Adversary. The meaning of this word is clear to almost everyone who is familiar with ancient Russian epics. But why not an enemy, or, as sounded in old Russian in a completely consonant version, a thief, not an enemy? Is there any misunderstanding on our part? What is adversity? Who is called when?
What is adversary?
To consider that the word "adversary" is synonymous in meaning with the words "enemy", "enemy", "enemy" will not be wrong. All these are descriptions of someone else who is aggressive in relation to the object of speech. But there are some nuances here.
If in order to find out for certain what “adversary” is, look into the modern explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, for example, edited by A.P. Evgenyeva, it turns out that this word has several meanings.
SUPOSTAT, a , m.
1. Outgoing and high. Enemy, enemy, enemy. He fled in fear from the battlefield, Where the Circassian blood flowed; Father and two siblings For honor and liberty lay there, And under the heel of the adversary Their heads lie in the dust. Lermontov, The Fugitive. But the way to block the adversary is our fighting people. Tikhonov, Kirov with us. || Foe. [King:] Who is he, my formidable adversary? Who is on me? An empty name, a shadow - Can it really be that the shadow will rip off the porphyry from me, Or will the sound rob the children of my inheritance? Pushkin, Boris Godunov. - And it’s bad that you have been begging my enemies and adversaries ... I know everything, don’t open. Mom-Siberian, Okonin eyebrows.
2. Simple. Scoundrel, villain. Do not believe, my good fellow citizens, do not believe that adversary who will inspire you, as if I am embittered against you, as if I am making you laugh! Saltykov-Shchedrin, Satire in prose. “Here, too, bow down at the feet of the old, no matter how old the adversary is.” Gladkov, Dashing Godina. || Used as a swear word. In the eyes of the mother, tears are wrapping up. Clutching her head, she scolds the sailor. “What he, adversary, did to my boy.” Novikov Surf, Fate. - What are you, adversary? What kind of affairs are you carrying around other people's cages? Leonov, Buryga.
After analyzing the data of the article that defines “adversary”, we can draw the following conclusion: the word “adversary” in modern Russian is obsolete in the sense in which it was used in epic texts and in fiction stylized antiquity. But in the modern language, it has acquired, as sometimes happens with the words of the Old Russian language, a somewhat reduced coloring, unusual for hearing, not quite understandable. His connection with something negative remained tangible with the loss of a clear meaning.
Where did this word come from?
The word "adversary" is of Old Slavonic origin. It was written in those days like this: "posture." The word "adversary" then was a passive participle of the past tense from the verb "compassion" that did not survive in the language, meaning "to set against each other." From the same verb, by the way, the quite “common” word, often used in modern Russian, also comes from.
How is the word adversary used?
Best of all, the scope of use of the word “adversary” could be illustrated by examples from epics, from fiction and from notes of linguists watching a lively Russian speech. It cannot be said that it was used especially often at present, rather, in its first meaning it is limited to the literary sphere, and in the second it gives the speech an ironic or comic connotation.
For example, pay attention to the modern use of Konstantin Khokhryakov in his work "At Any Cost!". Here, a comic effect is clearly created due to the use of an outdated and strange word:
If the service weapon is drunk, lost or lost in battle, then you have official permission to bite the adversary with his teeth!
And compare it with the use of the word "adversary" in the first sense, which occurs, in particular, in the translation of the work of Taras Shevchenko, performed by Semyon Vainblat. Sublime vocabulary reinforces the general mood, the pathetics of the lines:
On this renewed earth
There will be no enemy, adversary,
And there will be a son and a mother nearby
And there will be people on earth.
Obviously, they are completely different and carry completely different emotional and semantic charges for the reader or listener of the text.