It's nice when there is a chance to destroy a particular myth. People believe that a bosom friend is one with whom you can have a good drink and talk about life. Is it so? We find out.
Scattering of options
Perhaps this is the rare case when the origin of the expression causes so many different versions. Let’s give them a list, so that it is more convenient for the reader to perceive:
- The drinking companion. This is the most popular version, and so far most are confident that it is. What is there to hide, our people love to drink, and the one with whom it is best to do it is worth its weight in gold.
- Bast shoes. Kadik was also called a tool that made bast shoes. In other words, people have one Adam's apple for two: they are from the same family.
- In Russia, the Adam's apple was given great importance, because, according to popular belief, he protected the throat. And the throat, in modern terms, is multifunctional: they are told, eat, drink. Therefore, a bosom friend is one with whom you can share all this, that is, eat, drink and talk. And again, this version refers us to the theme of the feast.
But thanks to the dictionary there is another possibility.
Most likely version
Like it or not, I would not like to believe that everything closes and closes on the topic of vodka. Here we need to analyze the colloquial dialect, where "cad" is equal to "when." Thus, an “old friend” comes out. This is exactly the meaning of the phrase “bosom friend”. True, the most common version of the origin of expression is still the one that is more alive than the people living. In other words, only the friend with whom many buckets of alcohol are bite can be considered bosom. Of course, we do not want to believe in the truth of such an interpretation, but suddenly it was. In any case, since we are talking about ancient times, it is up to the reader to decide which side to take.
So few real friends
Be that as it may, on whatever basis such a person may appear, and bosom friends are trusted indisputably and unconditionally. And this is another argument, albeit not rational, in favor of the “sober” origin of expression. A drinking companion, when people have already left a certain state of consciousness, it is hardly possible to entrust something. Especially if you practice in this matter often.
There are very few friends who have passed fire, water and copper pipes with a person in life. Maybe not more than three, and this is at best. Usually one or two.
After we have revealed all the possible variants of the origin of phraseological units, it is time to answer the main question: “What does an old friend mean?” This is a spiritually close person. Friendship with him totals years or decades. But mental kinship here is the primary hallmark.