What is a reaper? The answer to this question is quite simple: this is the person who reaps. But there are many figurative expressions in book vocabulary, including those including the noun "reaper". The meaning of this word in this case should be clarified, which we will do in today's article.
Harvest
What is a reaper? This is a hard worker who spends many hours in the field. Today, of course, there are almost no such people. Harvest special machines for a long time. About what a reaper, we know mainly from fiction. From books we know that the work of such a person was not an easy one. He had to get up at dawn, go a few kilometers from the house, where to perform excessive labor. Young mothers took children to work, which they had to leave right on the field, possibly in a haystack.
The ungrateful work that the peasants carried out from generation to generation led to the decree on the nationalization of the land introduced in 1917. But this is a completely different story.
Harvester
In order to understand who such a reaper, you should understand the specifics of his work. In winter, for example, peasants had nothing to do in the field. Then they got another job. Harvest is a period that lasts one to two months, during which time the harvest is carried out , namely: oats, wheat, rye, barley.
If you find the answer to the question of what a "reaper" is, in one of the explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language, it turns out that this word does not have any connection with a certain type of plant. The slaves who harvested cotton in America did as hard work as the Russian peasants. They can also be called reapers. But the word whose meaning we are considering comes from the Old Slavonic language. This lexical unit arose where 150 years ago peasants were forced to collect mainly bread plants. Hence the rather narrow meaning.
What is a reaper? The one that collects cereals. And does it completely free. After the abolition of serfdom and until 1917, ordinary people had freedom, which did not facilitate his fate. But labor has already become a little easier: the technique used for harvesting bread was used. In Soviet times, collective farms appeared where people also worked not for money, but for the idea. The idea, by the way, turned out to be untenable. But by the time people realized this, special machines were in full swing in the vast Russian expanses.
Harvest is a period that begins around the end of July and ends at the beginning of August. That is, in the hottest summer season. On the longest days of the year, workers left the field at sunset. They worked mainly with the help of a sickle, which along with a hammer served as an element for the coat of arms of the Soviet state - a confirmation of how many people in the country were involved in this laborious process.
In the bible
It was said above that the harvest is a native Russian word. It’s worth making some correction. The reapers, for example, are described in the Bible. In the New Testament, of course, this is not about ordinary labor.
In Pakistan, the reapers worked annually for about three months. The harvesting period began in April and ended at the end of June. “There are many harvests,” the Gospel says. “But there are few laborers.” How to explain the meaning of these words? Does the Bible really say that there is no one to harvest?
No, this is a completely different matter. The apostles recorded the speeches of their teacher, who, as you know, expressed himself figuratively. Once he showed them to a wheat field and uttered the phrase given above. His words can be explained as follows: faith must be accompanied by actions, good deeds.
Grim Reaper
In literature, the word "reaper" is often used as a synonym for the noun "creator". Moreover, this creator does not necessarily do good deeds. So, for example, in the English vocabulary there is such a phrase as "The Grim Reaper". This is a symbol of death, doom. In 1991, Terry Pratchett wrote a work that he called it. One of the characters in The Grim Reaper is Death. By the way, the work of an English writer is by no means sad. It belongs to the genre of humorous fantasy.
Reaper war
In the middle of the 17th century, difficult times began in Catalonia. Residents united against absolutism established by the Spaniards. As a result, Catalan statehood was established, which, however, lasted only twelve years. The powerful uprising preceding the significant event in history was called the "war of the reapers."
This word, as well as its cognates, is found primarily in the literature that tells about workers whose labor specifics are described above. Authors of poetic and prose works use it as a metaphor. The example given above, of course, is not the only case. Thus, the pilot and writer Exupery can meet the following phrase: "Time is not a seller, letting everything go to dust, but a reaper who ties a tight sheaf." In order to understand this complex philosophical thought, perhaps one should read the novel The Citadel.