There are many synonyms for the expression "say nonsense." However, one of the most mysterious for modern hearing is the phrase "carry nonsense." What is nonsense? Today, few people know about this. Let's fix this annoying omission and find out about the meaning of this word and its origin. And also consider the most famous synonyms for it.
What is nonsense?
Data term means nonsense or something meaningless. In other words, nonsense refers to any stupidity.
As a rule, in speech, this noun appears in the phraseology “to carry nonsense”, which means “to talk nonsense.”
The history of the word "nonsense"
Having dealt with the lexical meaning of the considered feminine noun, it is worth learning about its etymology. And she is rather entertaining.
This word is native Russian and appeared in the Russian language relatively recently - just a few centuries ago. This term is due to the students of theological seminaries.
In those days, in order to improve understanding of the Holy Scriptures, these children were taught the ancient Greek language. Since in its structure it was noticeably different from their native speech, studying this subject was not easy, so few people loved it. In this regard, among seminarians it was customary to dismissively call it "Athenian" (in honor of one of the most famous cities of Ancient Greece - Athens).
Sometimes, to emphasize their knowledge, students called it as in the original - αθηναιος (aseneos or atheneos).
Over time, those who studied Greek poorly began to pronounce the letter combination th not as "f" or "s", but as "x" - and the word "acheneos" came out, which eventually evolved to "nonsense." And since in practice the knowledge of ancient Greek the seminary graduates really almost never came in handy (few of them became a serious scholar-theologian studying ancient manuscripts), the noun “nonsense” meaning acquired something meaningless, stupid.
A slightly different version of the origin of the word in question is also common among linguists. According to her, its creators were also negligent seminarians. That's only in this story, they did not want to teach the ancient Greek philosophers. And the term itself was formed from the name of the famous Athenian temple. It was here that the disputes of famous sages of ancient times often took place.
In addition to all of the above, it is possible that the term in question came from the name of the ancient Greek writer Athenaeus of Navcratius.
Which of these versions is closest to the truth? It is difficult to say, since each of them has the right to life, and linguists still have not found exact confirmation of any of them. It is also likely that all three theories are correct, and the word arose simultaneously, just in different places.
One thing is for sure - the noun “nonsense” came into Russian from the Greek language, which was extremely disliked by future clergy.
In parallel with Russian, this word fell into the Ukrainian (Akhіneya) and Belarusian (Akhіneya) languages. Moreover, given that in Polish, Bulgarian, Czech and other Slavic languages ​​it is not, it can be argued that this term is characteristic of the East Slavic language group.
Traditional synonyms for the word
Having learned what nonsense is, it is worth paying attention to words that are close to it in meaning.
As a rule, practically any terms that mean “nonsense” can be used in this role: nonsense, absurdity, nonsense, rubbish, stupidity, absurdity, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, absurdity, absurdity, game, heresy, etc.
Unusual synonyms
In addition to the above, there are many similar terms, and with each decade their number is growing. This is largely due to the appearance of jargon (garbage, moore) and obscene language based on the names of genitals.
Paradoxically, in some cases, as a synonym for nonsense, another term of Greek origin is used - "palmistry" (a fortune-telling system according to the pattern of folds on the palms of the hands). Perhaps this is due to the fact that ordinary people did not exactly know the meaning of this word, but associated it with similar obscene expressions.
What verbs can be used with this term
Having examined the origin, meaning of the noun "nonsense" and synonyms for it, it is worthwhile to find out with which verbs this term forms phraseological units.
Most often, these are: “bear,” “make cities,” “grind,” and “flog.”
For example: "This student, answering a question, made such nonsense that the people around did not cease to wonder how one could be so ignorant and self-confident at the same time."
"Achinea" and "nonsense"
Having found the answer to the question “What is nonsense?”, And also having dealt with synonyms and used with this noun verbs, it is worth paying attention to some other phraseological units that are similar in meaning.
So, one of the most popular of them are phrases with the noun "nonsense". This word is also a synonym for nonsense and therefore can easily form stable phrases with the same verbs. For example: to fence / flog / carry nonsense (nonsense).
However, with the term “grind”, this noun is not used in speech.
It is worth noting that the two studied words, even by origin, are very close. So the most famous theory of the origin of "bullshit" is that it was formed from the word "alien". That is, in both cases, nonsense and nonsense - this is a hint of alien words that seemed ancestors to stupid.
In fairness, it is worth noting that there are other versions of the appearance of the term "nonsense" in Russian. So, the famous Soviet and Russian linguist Oleg Nikolayevich Trubachev believes that this word is derived from the name of a young pig or a humiliated / deserted person - "pig".
If we consider this term in this vein, it turns out that the phraseology “to carry nonsense” initially could mean “to behave badly”. And then, perhaps, factors that have not yet been identified could have influenced its evolution to modern significance.
"Delirium" and "nonsense"
In conclusion, it is worth considering another phraseological unit-synonym for nonsense. We are talking about the expression "carry (complete) nonsense."
The etymology of the word "delirium" is still not exactly clarified. Most agree that this word is derived from the verb "wander." This is confirmed by the presence in the Belarusian language of the word "nonsense" - which means "stupidity."
Perhaps in the old days it was believed that stupidities arise from the excessive fermentation of thoughts in the head. In any case, "nonsense" and "nonsense", although they are synonyms, but, unlike the case with "nonsense", they are very far from the initial meaning.
It is also worth remembering that the word "nonsense" has another meaning that is different from others - "lies." That is, nonsense, unlike nonsense and nonsense, it can be something that makes sense, but not true.
Perhaps that is why of all the verbs used with the words "nonsense" and "nonsense", with this term we use only one: bear nonsense.
At the same time, with all three nouns you can use the same adjective, however, in different genders: complete nonsense (complete nonsense / nonsense).