekha– a tall and very large woman;
Zahukhrya– an unkempt girl or a man who doesn’t take care of his appearance;
Kashchei(aka stingy) - miser, greedy;
Kolobrod- slacker;

Kolotovka(or kuelda) - a stupid and grumpy woman who, moreover, can raise her hand against an offender;
Kiselyai(aka kolupai) - a sluggish, very slow person who is of little use;
Loshy– worthless, bad;
Lyabzya- idle talker;
Mikhryutka– a very clumsy person;
Mordofilya- a fool, and also boastful, arrogant;
Moskolud- prankster;
Nasupa(aka nasuponya) – an angry person, gloomy;
It was blowing– a person with whom you should not deal, a deceiver;
Bummer- rude;
Okoloten– a disobedient child/young man, a fool at that;
Okhalnik – a prankster who commits all sorts of obscenities, a disgraceful person;
Stove valley(he also bakes) - the one who does not get off the stove, i.e. lazy;
Hollowbrah– a liar or simply a talker;
Pynya is a woman who carries herself highly, unapproachable, very proud;
Raztetyokha is a very fat and clumsy woman;

A scraped snout is a man with a shaved beard, which was considered shameful in Rus';
Bitch – literally “carrion”, the last of the last, a worthless little man;
The Fearman is a terribly ugly person, such that people become afraid of him;

Tartyra is the one who likes to take a drink of the bottle and then gets into a drunken row;
Corpse is a clumsy, clumsy woman;
Tyuryukhailo is a very sloppy, sloppy person;
Fofan – stupid man easy to deceive, simpleton;
Khmysten is a thief;
Alien eater (or shlynda) - one who lives at someone else's expense, a parasite, a parasite;
rogue - a person who is of little use, dissolute.

And this is only part of the offensive and offensive words that the Russian people came up with to mean low qualities person.

In ancient Rus', curses were called “obscene verbs” (meaning: bad words).

Some of them, especially foreign origin, have a completely noble pedigree.
Take, for example, the word “idiot.” It comes from the Greek “idios” - peculiar, special. This is precisely the meaning that Dostoevsky put into the title of his famous novel: Prince Myshkin is an “idiot” in the sense that he is an unusual person, an original personality who stands out sharply from the surrounding society. Okhlamon comes from the Greek “ochlos” (crowd), and literally means “leader of the crowd.” In the Roman Empire, idiots were called poor citizens who received daily from the state financial assistance- 1 obol (the smallest coin). Many Russian words, which are now classified as obscene, also had a different meaning. Let’s take the now dirty word “infection.” About 250 years ago this was a flattering compliment for a lady. In those days, to say: “What a pest you are!” meant admitting: “What a charm you are, sheer charm!” Poems of the first poets half of the XVIII centuries are replete with these dear “infections”. And all because the word “infect” originally meant “to defeat, kill.” In the Novgorod First Chronicle under the year 1117 we read: “One of the clerks was infected by thunder,” i.e. one clerk was killed by lightning. According to the natural flow of thoughts, the word “infection” over time began to mean women’s charms, with which they “infected” (outright killed) men.

The word “ass” in Russian Pravda literally meant “inheritance”, what a person leaves behind (behind) himself. It is known from the chronicle that in 1147 the people of Kiev staged a rebellion and declared: “We don’t want to be in the princes’ asses.” This should be understood not in the sense that, they say, we don’t want to be in the princes’ butt, but: we don’t want to pass from prince to prince, like a thing by inheritance. In other words, the Kiev veche wanted to choose its own princes.

Let’s finish this short excursion with a “freak”, which in ancient Slavic means handsome, one who was born to glory. This old meaning is preserved in Polish and some other languages. Tell the beauties there: “You’re my freak!” - and they will be overwhelmed with pleasure.

The meaning of some:

Cretin.
If we were transported somewhere five or six centuries ago to the mountainous region of the French Alps and addressed the local residents: “Hello, cretins!”, no one would throw you into the abyss for this. Why be offended - in the local dialect the word cretin is quite decent and is translated as ... “Christian” (from the distorted French chretien). That was until they began to notice that among the Alpine cretins there were often mentally retarded people with a characteristic goiter on the neck. Later it turned out that in mountainous areas there is often a lack of iodine in the water, as a result of which the activity of the thyroid gland is disrupted, with all the ensuing consequences. When doctors began to describe this disease, they decided not to invent anything new and used the dialect word “cretin,” which was extremely rarely used. So the Alpine “Christians” became “feeble-minded.”

Blockhead
In Rus', “blockheads” were called stone or wooden pagan idols, as well as the source material or workpiece itself - be it stone or wood (cf. Czech balvan - “block” or Serbo-Croatian “balvan” - “log, beam”). It is believed that the word itself came to Slavic languages from Turkic.

Fool
Very for a long time the word "fool" was not offensive. In documents of the 15th–17th centuries. this word occurs as a name. And these names are not slaves at all, but quite respectable people - “Prince Fyodor Semenovich Fool of Kemsky”, “Prince Ivan Ivanovich the Bearded Fool Zasekin”, “Moscow clerk Fool Mishurin”. Countless “stupid” surnames began from those same times - Durov, Durakov, Durnovo...
But the fact is that the word “fool” was often used as a second non-church name. In the old days, it was popular to give a child a middle name in order to deceive evil spirits - they say, what can you take from a fool?

Loch
This now very popular word, two centuries ago, was in use only among residents of the Russian north and they did not call people, but fish. Many people have probably heard how courageously and persistently the famous salmon goes to its spawning site. Rising against the current, it overcomes even steep rocky rapids. It is clear that having reached and spawned, the fish loses last strength(as they said, “she gets blown off”) and the wounded one is literally carried downstream. And there, naturally, cunning fishermen are waiting for her and take her, as they say, with their bare hands.

Sharomyzhnik
1812 Previously undefeated Napoleonic army, exhausted by the cold and the partisans, retreated from Russia. The brave “conquerors of Europe” turned into frozen and hungry ragamuffins. Now they did not demand, but humbly asked the Russian peasants for something to eat, addressing them “cher ami” (“dear friend”). Peasants, in foreign languages not strong, so they nicknamed the French beggars - “sharomyzhniki”. Apparently, the Russian words “rummaging” and “mykat” also played an important role in these metamorphoses.

Shval
Since peasants were not always able to provide “humanitarian aid” to the former occupiers, they often included horse meat in their diet, including dead horse meat. In French, horse is cheval (hence, by the way, the well-known word “chevalier” - knight, rider). However, the Russians, who did not see much chivalry in eating horses, dubbed the pathetic French with the word “trash,” in the sense of “rabble.”

Shantrapa
Not all French made it to France. The Russian nobles brought many of them into captivity into their service. Of course, they were not suitable for the harvest, but as tutors, teachers and leaders of serf theaters they came in handy. They examined those sent to the peasants and, if they did not see any talent in the applicant, they waved their hand and said “Chantra pas” (“not fit for singing”).

Scoundrel
But this word is Polish in origin and simply means “a simple, humble person.” So, famous play A. Ostrovsky’s “Simplicity is enough for every wise man” was shown in Polish theaters under the title “Notes of a Scoundrel.” Accordingly, all non-gentry belonged to the “vile people”.

Rogue
“Rogue”, “rogue” are words that came into our speech from Germany. The German schelmen meant “swindler, deceiver.” Most often, this was the name given to a fraudster posing as another person. In G. Heine’s poem “Shelm von Berger,” this role is played by the Bergen executioner, who came to a social masquerade, pretending to be a noble person. The Duchess with whom he danced caught the deceiver by tearing off his mask.

Mymra
“Mymra” is a Komi-Permyak word and it is translated as “gloomy”. Once in Russian speech, it began to mean, first of all, an uncommunicative homebody (in Dahl’s dictionary it is written: “to die - to sit at home forever”). Gradually, “mymra” began to be called simply an unsociable, boring, gray and gloomy person.

Bastard
“Svolochati” is the same thing in Old Russian as “svolochati”. Therefore, bastard was originally called all kinds of garbage that was raked into a heap. This meaning (among others) is also preserved by Dahl: “Bastard is everything that has been dragged or dragged into one place: weeds, grass and roots, rubbish dragged by a harrow from arable land.” Over time, this word began to define ANY crowd gathered in one place. And only then they began to call it all sorts of despicable people - drunks, thieves, tramps and other asocial elements.

Scumbag
Another word that originally existed exclusively in the plural. It couldn’t have been otherwise, since “scum” was the name given to the remaining liquid remaining at the bottom along with the sediment. And since all sorts of rabble often hung around the taverns and taverns, drinking up the muddy remains of alcohol after other visitors, the word “scum” soon passed on to them. It is also possible that the expression “scum of society” played a significant role here, that is, degraded people who are “at the bottom.”

Bastard
The word “hybrid,” as we know, is non-Russian and entered the popular arsenal quite late. Much later than the hybrids themselves - crosses of different animal species. So people came up with the words “bastard” and “geek” for such crosses. The words did not stay long in the animal sphere and began to be used as a humiliating name for bastards and bastards, that is, a “cross between” nobles and commoners.

Insolent
The words “impudence”, “arrogant” existed for quite a long time in the Russian language in the meaning of “sudden, impetuous, explosive, passionate”. Happened in Ancient Rus' and the concept of “brazen death,” that is, death is not slow, natural, but sudden, violent. In an ecclesiastical work of the 11th century “ Chetyi Menaia“There are the following lines: “The horses raced brazenly”, “I drowned the rivers brazenly” (brazenly, that is, quickly).

Vulgar
“Vulgarity” is an original Russian word, which is rooted in the verb “went”. Until the 17th century, it was used in a more than decent meaning and meant everything familiar, traditional, done according to custom, that which HAS HAPPENED from time immemorial. However, in late XVII - early XVIII centuries, Peter's reforms began, opening a window to Europe and the fight against all ancient “vulgar” customs. The word “vulgar” began to lose respect before our eyes and now increasingly meant “backward,” “hateful,” “uncultured,” “simple.”

Scoundrel
The etymology of “scoundrel” goes back to the word “frozen.” Cold, even for northern peoples, does not evoke any pleasant associations, so a cold, insensitive, indifferent, callous, inhumane... in general, an extremely (to the point of trembling!) unpleasant subject began to be called a “scoundrel.” The word “scum,” by the way, comes from the same place. Just like the now popular “scumbags”.

Scoundrel
The fact that this is a person unfit for something is, in general, understandable. But in the 19th century, when conscription was introduced in Russia, this word was not an insult. This was the name given to people unfit for military service. That is, if you haven’t served in the army, that means you’re a scoundrel!

Schmuck
“Chmarit”, “chmyrit”, according to Dahl, originally meant “to languish”, “to be in need”, “to vegetate”. Gradually, a noun was formed from this verb, defining a pitiful person in a humiliated, oppressed state. In the prison world, prone to all kinds of secret codes, the word “ChMO” began to be considered as an abbreviation for the definition of “Morally Degenerated Person,” which, however, is completely not far from the original meaning.

Redneck
There is a theory that at first those who drank greedily and choked were called “rednecks.” One way or another, the first reliably known meaning of this word is “greedy, stingy.” And even now the expression “Don’t be mean!” means "Don't be greedy!"

Old Russian curses and comments to them