The meaning of the phraseology "the heart is gone"

In Russian, in addition to a huge number of synonyms with different emotional colors, there are many phraseological units that confuse not only foreigners, but also Russian speakers themselves. One of these phraseological units can also be considered the notorious expression "the heart is gone," which, if you do not know for sure, can easily be misunderstood. However, for those who seriously decided to understand its meaning, a beautiful and unusual phrase will only benefit, diversify and enrich the speech.

Phraseologism "the heart went into the heels": meaning

This expression is used to describe a strong fright, amazement, discouragement. Most often, this is just an unpleasant sensation caused by something unexpected, negative and, possibly, even dangerous. The heart can go on the heels of someone who heard unpleasant news, found themselves in an embarrassing or embarrassing situation, received a refusal, lost something that was important to him.

In a more optimistic, positive sense, this phraseology is much less common. However, such examples do exist. The heart can "in a good way" go to the heels of someone who was confused when meeting with a dear person, experienced excitement in anticipation of a pleasant event, heard inspirational and exciting news.

Synonyms of phraseologism "heart in the heels gone"

The Russian language, as you know, is rich in synonyms. Dictionaries of synonyms also did not pass this expression, endowing with a huge number of analogues, unusual from the lexical point of view. Here is some of them:

• Frost on the skin has passed / crept.
• The soul went to heels.
• Blood froze / froze in veins.
• The heart sank.
• Goosebumps ran / crawled.
• The hips shook.
• Hair stand on end.

The closest synonym, of course, is the expression "the soul went into heels," which, incidentally, is used much more often. However, this does not negate the fact that the phrase "heart in the heels gone" enriches the Russian language and brings a highlight to the speech of a person or character.

The origin of phraseology

No one can give an exact answer to the question of why, in the end, the heart goes exactly to the heels. There are several theories. All of them are extremely entertaining and have a rationale:

1. With a strong fright, the so-called sensation of failing entrails arises. Scientists believe that this is due to relaxation of the abdominal cavity.
2. Sometimes with strong excitement, the fast beating of one's own heart can be felt even in the heels. No one gives accurate information about how scientifically realistic this is. However, some people take the liberty of claiming that they personally experienced this.
3. Physical and emotional shocks are perceived by one part of the central nervous system of a person, therefore, they can affect each other. Perhaps this explains the huge number of phraseological units associated with the heart: "bleeds blood," "pops out of the chest," "leaves the heels."
4. Fear creates a desire to run away, which is felt in the heels.
5. The following theory may seem far-fetched, but still has a right to exist. In Chinese mythology, from which, by the way, many Russian winged expressions were borrowed, fear is associated with the water element, and water tends to flow down, "at heels."

Analogs from other languages

In some cases, foreign counterparts seem even stranger than the original Russian expressions. For instance:

Which of these expressions is weirder and funnier than others is a matter of taste. However, the fact remains: the phraseology "the heart went into the heels" is beautiful and bright, since it has so many unusual analogues.