In the picture of Eduard Manet (photo presented in the article) - a praying monk. His posture expresses humility. Eyes down. The priest would say that he lowered his eyes to the valley. This is a well-established expression that came from the depths of centuries.
In Orthodox treatises, it is often contrasted with the higher, that is, the higher, to the fractional, that is, the lower, earthly.
And what is dol? How long has this word been used in Russian and what are its roots? To answer this question, we turn to dictionaries.
What dictionaries say
Researcher of the Russian language and close friend of A. S. Pushkin, compiler of the dictionary V. I. Dahl defined this word as “bottom”. Dol is any lowland, a valley between mountains, a hollow in the earth. Depending on the territorial dialect, this is a ravine, pit, grave. The Ryazan word “split” is interesting, from which came “loose” - a place rich in dolas.
From the word “dol” came the expression “down”, that is, to fall. When they said to someone: “Went down!” - it meant "get down." Underwear was called "longer." Dolgy rye is the one that grows in the lowlands.
The phraseological dictionary mentions the expression “grief and dale”, which means “everywhere”:
- Peruns sleep grief and dale ...
In the church lexicon, lobar means low. From here to attract - to attract in base deeds, vanity. Self-fulfilling passions are base passions.
In the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron there is another meaning of the word dol. This is a longitudinal groove along the blade of a cold weapon. The Slavs had just such swords, having a dol. This made their weight easier. As you can see, the word is quite ancient.
There is a forest and dol
Describing the Lukomorye, Alexander Sergeevich writes about full visions of the forest and the lobe. In folk mythology, in fact, there are fabulous creatures living in the forest or in the open field. They accompanied people everywhere, Pushkin well represented their diversity.
It is no coincidence that he describes the forest and valley inhabitants of fairy tales. Here and the goblin, and Baba Yaga, and the Mermaid, and the magic Cat.
Curved seashore itself, according to popular belief, is at the edge of the world. Here stands the Tree of Life - the center of the universe.
No wonder A.S. Pushkin is considered the founder of modern Russian literature. How many words of the common people he contributed to his works! Undoubtedly, dol is one of them.
Over the mountains, over the valleys
So many Russian fairy tales begin. Sometimes they add to this saying “beyond the wide seas”. It means "very far." Why is this combination used? Apparently, these words briefly and poetically describe the relief of the earth. Yes, and rhyme. How can one not imagine an epicure playing on a harp and leading an unhurried story about the exploits of Russian heroes!
The contrast "mountains - dales" is found in fairy tales, and in riddles, and in songs. What is dol, it becomes intuitively clear - the area between the mountains. Now it is called the valley - a big dol.
This word is used not only in folk art. Marina Tsvetaeva inserted it in the line “valleys in the waters look”, Lermontov and Nekrasov used it in their poems. Zeleny Dol - the name of the station of the city of Zelenodolsk.
Hem
The district of Kiev, called Podil, began to be populated before the foundation of the city. What is the hem in the dress, everyone knows - this is the bottom of the dress. And what is dol in geographical understanding? Who gave the name of this area?
As the researchers found out, the Slavs began to populate it from the 4th – 5th centuries. AD Apparently, the area is named after the Slavic word "dol", which means "bottom." On the bottom of the river. But then another question arises: why did the truncated form of the word appear? After all, the terrain of the Slavs, called the lower, woodland, seaside, riverine areas do not have such a form.
There is a version that it could not do without the influence of the non-Slavic language. For example, in Indo-Iranian languages there is a pathulu token, from the Kashmiri language it is translated as “downstream at the foot of a mountain or valley”. It resembles a pro-Slavic padol. So perhaps the word it actually has even more ancient roots.
Conclusion
This ancient word is almost never used. Perhaps only experts in knives can remember about it. But it became part of some phraseological units that have survived to this day. It became a root in the words formed from him. The “Russian spirit” blows from him, let’s not completely forget what dol.