No need to think about the alarm that this word is out of date

The problem of operative communication in the conditions of a military threat or a natural disaster faced people for many centuries before the advent of radio equipment. Solved it in different ways. North American Indians lit fires, giving smoke with information about the approach of the enemy, and a signal for an attack they had a loud cry. About the same way, other nations in the Old World also acted. In one Japanese city, the mayor in the century before last set fire to several houses to warn residents about the approaching tsunami wave that he saw from the mountain, while almost all people worked in the lowland and did not know about the danger.

In Rus, a signal for mobilization, a general gathering and the beginning of the offensive, was a toll. What is this, and where did this word come from?

Military alarm

The Turkic word nauba means the guard. In the East, in ancient times, an indispensable attribute of these service people was a large copper dish, when struck against which arose a loud ringing, an alarm. There and then a new word "naumbat" arose, designating this simple device for alerting. Mutual enrichment with experience did not always happen in a peaceful environment, but Russian people willingly took on someone else's useful experience, even the enemy. The same device used Slavic troops, only slightly increased it in size and installed on a special stand or suspension, which was transported on a special wagon. Operational control of the troops, namely the signal to attack, was delivered with a blow on the plate. At the same time in the Russian language appeared the word "Naubat", followed by special military people, nabatchiki. Codes like the Morse code were not yet invented, but each of the soldiers understood (if the alarm sounded) that it was a notification of the need to prepare for serious events.

Resignation of the military alarm

This military notifying Turkish invention served in the Russian army for a long time, but in the XVIII century he was given the resignation. The great reformer Peter I also willingly borrowed all sorts of innovations, but gave preference to the Western. So he decided, after glancing once at the alarm, that this device was too large and impractical. The Dutch or the English would not have taken a huge copper plate to the places of battles, which required four good horses for transportation, Europeans managed drums, mines and other compact means at the time. The alarm bell in the new Russian army was excluded from the charters and statutes. But from everyday life it was not possible to remove it even from Peter the Great.

Inaudible alarm

In a peaceful life, too, there were various troubles. The country house could catch fire from an unlucky candle or a ray, the village was sometimes attacked by evil people, robbers. In these and other cases, it was customary to strike the alarm, that is, to make loud sounds in every possible way in order to attract attention to the widest possible audience. Used for this most voiced objects, which at the time of the problem was access. Since in most houses of rural residents of Russia (and they constituted a large part of the population) in the 17th and 18th centuries large metal objects were not very often met, they turned to God, or rather to his earthly missions - churches. The bell alarm was audible far away, and on frequent and uneasy ringing at an inopportune time people understood that a disaster had happened. All rushed to the rescue, and often managed to provide it in time.

How to sound the alarm today

Today, imagine that a loud bell can be a signal of alarm, it is difficult, although in an emergency it happens. However, in the figurative, figurative sense, the very expression "to ring to the alarm" is often used. What this means, despite many centuries past, remember almost everything. Someone is trying to commit a crime, and this should be reported to those against whom it is plotted. There is a threat of ecology, which the general public is not aware of. Politicians who pretend to be "knights in white clothes" are actually rascals and thieves. And there are many situations where every decent person is simply obliged, manifesting his civic position, not to think about arrows that will fly to him immediately, as soon as he hits the alarm.