This word is already quite forgotten today by almost all carriers of the living and powerful. However, in the literature you will meet him more than once. What does it mean?
First of all, we say that "brandahlyst" is a noun, inanimate, masculine, 2nd declension, nominative case, singular. It declines in cases in this way: brandahlysta (genitive, accusative), brandyhlystu (dative), brandyhlystom (instrumental), brandahlysty (prepositional).
Plural form: Brandahlists.
These are the general linguistic "marks" of the word.
As for the meaning of the word "brandahlyst": this is what they say about a person who is empty, lounging, ingloriously burning time. Define it also as a whip, insignificance, a loafer, a dunce, a dummy, and you will not be mistaken. This is if we pick up synonyms.
"Brandahlyst" is most often used in colloquial speech and is considered stylistically reduced. Indicates the negative attitude of the speaker to the one whom he calls so.
Dahl
And meanwhile, at the time when the creator of the Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language had just traveled around Russia, collecting words for him, food or drink was called brandahly. In vernacular, among those living in Tver and Vologda lands, edible stew, soup of poor quality and low nutritional properties was called just that. They also called bad vodka or in general drunken drink diluted with water.
Synonyms in this case are easy to find. And a lot - swill, baland, sivuha, burda, slurry.
That is, this is what happened: at first the noun brandahly was “what”, and then it became “who”. Well, this happened in Russian.
Origin. Version one
It is very possible that the first part of the word came from the Czech brynda, which, in fact, means "bad drinking." Of course, a Russian “Burda” consonant with him immediately comes to mind. After all, it is in the sense of solidarity.
The second part of the word ("whip") is already Russian. When they used to say “whip” or “whip,” they meant to drink excessively, in large quantities. The verb "whip" in colloquial use and is not yet obsolete.
The version presented above, in the opinion of linguists, is the most convincing. Also, because Dahl also gives several variations of the word "brandahlyst", namely: "burdochlest", "burdohlyst" and "brandohlest".
In other sources, there is another option - "bryndahlest".
Second version
She, to tell the truth, does not take very far from the first. According to this version, "brandahlyst" owes its origin to the German branntwein - as the Germans called vodka, or even a drink with a high alcohol percentage. And there was no need to search for “whipping” in Russia.
By the way, this point testifies in favor of the second version: “whipping” was more often related to hops drinks.
This is such an interesting word - part of a foreign language origin, part - a native Russian.
At the classics
And here are examples of the use of the word in the works of Russian literature. In the meaning of the drink:
“Although I never use this brandahly, I am ready to make an exception this time.”
Here the hero talks about champagne.
(V. Krestovsky, Petersburg Slums.)
“She won’t buy white bread for a seagull.” The belly pours everything with empty brand-name whip, and if he sits at home now - like a dog hungry, he will lie down without dinner ...
(A. Pisemsky, “A Thousand Souls.”)
One of the characters in the following example orders to serve cognac, specifying:
- Old! Brandahlyst we will not drink!
(P. Boborykin, "Vasily Terkin.")
Morning breakfast was simplified: instead of chocolate - at least weak - they gave brandahlists with a flotilla of tea leaves ...
(V. Nabokov, "Invitation to the Execution".)
“Brand-soup” - this expression is known to us from Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.
And that brandahlyst is a person:
Mother came from the street and told her:
- There again, this jerked whale passed by our house and looked out the window. It will be unpleasant if this person comes to us.
(M. Zoshchenko, "Before Sunrise.")
- Ah, fucking whip! -
in the hearts says, characterizing one of the characters, a clear "scoundrel and bastard", the postman in the story of the same name by Maxim Gorky.
Or here:
Brandahlasty in white trousers
In the tennis tennis excitement
Wear fat asses.
(Sasha Cherny, "Meat").
By the way, it is worth noting that this word, which names a person, in literary works we meet, of course, later than the original (Dalevsky) meaning.
And further
We finish all of the above with a small addition. According to the zoologist and organizer of fishing and hunting in Russia Sabaneev, "brandahlyst" can be considered as a professional slang word for fishermen. So among them was called the type of fishing rod:
The tackle used for the Moskvoretsky "brandahlyst" does not differ significantly from ordinary (non-English) fishing rods and woods, which are used for real fly fishing.
(L.P. Sabaneev, "Freshwater fish of Russia")
Such is the variety of meanings of the word brandahlyst.