How is it written: "mattress" or "mattress"? Value and examples of using words

How much speech for us means ... Our language is not a physical organ, but nonetheless an inanimate part of our body, without which it would be very difficult for us to live, practically without a soul. With the help of words, we express our feelings and teach the children, communicate with neighbors and travel the world. We and the language are inseparable things.

Prehistory

Not only many people took part in the formation of the language, but many generations, making changes and adjusting the speech according to the situation and the events around them. You can safely say that everyone has a history, without exception, words. The influence of those peoples who were close to the Russian-speaking population, on his speech is enormous. The society lived, actively cooperating. Trade and art, science and war contributed to this. Everything that humanity has lived through for hundreds of thousands of years has been reflected in our language. Sent to us by ancestors through the language, the layers of information lie in banal, familiar from childhood words.

Question

One of them is a "mattress". Or a "mattress"? How to write this word correctly? A couple of decades ago, no one would have doubts, the school had strict rules for writing this word. Now everything is simpler. Or more difficult?

So at once you will not tell. The abolition of strict rules, in theory, should make the language easier, but it was not there. How to write a trivial, at first glance, word, know not all. Doubting in their own knowledge more and more. Since it is correct: "mattress" or "mattress"?

Answer

The answer is trite to the point of obscenity. That's right, and so, and so. Write as you like. This is how grammar is interpreted by the new rules of the Russian language. Agree, a somewhat uncertain for us statement. We got used to school that every word has a clear spelling and there should not be any improvisations.

It was this nuance that created so many difficulties for foreigners trying to learn our language. Not the ratio of pronunciation and writing leads many into a stupor. The vocabulary words that are required to be taught by the hundreds fill the brain with information in which it is difficult for a foreigner not to get confused.

History

But let's return to the question put earlier: how is it written - "mattress" or "mattress"? Which letter to put at the end of the word, denoting a soft mat on the bed? Maybe this is affected by the context? Why in our written speech it became possible to write a word in two versions, we will answer later, and now a short digression into the history of the word that appeared in our speech relatively recently (from a historical point of view).

Peter I

Paradoxically, but without the most famous Russian innovator, this has not been done. Peter I, who changed the country, made to shave his beard, demanded the decoration of the bedrooms to transform. So in our life together with the European fashion design of premises has entered also. Before that, it was customary in Russia to sleep on the shelves (wooden bench). No feather mattresses or mattresses wadded to the Petrine times did not use. Everything was simple and concise. In fairness, it must be said that even after Peter's innovations, this bed attribute did not go into every house. Until the twentieth century ordinary peasants continued to spend the night on benches and stoves. Obligatory this subject became for people from the upper class. Filled it more often with down swans, and it was very expensive. A mattress or mattress, in this context, is not so significant, was considered a mandatory item included in the dowry set of any well-off bride.

Dutch period

It is not difficult to guess that Peter borrowed this word, like the subject itself from the Dutch, or more precisely, from the Netherlands, where he studied shipboarding. He lived there enough to appreciate all the charm of soft litter containing mochalo (bark lime), hair or wool. They could also contain straw or hay in their bowels. In general, it was something that was put on a bed for sleep. Another term, actively used in relation to this subject, was the word "mattress". In Russian, he had one more value, which has nothing to do with sleep and comfort. So designated one of the types of firearms. It seems that, for this reason, the word did not get fixed for bedding, giving way to the word of foreign origin.

In the language of the people of the Netherlands, the word is written as matras. It is from this word our "mattress" turned out. This type of borrowing is called transliteration, when the word is introduced into the language in the form of a term rewritten in Russian letters. That is, in view of the fact that there is a letter "c" at the end of the Dutch (Dutch) word, it is also in our word "mattress".

German Period

From the above, we can conclude that it is correct to write a mattress. Or is the mattress appropriate? After all, it was with "c" at the end that this word was added to Dahl's dictionary. Why? The answer is the same in the history. And if to be precise to the end, then in a huge number of Germans who came to our country after Peter I "cut through" the window to Europe. Naturally, the language was given a tremendous impact, and the correction was made earlier. The fact is that German and Dutch have one base, namely they are the languages of the West German group, the South German subgroup. The difference, in principle, is insignificant, most often due to dialect. It is said a little rudely, more precisely, too broadly, but the principle is correct. The proof is the word "mattress". Or "mattress", to whom you like. In German it is written as Matratze. It is perfectly clear that the difference is exclusively in the end. In the German version, tze is nothing more than "ts" in Russian. In this case, linguists used a slightly different kind of translation, namely transcription. Or, as it is also called, phonetic. That is, the Germans, pronouncing the Dutch word "mattress" in their own way, put in the end the letter "c" rather than "c".

This inconsistency and mislead those who at one time compiled dictionaries and systematized information about the Russian language. So in different dictionaries appeared that and another form of writing this word. Therefore, it does not make any difference that you make sheets at home - a mattress or a mattress. Spelling allows you to use both forms in speech. All for our convenience.