The Russian language, like all other languages of the world, has its own wealth, and it is passed down from generation to generation. This value is stable expressions, the meaning of which has been laid down for a long time and is understandable to everyone: proverbs, sayings, phraseological units. Each language has its own sayings, and sometimes the same proverb is translated from one language to another, even changing characters. Recently, in politics, to describe the situation in the world or in a particular country, the saying "both wolves are fed and the sheep are safe" is used.
Using proverbs, sayings and idioms in his speech, a person shows that he knows the culture of the people well. After all, it is from folk tales that many enduring expressions were taken, which were remembered and loved for their brightness and imagery. When a person correctly, and most importantly, correctly uses steady turns in speech and writing, this is a sign of education and speech etiquette. When a speech revolution is used out of place, in the wrong sphere of use or with the wrong meaning, this can lead to a speech error and an incident in the conversation. Using phraseological units, it is necessary to take into account the style of conversation, semantic load and stylistic properties.
On television and in journalism, phraseologism is often used to describe political changes: “both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe.” The meaning of this expression and the described problem do not always coincide. Where does this expression come from and what does it mean?
Proverb or saying?
The words “proverbs” and “sayings” are often used together, and many believe that they have the same meaning. On the one hand, this is correct. If we say that "the wolves are full, the sheep are safe" - a proverb, no one will argue and claim that this is a saying. After all, these two phenomena carry a hidden meaning, they are concise, brief in content, sometimes rhyme, indicate shortcomings or encourage a person.
There is no clear classification of winged expressions, but there are some definite differences.
Proverbs - this is a complete sentence, which focuses on some action and is built according to some logic. The proverb has morality, the teaching of something, the background to something. Most often there are two parts, and the second is a kind of conclusion from the first. Some proverbs have an author, it is known where it came from.
For example, the following proverbs can be cited: "do not say a gop until you jump over", "without knowing the ford, do not poke into the water", "go quietly - you will continue."
Sayings are not sentences, this is some kind of expression to describe a phenomenon or pattern. There is no action, but the fact of what happened is simply described. No morality or teaching. Sayings taken from popular sayings or the author is unknown.
For example, the following sayings can be cited: "two boots - a pair", "the paper will endure everything", "the law has not been written for fools."
“Both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe”: the meaning of phraseology
Phraseologisms are stable expressions that are always used in a figurative meaning. For phraseologists, the use of hyperbole and allegory is natural. They also contain accuracy in the statement of fact, some phraseological units are used in order to show life experience, position and attitude to the world. These expressions are stable and do not change. Some phraseological units are taken from folk wisdom, their authors are unknown, while others are well known for their discoverers.
Phraseologism “both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe” has a simulated, apparent well-being, where it was as if no one had been harmed.
From the foregoing, we can conclude that this statement is most likely not a proverb, but refers to the category of sayings or phraseological units.
The meaning of the saying
A very good and vital saying, “both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe,” has an ambiguous meaning. The wolf and the sheep are used not only in sayings and phraseological units, but also are the heroes of various tales and tales. Even in biblical stories, the sheep was the prototype of the righteous and trusting everyone, and the wolf was the sinner and seducer. These are two sides that can never come to the same opinion, they constantly have contradictions.
This is a saying about wisdom, that you can always safely leave a hopeless situation. You can agree on something, sometimes step over your principles, but at the same time do not lose anything or sacrifice anything. During its use, the saying "both the wolves are fed and the sheep are safe" was slightly transformed, the ending "and the eternal glory to the shepherd" appeared. After all, it is the shepherd who suffers during this struggle between the wolf and the shepherd.
In the modern world, this saying is used to describe people who achieve different goals, and everyone believes that he is right, does not want to make concessions. A shepherd is a man who has found a compromise solution to the problem without offending any of the parties.
Etymology of the origin of expression
As already mentioned, wolves and sheep were mentioned in the Bible, but it is known that these animals entered the proverb from ancient metaphorical statements, where wolves and sheep or lambs were contrasted. The expression got into the Russian language from those places where there were most pastures with sheep, from the boundless Salsk or Mozdok steppe. The shepherds knew about the problem of the loss of sheep from the herd and immediately spoke fewer heads. Indeed, for the loss of sheep, the shepherd must compensate the owner for the cost of the animal. This is where the smart young shepherd came from.
The use of the words "wolf" and "sheep" in other winged expressions
In many phraseological turnovers of the type “both the wolves are full and the sheep are intact,” the meaning of phraseology is almost the same as the saying. But there is still a large number of stable expressions with the word "wolf". The brightest and most used is the "wolf in sheep's clothing." This expression is also taken from biblical stories and shows that a bad person, in order to achieve his plans, can pretend to be good, but nothing good should be expected from this.
"The wolf of the sheep will not collect." "Wolves can smell where the sheep spend the night." These two phraseological units also describe the inconsistency of the characters of the two animals, the fact that sheep are prey to wolves, and they never become friends.