Did you know that words smell and have shape and taste. Do not believe? Let's do an experiment. We will say “lemon” and you will feel how your saliva has gone. But in fact, this is only because each word corresponds to a certain image behind it. But what if we do not know, for example, the word "stench"? This means that for us there is no image behind it, and if so, then let's analyze it to restore the connection between the image and the noun.
Smerd, stinks, currant
Surprisingly, the words are related, and they are directly related to the subject of our conversation. Let us turn to the etymological dictionary.
The "stench", "stink", "currant" and the verb "stink" have one ancestor - this now disappeared "smard" - "stink", the Old Slavonic word. And now an unexpected parallel. Remember the film "Ivan Vasilyevich Changes the Profession"? There, the king calls those people that he does not like, "stinkers." If you do not know etymology, then the word is remembered, but no image clings to it. But it turns out that the Russian nobility of that time called the peasants. And a similar characteristic also meant "smelly." This is how the authorities treated the people, it is surprising that such a thing is recorded even at the level of the language. Although, indeed, the peasants washed themselves infrequently.
Currant also got its name because of the pungent smell that its bushes emitted. If currants were a benevolent girl, then such relatives would not have liked her, but they do not choose relatives. You can’t just disown the stench, this particular smell, which unites words under one roof.
Value
History is a fascinating thing, but it's time to shake off the dust of time and turn to the present day. The present is associated with an explanatory dictionary. Therefore, we will open it as soon as possible and find out the meaning of the word “stench”:
- Disgusting smell, stink.
- The same as the child (in the first meaning).
Immediately explain the last noun "child": "Asphyxiating smoke from unburned coal, from burning fat." Of course, everyone has their own associations related to the stink, but before our mind’s eyes we see the covers of John Tolkien’s books “The Lord of the Rings”, where there were creatures like orcs, and they always stink of us. And there’s almost the stamp “stinking breath”. Of course, one can still recall swamps or peat. But let's practice associations for the good.
Sentences with the word
- Olya was cooking for the first time, so the room was filled with stench, and we opened the windows.
- There was a terrible stench coming from the basement. This is a scarecrow. We stood at the entrance and did not dare to go down.
- The writer brought the manuscript, it exuded stench, as if it had just been taken into the light of God from the bottom of the swamp.
We hope the material was informative. The advantage of letters is that they do not emit stench, this is obvious to those who have already managed to plunge into the magical and disgusting world of smells in their lives. Images saturated with aromas are a matter of our imagination.