Surprisingly, the attitude to the word "scribe" is more than ambiguous. In most cases, it is applied to residents of the Pskov region. Some consider it humiliating, while others are proud of such a self-designation. The whole snag in the origin of the word. There are different versions of why Pskovites are brackish.
Trail of Peter the Great
This is more like a beautiful legend, but they say that such a name appeared with the light hand of the sovereign himself.
The fact is that the Pskov province has long been famous for skillful craftsmen for the manufacture of hardware. Once Peter the Great wanted to open the brace made by the local blacksmiths, but did not master it. This surprised him very much, because, being a strong man, he could easily cope even with horseshoes. So he praised the Pskov craftsmen, calling them staples. Therefore, many natives of these lands proudly call themselves that in memory of their ancestors. Moreover, in 2014 they even erected a monument to the staple in Pskov. The creators immortalized blacksmiths and expressed their appreciation to them. This monument has become an unofficial symbol of the city.
Is Skobar an uncouth provincial?
Although the previous version, most likely, is pure fiction, but there is no smoke without fire. It is known that Peter the Great issued a decree in 1714, which obliged about two hundred families of Pskov fishermen to resettle in the vicinity of St. Petersburg. The city was just under construction, and there were no good blacksmiths there. They were allocated a settlement for the settlement, which, for obvious reasons, later became known as Rybatsky village. Their mission - the manufacture of hardware - they carried out regularly. The settlers supplied the young city with nails, rods, horseshoes. Therefore, by keenness began to denote a narrower specialization of blacksmithing.
But the inhabitants of Rybatsky were distinguished by provincialism and crude uncouthness, so the name of their profession acquired a negative connotation. So began to call rustic, narrow-minded, ill-bred, greedy people. Perhaps in the beginning this word was Argotism, but over time it migrated to a wide vocabulary, where it was fixed. Therefore, according to most modern explanatory dictionaries, a scribe is a hillbilly, a snapper and a meanie.
Indirect arguments in favor of this version of the origin of the word are similar in sound tokens in other languages. First of all, we are talking about those nationalities that lived next door to Pskov, for example, about Latvians. Theoretically, if the word still existed in Russian, but was lost, its traces can be found in other linguistic systems. So, the Latvian skops, meaning "greedy", can serve as proof of this. Also in German there is the adjective skeptisch ("incredulous"), as well as the French sceptique with the same meaning. But sometimes, as they say, one does not have to go far, because the Russian "mean" can also be an echo of that long-standing nickname of immigrants from the Pskov lands.
Is a scobar a skilled warrior?
There is another version to which the blacksmithing is not related. The Pskovites - the descendants of the Slavic tribe of Krivichy - were famous for their dexterity and courage in military affairs.
From here their self-name appeared, since the word "staples" denoted a military skirmish, and the participant was called a staple. True, the supporters of this version operate with very scarce evidence: the presence of a similar token with such a value already in the Serbian and Croatian languages, whose speakers do not live in the territorial proximity to Pskov. That is, from a scientific point of view, such arguments are sewn with white thread and can be regarded only as an attempt to ennoble the name being discussed and to wash it from the negative touch that has accumulated over a long time.
Or they suggest that people who lived in a terrain well protected from enemies were called staples. And those lands that were later occupied by the Pskov province were famous for their fortresses, which reliably protected residents from attacks.
Again, consonant words from other languages are taken to help, for example, English escape (“escape”, “escape”), ancient Greek σκεπαω (“protect”, “hide”), Italian scappare (“avoid”), Romanian a scăpa ( "save", "save"). The meanings of these words intersect in the concept of a well-protected place.
Lexical ghost
Skeptics are plagued by vague doubts about whether this name even existed 300 years ago. After all, if so, then it would be found in chronicles or other historical documents. But there is no such evidence. Also, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, who spent almost 3 years in the Pskov province, never mentioned this word in writing. And he uses the name adjective "Pskov" 18 times. Also, this word is not in the Explanatory Dictionary of the Great Russian Language, edited by Dahl, published in the 19th century. It looks, at least, strange that such a connoisseur of Russian vocabulary lost sight of him if it was in widespread use at that time, because in this work there are even dialectisms and common words. Everything speaks against the fact that the noun "brace", whether it be the name of a profession or katoikonym, existed in the 18th or 19th century.
Phonetic Version
Everything can be much simpler. Perhaps the word "Pskov" was transformed into "Skopsky" because of such a phonetic phenomenon as assimilation. And from this adjective, over time, a noun arose. That is, the whole process went something like this: Pskov - Skopsky - staple - brace. Many linguists agree with this version. If this was so, then the brace is just an ethnonym. And he acquired a negative connotation due to the film "We are from Kronstadt", filmed in the 1930s. It depicts the events of the Civil War. There is a scene in the picture where a cowardly sailor, watching the battle between the Reds and the Whites, then puts on White Guard epaulets, then rips them off his shoulders, depending on whose side the advantage is. At the same time, he miserably repeats: "We are Pskov, we are Skopsky."
Conclusion
It all depends on how the word is perceived. If as the original name of a subethnos, then any Pskov proudly can call himself a brace. But if you take into account the negative connotation of meaning, then with this anthroponym you need to be very careful. After all, you can seriously offend a person by calling him a scribe.