Often in Russian, words taken from colloquial speech are used, the meaning of which seems to be clear to everyone, especially in the context under consideration, but few understand their true meaning and origin. Such a word is also a trifle. This is a borrowed term, which often becomes a synonym in colloquial speech for the definition of an object that does not differ in special value. What other interpretations of this word exist, where does it come from? We will try to answer these questions below.
The meaning of the term
The first version is based on a comparison: earlier, a “fiddle” was a woman of a frivolous nature, who considered her appearance and everything connected with her as her main concern. Such a lady directs her thoughts only to thinking about entertainment or buying new outfits. The surrounding hobbies were considered empty and meaningless. Who is the trinket? Those who do not have serious hobbies do not like to do useful things. Sometimes they meant that the girl was too flirtatious, this was considered reprehensible.
In modern times, it has become customary to consider a cheap jewelry as a “trinket”, it is such a synonym for the word “trifle”. Linguists believe that these two sonorous words have become interchangeable: "trinket - trinket."
The figurative meaning is nonsense, empty words. Such an interpretation is presented in Ushakov's explanatory dictionary.
Origin version
Linguists agree that this term, like many others, was borrowed from another language due to the suffix education. Examples of such formations:
- an expression of German origin finte und flausen, which translates as "tricks and dodges";
- the Italian word finta means pretense, action or movement for the purpose of deception;
- Latin fingere translated into Russian - "pretend, invent."
You can notice that in the speech there is also the word “feint”, the meaning of which is “deceptive maneuver”, there is a version that it was from him that a derivative appeared, so popular in colloquial speech.
Examples of use in the literature
Fintiflushka is a fairly common word in fiction. Most often it occurs in the meaning of "a bauble that has no value." In the story "Vasily Ivanovich", authored by Stankovych, the hero Vasily explained why his wife sent him to the guest house: “You know, my friend, there are different ... Ribbons-s, lace. "
In the classic work of Grigorovich “Country Roads”, this word was also noted: “All this, brother, fingertips, there is nothing to grimace, that’s not the strength.”