Often in colloquial speech we hear such an idiomatic expression as "garabeta letter". The meaning of phraseology is usually this: something incomprehensible, devoid of meaning, at least for the speaker. In what cases is it used? Here is a simple example: "For me, the logarithmic equations are just like a gibberish letter." Note that the metaphor is often used in conjunction with the indication of the person for whom something written or said has remained incomprehensible. Consequently, gibberish is something tricky for the uninitiated, the profane. After all, the logarithmic equations are not a mystery for real experts. However, the most interesting is that the expression is not a fiction, not a red word. What is this? Let's study this question in more detail.
Why do we need secret writing?
It is not known exactly when writing appeared, but most likely, the need to hide the meaning of the text was born immediately after the appearance of hieroglyphs and letters. Not everyone wanted an outsider to read the notes. For pouch, cryptography, that is, cryptography, was simply a vital necessity. After all, a courier, a messenger could be intercepted by various special services of hostile states. Many nations in ancient times had their own encrypted codes. The ancient historian Herodotus mentions letters that are understood only by the addressee. And the Spartans in the fifth or sixth centuries BC there was a device for encryption "Aeneas plate" and a special decoder "Scital." Julius Caesar used his own secret alphabet. There was such a cipher among the Slavs. It received the name "Garabar diploma."
Initial cipher
Basically, ancient cryptography (from the Greek words "crypto" - hidden, and "graph" - description) was based on the interchange of letters. The Slavic gibberish letter was no exception. Its meaning and essence is easy to reveal. We split all the consonants in the Russian alphabet in half (at the same time, we do not take into account "" and ""). We compose an elementary tablet: at the top we write the first half of the letters in order, and at the bottom we write the other half, but only in the reverse order. When writing text, just change the letters. Thus, “b” turns into “u”, “d” into “c”, and “p” into “m”. Vowels and omissions, as well as a soft sign with the "th" remain unchanged. This encryption method is called litorea. The appearance of the first Garabar diploma, historians attribute to the end of the thirteenth century.
Imperfection of Slavic cryptography
It is easy to guess that it is easy to decipher the gibberish letter. The number of letters in the word and the vowels, which are abundant in Russian, make it possible to unravel everything else. Therefore, litorea, or a symmetric cipher, as Garabar literacy is called in a scientific way, was forced all the time to become complicated in order to be effective. So, after some time, the cryptography “sophisticated” appeared. She had several options, among which was the “digital”. The letters corresponded to the numbers, and they already performed simple arithmetic operations with them - for example, they added a certain constant digit key. Vowels were also hidden in this cryptography, which complicated the task of a third-party decoder. However, the Russian language is such that it has frequently used letters. It was they who acted by those strings, pulling by which it was possible to easily untangle the whole tangle.
Departure from Lithuania
The Garabar diploma in Russia first used Greek letters, then tried to switch to the Latin alphabet, but all these tricks did not make it more sophisticated. With the ascension to the throne of Ivan the Terrible and the increasing influence of Russia in world politics, the issue of encrypting letters to ambassadors became an edge. The “fancy letter” used by the uplifting chambers of secret affairs was based on a key that was memorized. Sometimes whole words or syllables were replaced by a bizarre icon, a symbol. We have heard a special alphabet developed by the patriarch Filaret. Alexei Mikhailovich and his son Peter I also had at their disposal the alphabet of fictional characters. But, on the other hand, too difficult fonts proved to be ineffective in wartime conditions. There were many dispatches, and the military, by virtue of their profession, did not always cope with the task of decryption.
Solid chemistry
Since in the conditions of the war with the Swedes, a simple gibberish letter turned out to be “easy to understand”, and the generals were too tough for the generals, Peter the Great resorted to chemistry. The tsar’s letter to the Russian ambassador to Sweden has been preserved. “I am sending you three vials. - the sovereign explains. - What you want to write secret, write in ink from the first jar. Then, on top of the paint from the second bottle, heat something. The third liquid serves to ensure that when you receive a letter from me, then wipe the paper with it - the unnecessary will come off, and the secret will appear. ” It is clear that here the decoders had to get the reagents (or make them yourself), as the hidden became obvious. Therefore, Peter the Great did not refuse other encryption methods. During Napoleon, the so-called "book code" was very common. The sender and addressee had two copies of one book at their disposal. In this case, the correspondence consisted of numbers that indicated the page, line and place of the word in this book.
Garabar letter: phraseological unit
This practice of cryptography was so widespread that it became an ideomatic expression. Litorea gave rise to a number of such phraseological turns. “Tara-bars” means empty, meaningless conversations. Why? Firstly, in order to confuse the decoder, they often resorted to the “dummy” method. Insignificant words, a simple cluster of letters, were inserted into the middle of the text. Secondly, the encrypted message left the letter “a” very widespread in the Russian language, changing only consonants. As a result, a “container bar” often appeared. This expression has another meaning that is completely different from empty chatter. We already mentioned him. Gibberish, or gibberish, is something meaningless and incomprehensible to the uninitiated. This metaphor has synonyms. This is a “book with seven seals” and a “Chinese letter”.