What is the meaning of the saying "Are they taking offended water"?

It is not necessary to study for a long time the numerous pages on the Internet devoted to this proverb, to be convinced of the amazing variety of its interpretations, sometimes very contradictory. Many people, confused, wonder, enter into a dispute, seeking an explanation of the saying "They carry water on the offended".

Why exactly "offended"

Is the meaning of the saying "Offended water carried" expresses a hint that "the offended", that is, deprived of something people, always gets the hardest and most ungrateful work? By the way, in the case of such an understanding, the saying is perceived as something self-evident, as banality. Or is it a kind of warning for these most "offended"? And why is it their destiny to carry water, rather than, say, cutting down firewood or cutting timber?

And how does this correspond to the assertion of the classic Explanatory Dictionary of SI Ozhegov that the expression "to carry someone on water" means to abuse his complaisant, kind character, loading a tedious and not prestigious job?

Proverb or proverb

But before you start to understand the meaning of the saying "They carry water on the offended," it does not stop to clarify what is being said: about the proverb or the proverb?

Even in this matter it is not so easy to achieve clarity. But these are different concepts.

To be precise, the proverb is a concise, rhythmically organized popular saying with an instructive meaning. A proverb is a truncated or underdeveloped proverb, which, as a rule, does not constitute a complete sentence. Example: "The devil on the cake".

One has to imagine that any walking expression, whether it's a proverb or a proverb, exists (walks between people) as a kind of living education. That is, it changes with them and with time, so it can acquire a new meaning, different from the original one.

Change of lexicon for 150 years

"The offended water is carried" - the meaning of the proverb, and its lexical composition has changed since it was recorded in 1867 in the "Explanatory Dictionary" by V. I. Dal "Proverbs and sayings of the Russian people." "Angry water is carried on a stubborn horse" - that's how it sounded 150 years ago.

How did the "angry" turn into "offended" and how do they differ from them? It turned out that many of our contemporaries do not feel the differences here and perceive these words as synonyms.

Angry, angry, even wicked - this is a man withdrawn from emotional balance. (Compare: "Angry with pots do not ride" or even "Gnevlivy with pots do not go"). Experts-linguists bring together the word "angry" with the word "heart" - disgruntled, do something in the hearts, that is, in anger, unreasonably. And according to Christian ideas, the heart is the place of concentration of anger, one of the seven deadly sins.

Angry or angry

The meaning of the proverb "Offended water carries" has one more meaning. If you dig deeper root root "angry" and angry, it turns out that "anger" in its origin is related to the word "fire". How can I extinguish the fire? It is flooded with water.

This is how the ancient and very profound explanation of the saying "To the offended carry water" is revealed. And in the worldly sense, she expressed a warning, a kind advice to a person, soon to anger, - to change their behavior, to extinguish their fervor. At the same time, the understanding that it is difficult to be a water-carrier is not canceled, and not one of the most honorable.

Museum of Water

And the explanation of the proverb "On the offended water carries" does not hold up at all in the exposition of the Museum of Water in St. Petersburg. It comes down to a simple illustration of domestic circumstances: rough, impolite water carriers, offending people, punished by forcing them to work for free. One would think that it was locomotives among all city workers who for some reason differed in particular intolerance (and where are the written evidence for this?) And the police were forced to watch and punish them specially.

The same "early" writing is given by the "legend" that unscrupulous water carriers changed the quality water, drawn from the full and clean Neva, to the troubled water from the Fontanka or Moika for profit, for which they were punished. It would not hurt the authors of such legends to take into consideration the consideration that water was transported not only in St. Petersburg.

Transformation of a word

But how did the transformation of the angry in the offended? The fact is that the word "angry" stands in one synonymic series with the word "touchy". And logically it is understandable: because unreasonably angry, angry, quick-tempered solely because of a bad character, a person easily becomes touchy without any apparent reasons.

And here again we have to talk about the linguistic deafness of our contemporaries, about inattention to the semantic nuances of the form of the word.

"Offensive" is a character trait of a person inclined to take offense, regardless of whether there is a reason for this. "Offended" - this is the one who obviously hurt, humiliated. And why did this man, already injured, once again offend - to carry water on it?

Not a man, but a horse

The meaning of the saying "They carry water to the offended" is sometimes transferred not to a person, but to a horse. Indeed, the water on a hot horse can not be taken to a place, splash along the road. For this work are suitable for meek, mostly old horses or geldings, that is, "offended". In Russian literature, the phrase "water-wagged nag" was often used in the sense: driven, exhausted by back-breaking labor.

Criminal jargon

But closer to the truth, those researchers of modern speech, which indicate the widespread in recent decades, the widespread introduction of a colloquial language dictionary criminal world. In the jargon of criminals "offended" (or "omitted") is called a homosexual prisoner of the lowest reputation.

The meaning "They carry water on the offended" is already approaching the saying "At fools the water is carried" or "The water is carried on the offended devils".

So, when we say "The people are angry with water" (and this option has not yet completely disappeared), we want to make someone understand about its excessive "angry" - inappropriate pride, ambition. We kind of urge a person to be more modest in his own interests.

But the meaning of the saying "They carry water on the offended" will be different. He simply states that the one who is left behind by fate and attention of people and who has reconciled to this, gets unsweetened fate. The near will not slow to take advantage of this. That is, it is closer to the interpretation given in the dictionary of SI Ozhegov, although the dictionary only quotes "to carry water."

Try to compare these two options. The latter looks more flat, less interesting in the literary sense.

Modern meaning shades and historical heritage

There are many other variants of the proverb that are not so widespread: "water is carried" by "fools", "stubborn", "good", "gullible". Unlike the original, there are no negative values, there are also positive characters - "good", "gullible".

It is curious that the expression "water to carry" as part of the proverb has become an independent phraseological unit, and it acquires various semantic nuances. So, a hardworking, industrious, physically strong person is characterized by his ability to "carry water." And sometimes this phrase sounds ironically: "Yes, you can carry water on it!"

The proverb (or proverb), being a stable phrase, is not something unambiguous, given once and for all. It connects us with the historical origins of our culture, but remains alive and in some way changeable.