Some words occasionally pop up in conversations with the older generation, but at the same time, young people have a very vague idea of them. If we recall the exotic old punishments, then the batog - what is this? Some analogue of the reins for a person, or maybe a belt to spank the offender with it? In practice, the term is very ambiguous, and its history in Russia has come a long evolutionary path.
From prop to retaliation
Just look at the shovel handle or the handle of a standard wooden mop to understand everything. The basic meaning of the word "batog" is an ordinary stick. Make it from any breed of wood and cut it on one or both sides. The main thing is that it be as strong as possible, because they used it for two purposes:
as a support, instead of a modern cane or analogues from the past;
as a tool for corporal punishment.
Problems with the musculoskeletal system were not alien to man at all times. Although gradually the significance of the staff or cane for the studied definition is a thing of the past. Today it is considered obsolete and irrelevant.
Evolution and Punishment
Mention can be found in the "Russian Truth." The traditional “butt” or “batog” is a special rod with a trimmed end. Strong sticks served as the main way to punish the offender, and additional - in a couple of detention. Also, their use could be a substitute for a fine. Depending on the strength and number of blows, serious injuries could be inflicted or the person killed. The borrowing of the Petrine era was the word “gauntlet” - the name for a specific method of physical recovery from the culprit.
Because of the incredible cruelty, the authorities decided to take the batog out of the procedural field in several steps. It took almost two centuries:
under Peter I, only minor military ranks in criminal cases were beaten with sticks in the army;
in 1857, they made a replacement for the civilians convicted by a military court;
for exiles in the same period, one-time punishment included up to 6 thousand blows;
since 1863 - the batog was not used in relation to free citizens;
since 1871 - not used at all.
The format completely disappeared from the legal plane, although it remained in the people's memory, literature and capacious expressions.
The interest of contemporaries
Now this term is not found in everyday speech. Even though a cane or staff is a batog, residents of the 21st century prefer to use synonyms rather than a mysterious obsolete word. You can see him only in thematic museums that tell about the executions and tortures of the past. And if the child suddenly asks, having subtracted from the book what it is, just point to a stick or rod.