Russian language labels for sayings and expressions. No wonder there is a proverb: "Sometimes opal is better than mercy." By the way, the key words here are “sometimes”, that is, “sometimes”, because there is nothing worse than falling out of favor with someone omnipotent.
The first people on Earth to experience what opal was were Adam and Eve.
"Be in disgrace" - what does the expression mean?
In household use, the word "opal" came from the words "scorch", "scorch", that is, "burn." Under the influence of fire, animal skins were cleaned of bristles or feathers of a bird.
Starting from the 15th century, the figurative meaning of the word entered the Russian language: "to fall into disgrace" or "to be in disgrace" began to mean "to be in disgrace, to lose former privileges."
The term "to be in disgrace" had wide legal consequences for the holder who fell into disfavor: from removal and prohibition to appear in court to deprivation of property, ranks, awards and ranks.
In addition to confiscation measures of the expression "to be in disgrace", "he is in disgrace" often meant exile and even the death penalty.
It should be distinguished from the punishment of the law of the person who committed the crime. This distinguishes opal from procedural punishments. Anyone can be subjected to disgrace and persecution, regardless of whether he committed a crime or not.
Opal is usually caused by anger, deep hostility, or other considerations of a high-ranking person regarding the disgraced. Thus, the background of "disgrace" is the moral, moral, ethnic or political reasons for its occurrence in the fate of man.
In the life of many bright personalities, such a fatal period began as being in disgrace. Boyar Morozova, for example, fell into disgrace in the 17th century. This period is depicted in the picture of V. Surikov: the disgraced noblewoman on the sledge was taken to the monastery, she raised two fingers as a sign of her belonging to the old faith, not accepting church reforms. Because of this, she ended up in disgrace.
She was first exiled to the Miracle Monastery, depriving her of wealth and land, then to the Pskov-Pechora Monastery. The boyar ended in Borovsky prison. Neither torture nor deprivation broke the disgraced noblewoman - she did not renounce the old rites.
The danger of opal: what does the expression "I am in disgrace" mean
Threats of a senior person about a possible disgrace or its announcement meant a warning about the time of deprivation, repression and persecution of a specific guilty person, until the complete ruin of not only the disgraced person, but his entire family.
To fall into disgrace means to endanger not only yourself, but also your entire family.
- What does the expression "I'm in disgrace" mean? A man warns someone about the dangers of communicating with him. For example: "Do not call me, I’m in disgrace at the leadership, you can compromise yourself."
- What else does the expression "I fell into disgrace" mean? For example, a confession to oneself that one is in a very difficult situation, is deprived of the protection of the former patron or is subjected to revenge by a high-ranking official.
- If the head of the family said: “I’m in disgrace” - the whole family was preparing for hardships and adversities, because the disgraced state, as a rule, extended to family, servants, and sometimes friends.
For example, the former favorite of Peter the Great, the hero of the Battle of Poltava, the titled Prince Menshikov fell into disgrace and lost everything overnight. Undeservedly, due to libel and forgery, he was accused of embezzlement, which amounted to treason. He was disgraced: sent to exile, depriving all ranks and privileges.
Below, a photo of V. Surikov’s painting depicts former Prince Menshikov in exile. His family, including young children, was also subjected to disgrace.
They will not return to their former secular life, they will leave the capital forever: the prince will die from a blow two years after exile, and his eldest daughter, who is terminally ill with smallpox, will die a year later.
What will the king say?
At the beginning of the reign of Paul the Great, the great Russian commander A.V. Suvorov fell into royal disgrace. He did not recognize the innovations in the Russian army imposed by the emperor, especially the imitation of the Prussian samples of military art. It is said that Suvorov publicly spoke quite sharply to the tsar:
Powder is not gunpowder, bukley is not guns, a scythe is not a cleaver: I am not German, but a natural Rusak!
These and other similar puns, brought to the attention of the emperor, angered him completely: the authority of the command of the troops was removed from Suvorov, he fell into disgrace, was sent into exile in a remote village.
It seems that the great commander in the L. Vashli painting “Suvorov in Disgrace” knows that his story is not over yet, and soon the sounds of a military horn will call him to serve the Motherland. It will be so.
Synonyms, proverbs, application
To fall into disgrace or not depends on the person himself. Causing the wrath of those in power, we must remember the consequences. Whether the game is worth the candle, everyone decides for himself.
Sometimes a person cannot come to terms with the situation and the proverb "Royal mercy is worse than disgrace" is acceptable to him. A man tries to confront something in the life of society, politics, the arrangement of the surrounding world, and falls into disgrace.
The synonym for the word “opal” is “punishment,” “reprisal.”
There is a saying "There are merchants in disgrace." It is understood that usually the property of people who fell into disgrace was confiscated or sold for nothing.