How rarely do we think about the origin of a word. But many of them, even those so simple and familiar, have an interesting history and even a legend of their origin. An excellent example is the skier. Let's get to know this word better.
Meaning of the word "skier"
Ball-skier (with emphasis on "s") - a colloquial, swearing word used in a reprehensible, contemptuous context. Other forms of it are: sharomiga, sharomyzhka, sheramazhnik.
Ball-skier is:
- One who loves to profit at someone else's expense.
- A person who does not cost anything to deceive anyone, to steal something.
- Trickster, swindler, thief, deceiver.
- A person who is not engaged in a serious business, work, having suspicious incomes, which it is dangerous to rely on.
- Jester, “amusement” of the collective, but at the same time a rather “slippery” character.
Synonyms of the word
Ball-skier is a concept that has a lot of synonyms:
- rogue;
- dodger;
- got out;
- burning out;
- goose cinquefoil;
- Dodger
- swindler;
- don't put a finger in your mouth;
- scammer;
- mazurik;
- walker;
- whip;
- cunning;
- blowing beast;
- a butterfly net;
- scumbag;
- grip;
- bug;
- rogue;
- the schemer;
- loafer;
- I caught
- rogue;
- a loafer;
- loach;
- thing;
- strekulist and so on.
Word story legend
Surely one of the readers is familiar with the legend of the origin of the word "skier." She relates us to the events of 1812 - World War II with the army of Napoleon. According to the storytellers, we owe the appearance of this word to captured French soldiers. For years, the Russian government did not allow the poor to return to their original homeland, but it was also stingy on means of keeping prisoners of war. The French were imprisoned in terrible conditions - in unheated huts without basic amenities, walked in old frayed uniforms. The prisoners were dying of cold, hunger, disease.
Many guards tried to do at least something for their unfortunate wards - they were just released to beg for help from residents of neighboring villages. Of course, ordinary Russian people were wary of yesterday's invaders, and they had no desire to help the hungry ragged. Many drove them away, after dubbing them bastards - loafers, loafers, rogues.
Why exactly this word? Trying to soften the locals, the soldiers turned to them: “My friend” (French Cher ami - sounds like “sher ami”). And so the legend of the origin of the word "skier-skier" appeared. Linguists call this phenomenon - the desire to find and explain the connection between phrases similar in sound in different languages - folk or amateur etymology. Now let us introduce you to the true history of the word.
Ball-skier: the origin of the word
First, we note that the word "skier" was in Russian speech long before the Patriotic War. The truest version - it is formed from the word "charm", which means "free", "free." She speaks in her favor that there were such jargon-resistant phrases as “on the ball”, “sharma-darma”, “ball-gift” and others, which corresponded to “freebie”, “for free”, “at the expense of the other”.
Sharomyga, ball-skier - these are words formed from "charm" in the same way as a cobbler or pokroshlya. Therefore, it can be argued quite reasonably that this swear word is original Russian, and not borrowed from the French language.
There is another, similar version - the noun "ball-skier" was formed from the combination of two verbs common in jargon - "fumble" and "poke."
Where did the trash and chantrap come from?
Continuing the theme, we will expose the legends associated with the origin of two other abusive words - trash and chantrap.
The origin of the word "trash" is again associated with the retreat of the once valiant and formidable army of Napoleon. Legend reports that we owe his appearance to the horses of the defeated French. The appearance of these exhausted and shabby animals was so miserable and unsightly that the "cheval" (French cheval - "horse") began to mean all the crappy, nasty, unpleasant.
But the true origin of the word is originally Slavic. Trash is a tailor, a Swede. Why is such a neglect of a respected profession? Everything is simple here. The trash came from the word Russian and Ukrainian language “shushval”, which means a piece of cloth, a shred, and a rag, rags, rags. It is precisely because of the latter meanings that they began to call insignificant and crappy trash.
According to legend, the origin of chantraps is also very curious. It is no secret that many captured Frenchmen became tutors, personal teachers in wealthy Russian families. So one warrior was lucky enough to become the steward of a children's choir. Not knowing Russian, he rejected children who did not have proper vocal abilities with the short "Chantera pas!" (“shanter pa” - “will not sing”). To mean this has become useless, nothingness.
In fact, the word even before 1812 existed in many dialects:
- Smolensk - "poor, poor";
- Ustyug - "a trifle";
- Cherepovets, Voronezh - "rubbish", etc.
We decided that the ball-skier is a native Russian word that has nothing to do with the captured soldiers of the Napoleonic army. But, you see, the legend of its origin is also interesting and curious.