It should be noted that the origin of the word "bastard" is quite interesting and has several versions. Moreover, in a negative sense, which is typical for today, it was not always used. The origin of the word “bastard” will be described in detail in the proposed review.
What is said in the dictionary?
Before proceeding to consider the origin of the word "scum", you should consider its meaning. The dictionary gives several interpretations of it.
- The first of the meanings of “bastards” is collective and speaks of mean people, scum, rabble. Example: “I’m warning you, in the evening every bastard is going to gather there, so it’s better not to go this way.”
- The second refers to colloquially reduced vocabulary and describes a nasty, mean, trashy person, bastard and villain. Example: "After we saw the cruel treatment of this person with animals, he can only be called a bastard."
- The third meaning is also collective. It refers to all sorts of small creatures, such as animals or insects. Example: "When I woke up, I realized that in a dream some blood-sucking bastard bit me."
- Another shade of “bastards”, followed by “collective,” is obsolete. This word used to mean people of low rank, vagrants, rabble. Example: "It so happened that this house became a haven for every bastard: thieves, connecting rods and other crappy people."
Verb meanings
The word under study can act not only as a noun, the meanings of which were described above, but also as a verb. But in this case, the emphasis will not fall on the first syllable, but on the second - bastard.
The verb also has several shades of meaning.
- In the first case, this word is used in the context of colloquially reduced vocabulary and is interpreted as taking or taking it somewhere. Example: "The order was received from the manager - to scum all the trash in one place."
- In the second, it is used in a figurative sense and means - to steal something, to steal imperceptibly. Example: "This Vaska is such an unreliable person, and strives for a bastard with everything that lies badly."
- In the third - it concerns the situation when you need to steal something, for example, shoes or clothes from someone. Example: “He is in such a poor condition that he will have to help him scum wet and dirty clothes.”
Having considered the meanings, we should proceed to the origin of the word "bastard."
Etymology
According to one popular version, the noun “bastard” came from the verb “bastard”, and the last from the verb “drag”, “bastard”. There are two cities on the Volga River, the name of one of them is Nizhny Volok, and the second is Vyshny Volochek. These names are also associated with the word being studied.
Burlaki, rallying in an artel, up and down the Volga, towed ships on their own traction. They began to call them a bastard, and after that they began to apply this word to other people who, like the barge haulers, had no particular profession and were not artisans.
Due to the fact that they were engaged in unskilled labor, having no advantages other than physical strength, they were treated with disdain, and sometimes with contempt. In addition, artisans who earned money on ship dragging did not always behave appropriately.
They quickly lowered the earned money in nearby drinking establishments, arranging drunken fights, and often pogroms. Over time, the lexeme under study began to be applied to other drunkards and hooligans, not related to boars, and then just to bad people. So gradually the noun “bastard” became an abusive word.
Other versions
There are a number of other versions about the origin of the word being studied, but all of them are associated with such an action as dragging.
For example, the expression "bishop's bastard." The highest church officials, bishops or bishops, had a servant who constantly followed them, that is, dragged around. And also they had to take off their clothes from the owners - to scum. Therefore, they were called the bastard. And the word acquired a negative connotation in connection with the fact that earphones, that is, squealing, were charged with the duties of the bishop's servants. Therefore, they were not loved by the people.
There is an assumption that people who scammed and buried the fallen on the battlefield, also called the studied word.
According to another version, during the census in Russia, the boyars were recorded on hats, and the men on beards. As for the unworthy people, such as murderers, thieves, drove to a heap, tied with a rope in two arshins and recorded with bastards.
To date, the version that is presented first is considered the most convincing, but others have a right to exist.